The Auburn University High School Journalism Workshop Campaign
By: Maegan Moguel, Johnny Dougherty, Grace Halbert, and Rebecca Rittenour 1
Dear Professor Fairley,
217 Tichenor Hall Auburn University
Our group is looking forward to presenting you our campaign on April 29, 2010. We have worked diligently throughout the semester and believe the strategic and comprehensive implementation of our proposal will result in the recruitment of highly motivated minority students to attend the Auburn University High School Journalism Workshop. We would like to express our gratitude for all that you have done for us on our campaign. We are very grateful for the time you have spent with us creating our proposal. We greatly appreciate how you have helped us with our campaign and we have enjoyed working with you. If you have any questions regarding our work, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Thank you again. Sincerely,
Johnny Dougherty 404-680-9943 doughjo@auburn.edu
Grace Halbert 318-613-6091 cgh0001@auburn.edu
Maegan Moguel 334-470-7024
Rebecca Rittenour 334-201-2206
mbm0005@auburn.edu
rittera@auburn.edu
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Table of Contents
Executive Summary……………………………………………………………………............. 4-5 Situational Analysis…………………………………………………………………………... 6-12 Research Analysis…………………………………….......……………………………….….13-15 Campaign Goal………………………………………………………………………………......16 Campaign Objectives……………………………………………………………………….. 17-20 Effective Communication…………………………………………………………………... 21-23 Limitations……………………………………………………………………….………….…...24 Evaluation Summary…………………………………………………………….....………. 25-27 Conclusion…………………………………….......……………………………………..............28 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………....... 29 Appendix A—Budget…………………………………………………………………………. 30 Appendix B—Time Table…………………………………………………………………,..... 31 Appendix C—Rising seniors’ Survey……………………………………………………...… 32 Appendix D—Rising seniors’ Survey results……………………………………………… 33-41 Appendix E—Parents’ Survey Feedback Card……………………………………………...... 42 Appendix F—News Release…………………………………………………………......... 43-44 Appendix G—Public Service Announcement………………………………………………… 45 Appendix H—Feature Story………………………………………………………….…… 46-47 Appendix I—Facebook Groups………………………………………………………........ 48-51 Appendix J—Video Blog and All Items on CD-Rom Appendix K— Brochure Appendix L— 2009 Workshop application Appendix M—2009 Workshop flier Appendix N—2009 Tiger Times
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Executive Summary This campaign was created by four Auburn University public relations students as their final project for their Public Relations Campaigns course. The purpose of the campaign is to bring awareness to the Auburn University High School Journalism Workshop. This is a week-long workshop held every summer on the Auburn campus to give valuable journalism experience to rising high school seniors. At the end of the workshop, six $1,000 Auburn scholarships are awarded to the most productive students. Through a survey conducted in March 2010 by the creators of this campaign, we see in appendix E that over half of students surveyed are either going to or thinking about pursuing a higher education degree in journalism. This campaign for the workshop will attract those emerging high school seniors to learn more about journalism. Students are also given a chance to explore the Auburn journalism program, encouraging them to pursue a higher education. We target messages toward parents and high school principals, whose opinions are highly valued by high school students. According to Developing the Public Relations Campaign: a Team-Based Approach, a campaign allows the audience to choose freely among several actions: accepting the campaign proposal, rejecting its ideas and remaining committed to another idea, keeping the same perspective or not partaking in any campaign at all. No coercion was involved in this campaign. This campaign promotes the building of a mutually beneficial relationship between the public, the workshop staff and the Auburn journalism program. The campaign takes a multi-disciplinary approach as seen in the unique and numerous tactics. The entirety of this campaign was created by students, Maegan Moguel, Grace Halbert, Rebecca Rittenour and Johnny Dougherty. This campaign was created for workshop director and journalism professor Nan Fairley. The campaign creators were given class credit for their work. As you navigate throughout the campaign, you will find every step needed to create, implement and evaluate this public relations plan to achieve its goal, increase awareness of the high school journalism workshop. The campaign begins with a situation analysis. This part of the paper gives an overview of the client and event, (the Auburn journalism department with director Nan Fairley for the high school journalism workshop), its publics and an analysis of the situation and reasoning behind the need for a public relations campaign. Here is where you can find the situation facing the workshop and the opportunities available for the workshop. Effective communication follows the situation analysis. This section of the campaign explains the rationale behind what message and types of communication will be used to implement the campaign. Next, the research analysis explains the process the creators took to research the workshop, including its design and participants. Group members created, distributed and analyzed the survey, which gives credibility to why they used certain communication tactics.
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The most important part of the campaign gives strategic recommendations and tactics to be used. The goal of the campaign is to increase awareness of the workshop and spark an interest in high school students in the journalism program at Auburn. Tactics targeted toward students, parents and high school principals were created to achieve the campaign objectives. Communication tactics include but are not limited to a news release, a public service announcement, a video interview and blog and two Facebook groups. Concluding the campaign is a thorough selection of sources, the appendix items. This includes a preparation schedule for the workshop and its campaign and a budget to implement the plan. Research results from the survey conducted by the students are included in circle and bar charts. Samples of tactics are also included in the appendix items. A thank you letter from the students to the workshop director is included, thanking her for cooperation while creating the campaign. If this public relations campaign is worked through and enacted, the group believes that the high school journalism workshop will see an increased number of qualified applicants and continued success. The creators of this campaign hope to see this plan implemented for the mutual benefit of the journalism department and workshop participants. Feel free to continue through the campaign to browse its main points.
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Situational Analysis Client Analysis
Organizational Overview The Auburn University High School Journalism Workshop is a week-long summer camp that brings aspiring journalists from high schools across the Southeast to embark on a learning experience that will guide them to jump start their goals to be journalists. Rising seniors are invited to apply for this camp in the summer before their senior year in high school. Students gain hands-on experience sharpening their journalistic skills while interacting with professionals in the field to gain practical experience. The students’ talents are put on display at the end of camp in a workshop publication, Tiger Tales. Throughout camp, the students take field trips while interacting with the Auburn liberal arts staff to learn the entire process of releasing a piece of written work. They learn to write a story, report on breaking news, take photographs, design the publication and use new multimedia techniques to make their stories come alive. Along with the final publication, there is a banquet at the end of camp for all participants to share what they have leaned to their parents. In addition, six $1,000 scholarships provided by the Mobile Press Register are given to the students who have shown excellence and improvement throughout the week. The money will go toward the winner’s tuition if he or she decides to attend Auburn.
Organizational History Nan Fairley, associate professor of journalism, founded the Auburn University High School Journalism Workshop in 2002. Dr. Jennifer Adams will co-direct the 8th annual camp with Fairley in the summer of 2010. Approximately 140 students have participated in the program since its inception. Applications can be found on the liberal arts Web site and are due by the end of April. The camp is traditionally held in the month of June. The program is financially supported through the Alabama Press Association Foundation, the Auburn College of Liberal Arts and the Mobile Press Register.
Organizational Issues Client and co-director Fairley sees an issue in spreading awareness to various high school journalism programs. There is a concern with the communication outlets being used to spread the message of the journalism workshop. Attracting students from Alabama has also been difficult for the program. Fairley has a special interest in recruiting minority students to the workshop in hopes that this will improve the number of minority students into the Auburn journalism department. Reviving diversity in the department is to be addressed along with increasing awareness of the workshop. 6
Public Relations Needs Fairley wants to promote the workshop in an attempt to recruit the best high school applicants possible. She wants the campaign to focus on recruiting minority students. Ideally, the workshop would encourage students to apply to Auburn’s journalism department so the recruitment of these minority students would in turn improve the department’s diversity. Fairley specifically said she would like us to create a Facebook page and brochure and update the Web site and fliers the department has used in previous years. She also wants to encourage students who have attended the workshop to go back to their high schools and tell underclassmen about the program. The first few years of the program, the journalism department designed a T-shirt for the workshop. Fairley expressed an interest in doing this once again since it could serve as something concrete that attendees could take back to their hometowns, further promoting the workshop. In addition to the ideas that Fairley suggested, our group wanted to explore using other social media sites to connect with high school students since many of them use social media as a way of obtaining information. We also wanted to explore the possibility of including an issue of the Tiger Times, the newspaper that students produce while at the workshop, with the letters that are sent to high school administration in Alabama. If sending a copy of the entire newspaper does not fall within the constraints of the budget, our group decided that including a few articles from the Tiger Times would be a suitable substitute. We think that seeing what previous students have accomplished will not only give students the confidence that they too can create comparable work, but that the caliber of the writing will show that high school students are capable of creating professional-level work.
Organizational Culture Fairley says that the workshop is dedicated to working towards bettering itself and that, in its eighth year, it wants to continue to improve. The culture of the organization is geared to the attitude of constant improvement and advancement of the workshop itself and of the diversity of the journalism department. The workshop is designed to be educational, informative and persuasive while also being fun for the participants. The primary goal of the workshop is to recruit the best and the brightest of Alabama’s high school journalists, so it must focus on teaching new information in an entertaining way. This focus on entertainment and persuasion will be beneficial to the campaign because it should be easy for us as young public relations students to identify what high school students will be entertained and persuaded by. The enthusiastic and accepting attitude of Fairley will also help the group gain insight into what she believes will work, how we can best help her achieve her goals and if the campaign as a whole would be successful.
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Organizational Goals The Auburn University High School Journalism Workshop aims to: • Spark a passion in the next generation of newspaper reporters and editors. • Introduce high school students to professionals in the journalistic field. • Teach students the basics in producing a piece of journalism work. • Encourage students to take the unique tools they gather in the workshop and implement them in their own school’s journalism program. • Promote the Auburn journalism program by bringing in aspiring journalists to complete their higher education at Auburn. • Increase the enrollment of minority students in the workshop and Auburn journalism program.
Past Public Relations Efforts There have been several public relations efforts employed by the workshop in the past, including a news release containing information about who is selected for the workshop and a list of activities. This news release can be rewritten to include more up-to-date information. Letters to principals in Alabama schools have been sent out to encourage students to participate in the workshop. These can also be rewritten and used for our campaign. A Web site with an application form and promotional material is also being used to recruit students to the workshop. These materials can all be rewritten and used in our campaign. The public relations efforts used so far have generated positive results. Students and faculty alike have said the workshop has been a success. The effort that has been lacking the most is the number and quality of applicants. Examples of past efforts can be found in appendices L-O.
Present Public Relations Efforts Public relations is not only important to the success of the program, but the workshop itself serves as an outstanding example of Auburn University and the journalism department’s outreach efforts. The current public relations efforts for the workshop are essentially the same as they have been in years past. The department still maintains its Web site, mails information to high school principals in the state and sends news releases to Alabama newspapers and the Alabama Press Association newsletter. Although these efforts have been moderately successful in reaching students, last year several spots in the workshop went unclaimed. This vacancy is something the journalism department would like to change, especially since the workshop is free for students. Examples of present efforts can be found in appendices L-O.
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Public Relations Budget The workshop is funded by the College of Liberal Arts and the Alabama Press Association. While the budget for the camp itself is quite substantial, considering all of the students’ food and lodging is provided for them, the budget for promoting the event is limited. Although we were not given an exact dollar amount, we know that in the past some mailings and a Web site were funded, so we can expect that similar things will be possible for our campaign. The group must focus on free or relatively inexpensive ways to promote the workshop. Also at our disposal are the resources on campus that could be used to create and implement the campaign. Any computer program available to us would also be available to Fairley when she is putting our plan to action, unlike some other organizations with limited budgets
Publics
Key Publics The Auburn University High School Journalism Workshop is designed for rising high school seniors, current high school juniors, so this age group is the primary public of our campaign. While all genders and ethnicities are welcome, an emphasis is put on the recruitment of minority students including African Americans, Hispanics and Asians. Faculty hope that increased minority attendance in the workshop will lead to a more diversified department. Since the workshop is paid for by Auburn’s College of Liberal Arts and the Alabama Press Association and is free to students, economic status is insignificant. High school students tend to be Internet-savvy so we will take advantage of this already established credible message source. We will target high school students through social media Web sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube since most of them regularly use these sites. Students with an interest in journalism and Auburn are ideal candidates for this program.
Producers Auburn University provides the housing and meals for workshop participants. Auburn faculty lead seminars throughout the workshop. Fairley and Adams have been the directors of the program since it began in 2002 and plan to continue their involvement with the workshop. The College of Liberal Arts and the Alabama Press Association provide monetary support for the workshop, both during the recruitment process and while students are attending.
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Limiters The main disadvantage working against the program is that most students are unaware of its existence. The focus of this campaign, however, is on increasing awareness of and participation in the workshop. Activities such as jobs, vacations and other summer camps also compete for students’ time and can limit involvement in the workshop. Although this program targets students in Alabama, distance may still hinder people from coming. Social activities are included in the workshop schedule, but some students may find this focus on academics in the summer unappealing.
Intercessory Publics Traditional and social media are our main intercessory publics. We will disseminate our messages to newspapers across the state through periodic news releases. We will also contact students directly through social media groups created for the workshop.
Opinion Leaders Formal opinion leaders include high school administration that would interact with potential participants . In addition to fliers and brochures, we will provide this public with writing samples from past students that have attended the workshop. Informal opinion leaders include past participants and family members of those who are considering attending. According to Fairley, most students who have attended the workshop have given her positive feedback so they are also likely to encourage others to attend.
Situational Analysis Background of the Situation The Auburn High School Journalism Workshop gives hands-on journalism experience to 15 to 20 people. In the past, camp members traveled far, including from Texas, California and Baltimore. The program lacks high school minority students, particularly from Alabama. There has been an effort to target all Alabama high school students, but due to closing schools and changing addresses, the efforts are outdated and are beginning to hinder the growth of the program.
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Situation Facing the Organization The situation facing the planners of the journalism workshop are extremely low interest and participation, difficulty reaching students through high school administration and ineffective means of keeping in touch with previous students. Although there are many issues to contend with for this campaign, they can be dealt with within the course of a year. Two-way communication will be implemented to attack all three areas that are slowing the progression of the workshop. Although the situation facing the organization is hurting the workshop in many areas, it brings in the opportunity to reevaluate and reorganize the program.
Obstacles Impeding the Situation The obstacles that are impeding on this organization are communication and recruitment. Due to previous ineffective campaign actions, the workshop has never peaked to overflow with excessive applications. Using the wrong communication channels has put the workshop at a stand still. Growth will not occur if the Journalism Department does not open up extension in the program for creativity and various media outlets. The lack of social media components left out a way for students to hear about the camp earlier and keep in contact with other members after. In addition to a failing communication system, there is no strong encouragement of positive recruitment and retention for the workshop. We will implement specific public relations tactics aimed towards the detainment of all workshop participants and smooth transition into the Auburn Journalism program.
Ethics Involved for the Organization Risk management will be considered in the form of a safety plan for the workshop members. The workshop clearly states that workshop members are under the supervision of the entire camp staff. An issues management team would attack any problem with supervision directly from what they heard or know. In the case of a crisis, all workshop and university staff will be contacted to take proper action to resolve the crisis while protecting the workshop members from any harm or danger. Workshop staff will be sure to make workshop members their number one priority during camp. An honest evaluation of the workshop members is required by the staff.\
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Opportunities Opportunities available through the journalism workshop are close to unlimited. With the low interest and awareness shown in the program now, it can only get better. With more than 200 high schools in Alabama, thousands of high school students have the potential of being reached, but they need to be targeted more effectively. If more school administration can be reached and they pass the information on, then more high school students should be able to be reached. This gives the workshop the opportunity to receive more applications. As for keeping in touch with former workshop participants, there are many ways for the workshop planners to keep in touch with them, including e-mail newsletters, a Facebook group or a mailing list. Since Fairley expressed an interest in using Facebook, this will be the first and most useful channel of communication as far as just catching up and letting the students know when upcoming events or deadlines are. An e-mail newsletter would be best for more in depth information or personal and ongoing communication the farther out from the program they get. This workshop presents the opportunity to cultivate the minds of young journalist at the peak of their learning curve. This workshop and the skills presented through it will broaden the horizons of all aspiring journalist and help teach every aspect of the career for a journalist. This weeklong, interactive job shadow will advance the skills of all aspiring journalist, better preparing them for their career.
Importance of the Situation This situation is important to address because the journalism workshop is a great educational program for high school students to be introduced to the Auburn University journalism department. Not only does it promote Auburn’s programs, but it also provides students from across Alabama with an educational experience they may not have had exposure to otherwise. The six scholarships provide financial aid to students who may miss educational opportunities due to financial difficulty. The camp provides a foundation for students to develop journalism skills while learning and having fun with experienced journalists. This situation gives us a path and reason to develop a strong awareness campaign to spread the word about the Auburn University High School Journalism Workshop.
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Research Analysis Purpose The purpose of our survey of high school students is to find our which tactics are the best way to communicate with high school students. By completing a convenience survey of this group, we will have reliable results to use as a base for the rest of our communication with rising seniors. We expect that the results of our survey will affirm that our planned tactics will be the best ways to influence our target public. We believe that the survey will show us that students are best reached through social media and are influenced the most by friends and parents. If those are the conclusions reached, we will move forward into creating our tactics. We will use the results to narrow our methods of reaching our publics. If, in any area, the results of our research tell us something other than what we expect, we will reformulate our tactics to match the results.
The Diffusion Theory In short, the diffusion theory shows how information falls from mass media outlets to individuals in society. Those individuals then share the information with other individuals, causing an even broader spread of a message. In this campaign for the Auburn University High School Journalism Workshop, we used this theory behind the communication tactics we developed. Social media outlets, a Web site and radio are samples of mass media outlets that allowed us to reach individuals with our message. These modern-day types of communication allow people to efficiently spread information to each other in the fastest way. When mass media gets a hold of a message, the influence they have on the audience allows it to send messages that will spread quickly in the audience. The diffusion process will happen naturally if communication tactics are properly executed.
Procedure Pre-Research Process Prior to deciding the proper research form for this campaign, we used our textbook, Developing the Public Relations Campaign: A Team-Based Approach (2009), to evaluate the most efficient forms of research to conduct for a public relations campaign. According to this book, conducting a focus group or a survey are the two best forms of retrieving research statistics. We will reach our target public, rising seniors, quickly by giving out a survey to the students. They are in school all day and a focus group would not be feasible to conduct considering after school schedules. Focus groups are also costly, in that we will have to supply an incentive such as food to convince the students to attend. A survey can be given out in school. It will take no more than 13
five minutes to take. The factors of time and cost are used more efficiently if we conduct a survey. In our survey, we will ask questions about the communication trends among high school students. We will incorporate demographic questions and interest questions to aid in our specific objective to increase the applications of minority high school students.
Research Process The research procedure for our survey includes multiple meetings with workshop director Nan Fairley and conducting research in the form of a survey. Below is a schedule of meetings with Fairley and the topics addressed: • • • •
January 20 at 10:30 a.m.: We discussed an in-depth overview of the journalism workshop. January 27 at 10:30 a.m.: We discussed an in-depth overview of the workshop history and culture. February 10 at 8:00 a.m.: We discussed client issues, needs and wants. She also told us tactics she wanted to be implemented. February 22 at 9:45 a.m.: We discussed an in-depth overview of our client’s desired goals, issues to be addressed, target publics and all other aspects needed to create one goal and three specific objectives and desired tactics.
From each meeting, we were able to gather information to formulate the proper survey for high school students.
Design We conducted the research for our campaign proposal with a questionnaire given to 88 high school students. In this research instrument, we asked eight close-ended, multiple choice questions. The questions were demographic, psychographic and substantive in nature. According to Developing the Public Relations Campaign: A Team-Based Approach (2009), close-ended questions provide the respondents a list of responses (such as adjectives or adverbs) from which to choose. While the first question about gender was a dichotomous question, questions followed by a list of only two possible answers, the rest of the research instrument consisted of multiplechoice questions, questions followed by a list of three or more possible answers. The book also explained that close-ended questions take two forms: demographic/psychographic questions that ask for factual information and substantive questions that ask for opinions. Questions one through three about gender, grade level and ethnicity are demographic/psychographic in form. Questions four through eight are about students’ contact preferences, parental and decisionmaking influences, career intentions and workshop interest and fall in the substantive category.
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Our group used a Likert-scale question at the end of the research instrument to assess the rising seniors’ interest in the workshop. As defined in Developing the Public Relations Campaign: A Team-Based Approach, Likert-scale questions ask respondents to choose their answers from a list that includes two extremes and various degrees in between. Most offer choices such as strongly agree, somewhat agree, no opinion, somewhat disagree, and strongly disagree. The book goes on to say that while a typical Likert-scale question offers five possible answers, it sometimes offers seven or nine. In our questionnaire, we gave the students five choices. In accordance with the textbook, we chose an odd number of answer options because odd numbers are preferred over even numbers so that there will always be a neutral center mark, such as no opinion.
Participants The Auburn University High School Journalism Workshop is open to all rising seniors across the country with an emphasis on recruiting minority students from Alabama. Of the 15 students who participated last year, five were African American and 10 were Caucasian. There were also four men and 11 women. The 2011 workshop would like to see more students apply for the program and especially have more minority students apply to attend. The surveys were given to students in journalism or English classes. We collected 88 surveys in our research. We have responses from 33 men, 55 women, 19 African Americans, 65 Caucasians, one Hispanic, three Asians or Pacific Islanders and one other. Of these responses, nine said they would be interested in a career in journalism. The actual survey can be found in appendix D. The survey results can be found in appendix E.
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Goals and Objectives Goal:
To increase the awareness of the Auburn University High School Journalism Workshop and spark an increased interest for rising seniors to attend.
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Public 1: Rising High school seniors Objective 1: To increase the number of applications from 15 to 45 by the April 31 deadline for the 2011 Auburn High School Journalism workshop from all students, with an emphasis on minority students. Strategy: Encourage rising seniors to apply for the Auburn High School Journalism Workshop and spark interest among students to attend the workshop. Rationale: Students in Alabama have had a lack of exposure to the workshop, which accounts for the low number of applications received by the department. The department is looking for a higher quality of students to apply for the program allowing them to have a choice of students they want to accept. The workshop is a great way for students interested in journalism to get a first hand look at tasks routinely performed by journalists. Attending the workshop also gives a student a chance to earn scholarship money based on the student’s work completed throughout the week. Increasing the awareness level of students will provide more high quality applicants and hopefully more minority candidates for the department to choose from. Tactic 1: Create a Facebook group for students who have just completed the workshop and a separate group for students who are planning to attend the upcoming workshop. After the completion of the workshop, we will encourage everyone to join a particular Facebook group solely for past members of the workshop. This group will serve as a way for students to keep up with fellow students who have attended the workshop and share their experiences with each other. Having a group with past participants will also help recruit upcoming applicants and provide testimonials to benefit the workshop. Most high school students are already familiar with Facebook, making it a good social media tool to use to attract students to the workshops. The groups can be found in Appendix J. Tactic 2: Create a video and write a blog to post on Auburn Family and the Loveliest Village. The video and blog post will be written about a past student who attended the workshop. This student will talk about their experience at the workshop and what they learned throughout the week. This video and blog post will act as a testimonial for all potential applicants. There will also be a link on both Facebook groups to the video and blog. The feature can be found in appendix I. The video blog can be found in appendix K. Tactic 3: Develop a frequently asked questions (FAQ) sheet to be sent out to all rising seniors in Alabama and surrounding states. This will contain all the necessary information in an easy to read format. It will provide important dates when the application is due, who to contact for more information and a brief description of the workshop as a whole. We will also post the FAQ to the Facebook event page.
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Tactic 4: Create a brochure to give out to all rising seniors in Alabama. The brochure will contain much the same information as the FAQ but in a different format. It will also be in color with pictures of Auburn and past students. We can also put a letter from the dean of the college encouraging students to apply for the workshop. The brochure can be found in appendix L.
Public 2: High school principals Objective2: To increase the number of Alabama high school principals who are aware of the Auburn University High School Journalism Workshop from an estimated 90 percent to 100 percent. Strategy: Initiate new forms of communication with high school principals. Rationale: Since the Auburn University High School Journalism Workshop currently relies heavily on principals of Alabama High Schools to disseminate information about the program to students and students are not applying for the program, principals must be engaged more in the promotional information packets sent to schools. If principals are impressed by the materials that are directly mailed to them, it is likely that they will pass the information along to students. With more beneficial information about how the workshop will contribute to students’ education and how it could also potentially improve the entire journalism program within schools, principals will encourage students to apply. Tactic 1: Develop a frequently asked questions sheet (FAQ).We will create a FAQ sheet to inform students, principals, and parents of commonly requested information in a clear and concise way. This flier will be included in the informational packet that is sent to high school principals so that they will have access to answers to their questions and so that they can provide those answers to interested students. It will also be included on the Web site for the event and Facebook event page. Tactic 2: Create a brochure. A brochure would present information in a graphic and attentiongrabbing way. Since high school principals probably receive a lot of mail, something in our informational packet must stand out for them to notice and remember it. If we create a brochure that is eye-catching and informational, principals will be more likely to show the information to students. The brochure can be found in appendix L. Tactic 3: Update the current flier. Currently, the workshop sends out a simple informational flier with the application to principals. Although this flier provides good information, it lacks a graphic element which would garner more attention. If we changed the flier from being mainly text and bullet information to including more pictures and shorter text blocks, the flier will be more effective in getting and keeping the attention of principals, therefore prompting them to show their students. A past example of a flier can be found in appendix N.
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Tactic 4: Update and improve the existing Web site. The current Web site is less of a site as it is a page. We will improve the site to be multi-page, more graphic, and more interactive, while retaining the necessary information. Principals who still have questions after going through the information packet will be directed to the Web site. The Web site should have more information, examples of student work, downloadable PDF files of the application and other traditional media tactics we use, as well as links to the social media tactics we implement.
Public 3: Parents of rising seniors Objective 3: To increase the acceptance rate to 90 percent of the parents or workshop attendees, specifically parents of minority students, of the 2011 journalism workshop by the application deadline of April 30, 2011. Strategy: Persuade parents to send their children to the 2011 journalism workshop. Since parents are opinion leaders for their children, we must focus on attracting the students’ parents to the workshop as well in order to attract more qualified applicants to the program. Rationale: Parents have a direct influence on the lives of their children. Because most rising seniors in high school are still minors and live at home, their parents are opinion leaders and play an active role in their decision-making process. When we also focus on potential attendees’ parents, we have a better chance of encouraging students to come to the workshop. Tactic 1: Send a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) sheet to parents with the application information. Most parents are likely to read something they get in the mail. It is also likely that parents will have questions about the workshop since most parents are interested in programs that have to do with their children’s education. The FAQ will facilitate in properly informing the parents of the workshop. Tactic 2: Create a video and write a blog. According to Fairley, most students who have attended the workshop have given her positive feedback. Seeing that other students have benefited from the program will encourage parents to have their children apply for the workshop. We will post the video and blog on Auburn Family, The Loveliest Village, the Facebook event and the journalism Web site. The feature can be found in appendix I. The video blog can be found in appendix K. Tactic 3: Update and improve the existing Web site. Because parents will want to refer to Auburn’s journalism workshop site for additional information, it is important to make sure content is up-to-date. We also wanted to include issues of the Tiger Times, the newspaper that students work on throughout the workshop, on the Web site. Seeing what previous students have accomplished will show parents that high school students are capable of creating professionallevel work. Tactic 4: Send Public Service Announcements (PSA) to all radio stations in Alabama. Running vocal news releases on the radio to inform parents of the skills that can be learned at the workshop will play a part in their acceptance of the program. Because the information is coming from a third-party source, the message will have increased credibility. We also know that many 19
parents listen to the radio so they would have access to such an announcement. The PSA used for the 2010 workshop can be found in appendix H. Tactic 5: Create a news release. Sending a news release to all Alabama newspapers will prompt writers to write stories on the workshop. Since parents read the newspaper, they will be informed about the workshop through this outlet, encouraging them to research the workshop in its entirety. This will lead them to encourage their children to apply. An example of the news release can be found in appendix G.
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Effective Communication Message Source For the Auburn University High School Journalism Workshop, there are several potential spokespeople. The spokespeople that will be utilized in our campaign are the Auburn faculty that run the workshop, including Nan Fairley, associate professor and Dr. Jennifer Wood Adams, who serve as co-directors, and previous workshop participants. Among the participants, we will spotlight David Crayton who participated in the 2005 workshop. He is currently a senior in the Auburn journalism program. Fairley has been working with us extensively on this campaign, and thus she will be the most referenced spokesperson. She serves as co-director of the workshop and associate professor of journalism so she has a high level of credibility about both the workshop and the practice of journalism. She is comfortable speaking in public and makes time to work with the campaign. Although the publics targeted by our campaign will not be familiar with Fairley, we plan on presenting her in iconic Auburn locations to identify her with the university and the workshop. In her position as co-director, Fairley has significant power over the publics, but she will not necessarily have to exert this power. Adams has similar credibility, charisma and control characteristics to Fairley, with possible a possible a few exceptions. She has not worked extensively with us due to other obligations with the journalism department, so it is unknown how much time she is willing or able to spend on the campaign. Previous participants, including Crayton, will also be good spokespeople for the workshop. Since he has participated and took that participation to heart by becoming a journalism major, he will serve as a credible source of information. His opinion on the workshop will be trustworthy because he is not directly working with the program. He is both young and a minority, so he should identify well with potential students. Crayton does not have any control over the publics, so he will not have to exert his power over them.
Message Appeal The key message of our public relations campaign is that the Auburn University High School Journalism Workshop is a beneficial program in which students can improve their writing skills by working with professionals. Secondary messages include: • • •
Chances to compete for six $1,000 scholarships to Auburn University Opportunity to network with professionals and faculty Chances to experience what Auburn has to offer as a university
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Rational Appeal Our campaign is based on rational appeals. We are making logical arguments as to why students should apply for the workshop. The messages we create will stress the value and benefits received from attending the workshop. The program will allow students to improve their writing skills by working with professionals in the newspaper, television news, public relations and multimedia journalism industries. To support our claims, we will provide examples of students’ past work from the workshop. The Tiger Times is the newspaper that contains stories that students write during the workshop. This newspaper will be given out to high schools to show their students what can be accomplished by attending the program. We will also provide testimony from a previous student to encourage others to come to the workshop and to support our claims. We will provide a video and a blog of a former participant, Crayton, detailing his experience at the workshop and recommending it to others.
Verbal Communications Our message reiterates its main idea so that those exposed to the message are more likely to retain its information. High school students, faculty and parents will be able to find our message clear, simple and understandable since the diction used is not complicated and the sentence structure is straightforward. Students, faculty and parents will know it is important to complete applications when the deadline is fast approaching. Our message is ethical because we emphasize the positive aspects of the workshop without exaggerating benefits that are out of our control.
Nonverbal Communications The presentation of our message includes a logo, music and a symbolic setting. We used the Samford Hall logo in the news release and the Facebook groups because it is an image commonly affiliated with Auburn University and is easily recognized by the media. The PSA incorporates upbeat music in the background that is attention grabbing and is in line with the fun-filled seminar we are promoting. The PSA background music also has a rock sound that rising seniors in high school would find appealing. The video blog features the journalism building where the workshop will primarily take place. The picture for both Facebook groups is Samford Hall.
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Evaluation Summary Objective 1 Objective one, targeted toward high school students, will be successful with the completion of four communication tactics: two Facebook groups, a video testimony and blog, a frequently asked questions (FAQ) and a brochure. Below is how the success of each tactic will be evaluated. To determine if the Facebook groups are a worthwhile tactic, we will count the number of people who have joined the groups. We can also keep track of the posts to the group’s walls and encourage group members to write about their experience at the workshop. Since there currently is not a Facebook group, and if there is an increase in the number of students who apply for the workshop for 2011 (200 percent increase from 15 to 45), we can assume that adding Facebook groups encouraged them to apply. A blog and video’s success is usually measured by how many visitors watch the video and read the blog. To evaluate how successful this tactic is, we will count the number of times the video is watched and how many people have read the blog. Since there currently is not a blog and video about the workshop and if more people apply for next year’s workshop we can assume that the blog and story encouraged more students to apply. To evaluate the effectiveness of the FAQ we will compare the number of students that apply from year to year. Since there currently is not a FAQ sent out with the packet of information, if more students apply when one is included, then it is an effective tactic. To evaluate whether or not an updated brochure is effective, we could send out a survey to students and ask them to compare the two brochures. We will count the number of responses and find out if the new brochure encouraged more students to apply for the workshop. If more students apply for the workshop with the new brochure, then it is an effective tactic.
Objective 2 Objective two, targeted toward high school principals, will be successful with the completion of four communication tactics: an frequently asked questions (FAQ), a brochure, a flier and the update and improvements made to workshop’s Web site. Below is how the success of each tactic will be evaluated. The reason we created the FAQ sheet is because Nan Fairley, workshop director noted that she often receives phone calls from interested parties with simple questions. The best way to evaluate the effectiveness of the FAQ flier is to have Fairley note how often she receives these kinds of questions now and then to have her note if that amount increases or decreases when the 23
FAQ sheet is added into the informational packet. If the FAQ sheet prevents her from having to repeat the answers to several people while those people still getting the information, we will know it has been an effective tactic. To evaluate whether or not an updated brochure is effective, we could survey some of the principals that currently receive informational packets to determine what they remember about the workshop and then we would repeat this survey after a brochure is sent out. If principals can remember some of the information in the brochure, we will know that the brochure helped them remember the program. Similar to evaluating the brochure, we could also survey principals about what they remember about the current flier and after a new flier is sent out to see if they remember more about the program with an updated flier. If principals remember more about the program after the flier has been updated, we will know the changes we made to the flier are improvements. A Web site’s success is generally measured by the amount of visitors the site attracts and how much time is spent on the site. To determine if improvements to the journalism workshop’s Web site were worthwhile, we will determine how many original visitors the current page gets during the month before applications are due and then once the site is updated, determine how many visitors it gets during the month before applications are due next year. If this number increases, we will know that the changes to the Web site were successful.
Objective 3 Objective three, targeted toward the parents of rising seniors, will be successful with the completion of five communication tactics: an frequently asked questions (FAQ) directed toward parents, a video and blog, the update and improvement of the Web site for parents, a Public Service Announcement (PSA) and a news release. Below is how the success of each tactic will be evaluated. The reason we created the FAQ sheet is because Fairley noted that she often receives phone calls from interested parties with simple questions. The best way to evaluate the effectiveness of the FAQ flier is to have Fairley note how often she receives these kinds of questions now and then to have her note if that amount increases or decreases when the FAQ sheet is added into the informational packet. If the FAQ sheet prevents her from having to repeat the answers to several people while those people still getting the information, we will know it has been effective. To evaluate the effectiveness of the video and blog testimonials, we could monitor parent’s comments on the posts throughout the campaign. If these comments are positive, we will know that the blogs and video testimonials improved parents’ acceptance of the workshop. To measure the effectiveness of the news release, we could collect the news clipping from the news papers that write articles on the workshop. We will stay updated with the news papers within a 50 miles radius by phone to see if they print articles on the workshop. We will monitor 24
the online site of the newspapers for the rest of Alabama. We will then be able to use the number of clippings to gauge the number of parents who receive the message. A Web site’s success is generally measured by the amount of visitors the site attracts and how much time is spent on the site. To determine if improvements to the journalism workshop’s Web site were worthwhile, we will determine how many original visitors the current page gets during the month before applications are due and then once the site is updated, determine how many visitors it gets during the month before applications are due next year. If this number increases, we will know that the changes to the Web site were successful. We will gauge the success of tactics aimed at parents by asking the parents how they heard about the program on the parents’ feedback cards distributed and collected at the workshop lunch reception. If parents indicate that they received the information via radio, we will know that the PSAs helped parents decide to send their children to the workshop. Overall, our goal to is increase applications and awareness of the workshop to better promote the Auburn journalism program and provide journalism experience to high school students.
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Limitations During the course of creating this campaign, we have come across several limitations that would hinder the implementation of the campaign. The most serious limitations are time constraints and a limited budget. Although we believe we created a campaign that should accomplish its goal, we were limited by having only one semester to work on it. Though we spread the creation over the course of four months, the group members were also responsible for attending other classes, doing school work for those classes and working at their internships. With these other time consuming activities, it was often difficult to schedule time to work on the campaign. Also, the consideration that this campaign will not be implemented until after all four group members graduation could possible hinder the campaign. If, in the process of implementing our plan, Nan Fairley has any questions or has any problems, it may be harder for her to reach us because we will not be in school and we could possibly be living far away. The budget for the implementation of our tactics doesn’t necessarily need to be huge, but since we were never told exact dollar amounts that would be expended on the campaign, we are not sure it will be large enough to cover all of our expenses. If the budget does not provide enough money to implement each tactic, Fairley will be faced with the choice of only implementing some of the tactics or scaling back the extent to which she completes them. If this does happen, the campaign may or may not be as successful than if it were completed fully.
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Conclusion This campaign proposal was created by Maegan Moguel, Grace Halbert, Rebecca Rittenour and Johnny Dougherty as a class project for the Public Relations Campaigns class, PRCM 4090, the capstone course for the public relations major at Auburn University. The campaign focused on increasing awareness, applications and attendance of the Auburn University High School Journalism Workshop. The workshop, founded by journalism professor Nan Fairley, was created to increase high school journalists’ interest in coming to Auburn University and especially to increase diversity within the Department of Communication and Journalism. The workshop is completely free to participants because of funding from the Alabama Press Association Foundation, the Auburn College of Liberal Arts and the Mobile Press Register. In addition to providing programming and room and board to participants, six $1,000 scholarships to Auburn University are also awarded to the most outstanding participants. Our campaign proposal was brought about by extensive research and dedication to creating a quality project for our client. During the planning of the 2011 journalism workshop, we believe that if this campaign is implemented, the organizers will be satisfied with the results. We believe that through the various tactics proposed in the campaign, the workshop will improve its attendance and reputation. To insure the successful completion of the campaign, we recommend the workshop’s organizers strongly consider hiring a public relations intern. The materials within this campaign proposal should provide a student intern with enough projects to fill a part-time internship.
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Sources Bobbitt, R. & Sullivan, R. (Ed.) (2009). Developing the public relations campaign: a team-based approach. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
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Suggested Budget
Tactic
Manufacture
Facebook Group and Event Creation Maintenance
$0 $0
Web sites Editing Maintenance Blog and Video
$0 $0 $0
PSA Production and Editing Air Time
News release Electronic
Brochure (Full-color on paper stock) Printing; Postage
Number Projected
Postage
Tactic Total Cost
N/A
N/A
$0
N/A
N/A
$0
N/A
N/A
$0
$0 $0
$0
50
N/A
$0
$319.99
500
$118.50
$438.49
$299.99
500
$118.50
$318.49
Flier Printing; Postage
Total Estimate, High End = $756.98 Total Estimate, Low End = $688.49
**Pricing according to Office Max ImPress- Print and Document Services 29
Time Table First week in November
Contact all financial donors to inform them of your preparation for this year’s workshop
First week in December
Begin creating all campaign tactics
First week in January
Post application with deadline online/ request a budget from the sponsors
Last week in January
Send information packets to high schools
First week in February
Send out news releases, public service announcement and put up Facebook groups and fliers
Last week in February
Begin to plan events of workshop
First week in March
Contact possible participants/vendors, etc.
Last week in March
Continually check Facebook, Auburn Family and the Loveliest Village for questions or comments on the post
First week in April
Call all high schools and make sure they received packets
Last week in April
Begin planning all camps events into a cost list for the sponsors
April 31
Deadline for applications
First week in May
Begin to review applications
First week in May
Direct mail and call selected camp participants
Fourth week in May
Make an official schedule of events for the workshop (Mail to participants)
June 20
AU High School Journalism Workshop begins
June 25
Last day of workshop; distribute and collect parent surveys
First week of July
Review survey results and evaluate entire workshop; send out AU informational packets with applications enclosed to workshop participants 30
2010 Auburn University High School Journalism Workshop **Students: We are preparing a public relations campaign for the Auburn University High School Journalism Workshop. We ask that you honestly answer each question below for our research. All responses will remain anonymous. Please circle one answer for each number.
1. Gender:
Male
2. Current grade level:
9th
3. Ethnicity: Islander Other
Caucasian
Female 10th African American
11th
12th
Hispanic
Asian/Pacific
4. How do you prefer to be contacted about events pertaining to school or summer activities? Phone E-mail Face-to-Face
Through your parents
Letter
Social Media (Facebook, etc.)
5. How much do you value your parents’ suggestions on how you can spend your summer break? Highly not valued Highly valued
Moderately not valued
Neutral
Moderately valued
6. Which group influences your decision-making? Please choose one. Parents and Staff
Friends
News Media
People you do not know
Teachers
7. Do you intend to or are you interested in pursuing a career in journalism? No Maybe
Yes
8. How interested would you be in attending a summer journalism workshop for five days on the campus of Auburn University with free housing and food while gaining writing experience and becoming eligible for a college scholarship? Highly not interested Highly interested.
Moderately not interested
Neutral
Moderately interested 31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
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High School Journalism Workshop Survey Results Gender Grade Level
Male: 33
Female: 55
Caucasian: 65
African American: 19
Ethnicity
9th: 5
Preferred Method of Contact
Phone: 18
Value of Parents’ Suggestions
Highly not valued: 7
Moderately not valued: 7
Neutral: 32
Friends: 47
News Media: 0
Career in journalism
Yes: 9
No: 40
Maybe: 37
Interest in Workshop
Highly not interested: 16
Moderately not interested: 9
Neutral: 17
Influencers
Parents: 40
10th: 12
11th: 43
12th: 28
E-mail: 36
Through parents: 5
Hispanic: 1
Asian/Pacific Islander: 3
Other:1
Letter: 21
Social Media: 23
Moderately valued: 28
Highly valued: 13
Moderately interested: 32
Highly interested: 14
People you do not know: 3
Face-to-face: 17
Teachers and staff: 5
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2010 Auburn University High School Journalism Workshop Parents’ Feedback Card
**Parents, please circle one answer below giving us your anonymous opinion on the workshop and the feedback you received from your child about it. This survey will only be used for the improvement of the workshop.
1. How impressed were you with the workshop lunch reception? Highly not impressed Moderately not impressed Neutral Moderately impressed Highly impressed 2. I believe my child learned valuable journalism skills from the workshop. Strongly disagree Strongly agree
Moderately disagree
Neutral
Moderately agree
3. I will encourage my child to consider attending Auburn for its journalism program. Strongly disagree Strongly agree
Moderately disagree
Neutral
Moderately agree
4. I would encourage other parents to have their children apply for the workshop. Strongly disagree Strongly agree
Moderately disagree
Neutral
Moderately agree
5. How did you hear about the workshop? Phone
Through your child
Social Media (Facebook, etc.)
Radio Face-to-Face
Additional Comments: 41
Department of Communication and Journalism 217 Tichenor Hall Auburn, AL 36849 Phone: (334) 844-2727 Fax: (334) 844-4573 NEWS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 10, 2011
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT: Nan Fairley Workshop Co-Director Phone: (334) 884-4593 fairlln@auburn.edu AUBURN UNIVERSITY HOSTS 9TH ANNUAL HIGH SCHOOL JOURNALISM WORKSHOP
For rising seniors with an interest in journalism, Auburn University will offer its ninth
annual high school journalism workshop on June 20-25.
Sponsored by the AU College of Liberal Arts, the Alabama Press Association Foundation and
the Mobile Press-Register, the workshop provides rising seniors with an opportunity to learn about journalism and utilize their writing skills in a real-world environment.
Up to 20 students are accepted into the program each summer from Alabama and
surrounding state high schools. The workshop is free to selected participants, including their housing and meals for the week, as well as activities and field trips.
- more -
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The workshop gives students a chance to cultivate their writing skills by working as print
reports, editors and designers. By the end of the week, the students will have produced several news stories and compiled them into the Tiger Times, the publication created by workshop participants, which will be a valuable portfolio-building material for the students.
“Our faculty are eager and excited about this wonderful opportunity to work with top
students in the region,” said Nan Fairley, Auburn University journalism professor and founder of
the workshop. “It will be a fun-filled program that will put students in direct contact with leading professionals in the media.”
Throughout the week, students will take several field trips and participate in fast-paced
seminars. In previous years, the students have had opportunities to interview Auburn coaches and visit real news rooms of major state papers. During each day, students will learn from Auburn faculty, which will prepare them for a college learning environment.
“I learned how to properly report stories,” said David Crayton, a workshop participant in
2005 and current Auburn journalism student. “I became used to making deadlines, which prepared me for my classes.”
Applications for the 2011 workshop are due on April 31 and can be found at the Auburn
University Department of Communication and Journalism workshop at media.cla.auburn.edu/cmjn. Applicants will be notified of their acceptance by May 15.
For more information, contact Fairley at (334) 844-4593 or by e-mail at
fairlln@auburn.edu.
-###-
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AU High School Journalism Workshop applications due soon. Total Time: 0:30
THIS SUMMER, JUNE 20-25, THE AUBURN UNIVERSITY’S JOURNALISM DEPARTMENT IS HOSTING A WORKSHOP IN WHICH CURRENT HIGH SCHOOL JUNIORS ARE INVITED TO HONE THEIR
WRITING SKILLS. PARTICIPANTS WILL HAVE THE OPPORTUNITY TO COMPETE FOR SIX $1,000 SCHOLARSHIPS TO AUBURN UNIVERSITY, AND THE ROOM, ALL MEALS AND FIELD TRIPS EXPENSES ARE COVERED. APPLICATIONS CAN BE FOUND ON AUBURN UNIVERSITY’S
DEPARTMENT OF COMMUNICATIONS AND JOURNALISM WEB SITE AND ARE DUE APRIL 30. STUDENT SELECTIONS WILL BE ANNOUNCED BY MAY 15. THE AUBURN UNIVERSITY HIGH
SCHOOL JOURNALISM WORKSHOP: PREPARING ALABAMA HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS FOR THE FUTURE.
-###Contact: Nan Fairley, AU High School Journalism Workshop Director (334) 844-4593
fairln@auburn.edu
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AU Journalism Feature Story- David Crayton Approached by the administrative advisor for the newspaper at Sydney Lanier High School in Montgomery, Ala., David Crayton only ran with his interest in writing when he applied for the Auburn University High School Journalism Workshop before the summer of 2005. Crayton now carries out the newspaper fundamentals he learned at the week-long journalism workshop. The Auburn University High School Journalism Workshop is an interactive camp on the campus of Auburn University that facilitates extensive journalism and communication experience through hands-on activities and field trips. “Visiting the Montgomery Advertiser was a special field trip we took,” Crayton said. Rising high school seniors become print reporters, editors and designers who are ready for any assignment that might arise in a high school environment. Participants learn how to report and edit the news while understanding and appreciating the passion journalists have for their work. They spend the week learning about the media from professional journalists and Auburn faculty. In between story deadlines, Crayton established four friendships that are still strong today from the memories of breakfast time laughs and night time movies. Mock broadcast reports, short essays, interviews and a student publication are among the many activities through which students obtain new journalism and communication skills. “I learned how to properly report stories,” Crayton said. “I became used to making deadlines, which prepared me for my classes.” “The experience itself game me a look at how journalist work in the real world,” Crayton said. Crayton learned about journalism, but said he learned more about himself in that week. “My mom and grandmother said they could recognize the ‘profound, positive effect’ camp had on me.” “The camp was a great experience,” Crayton said. “The camp taught me how to become more open to talk with people.” Now writing for the Auburn Plainsman and working as a student assistant in the department of journalism, Crayton puts these skills to use everyday. “Being able to work with the journalism professors has allowed me to gain close-knit networking relationships that I plan to hold on to after graduation,” Crayton said. The workshop sparked a continual, positive change in the life of Crayton. “I learned a lot from the workshop, but I am still learning more about journalism and myself as a journalist.” Crayton encourages all rising high school seniors to apply for the camp with his top three reasons: “You will learn a lot about journalism, you will make a lot of friends, and you get to spend a week on a college campus.” The office of communications and journalism plan to make this year’s workshop have an even greater impact in the lives of its high school seniors. The 2010 workshop will take place June 20 through 25 on the Auburn campus. Food, housing and field trips are free for the up to 20 selected participants. Applications are due April 30 and selected participants will be announced by May 15. 45
For an application and more information on the workshop, contact associate professor and workshop director Nan Fairley at (334) 844-4593 or by email at fairln@auburn.edu.
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Facebook Groups Auburn University High school Journalism Workshop
http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=117976571546685&ref=ts Auburn University High school Journalism Workshop Memebers
http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=354253932121&ref=ts
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