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Ballet Nouveau Colorado PR Campaign Alanna Eaton, Madison Strouse, and Shannon Willison
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Table of Contents
Executive Summary……………………………………………………………………….. 3 Basis of Research………………………………………………………………………….. 4 Situational Analysis……………………………………………………………………….. 4 Organizational Analysis…………………………………………………………………… 6 Internal Environment (including story audit)……………………………………… 8 Public Perception………………………………………………………………….. 10 External Environment……………………………………………………………... 11 Analyzing Publics…………………………………………………………………………. 12 Positioning Statement……………………………………………………………………... 14 Goals………………………………………………………………………………………. 15 Objectives…………………………………………………………………………………. 15 Strategy……………………………………………………………………………………. 16 Proactive Strategy…………………………………………………………………. 16 Spokesperson……………………………………………………………………… 16 Endorsers……………………………………………………….............................. 17 Rational Appeal……………………………………………………………………. 18 Emotional Appeal…………………………………………………………………. 19 Love & Virtue Appeals……………………………………………………………. 20 Tactics……………………………………………………………………………………... 21 Budget, Schedule, & Evaluation…………………………………………………………... 25 References page…………………………………………………………………………… 28 Appendices (see tabs)……………………………………………………………………… 29-33
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Succeeding this quick summary is an integrated communications plan for Ballet Nouveau Colorado (BNC); specifically, the school of Ballet Nouveau Colorado. This plan provides a thorough process of ways to approach the key publics in order to enhance results and fulfill the goals of BNC. Their goals are: 1. To increase their annual revenue. 2. To increase the enrollment rate at their school; specifically for adult classes. 3. To increase awareness of the school of BNC These goals, alongside our awareness and action objectives for our key publics, are explained in further detail in the STRATEGY section of this plan. In the FORMATIVE RESEARCH section, our key publics are identified as women ages 5075, families with children, and disabled students; all key publics are located with in the North Denver/Colorado area. This section will further explain why these are the chosen key publics, and why the location is specific to the goals of BNC. The TACTICS section provides a detailed list of how we plan to reach our publics through specific PR tactics. Tactics include interpersonal communications, organizational media, news media, and Advertising/promotional media. Here is a small example of our central tactics: 1. Offering a free week to all new participants and mandatory survey for new students and current students. 2. Publicity stunts include flash mobs on Pearl Street in Boulder and the Fourth of July parade in Broomfield. 3. Entering the school of BNC into the Boulder Creek Festival, here they will do a performance and reach a large group of our key publics. 4. Social media; creating new uses for each BNC’s facebook, twitter, and blog outlets. For example, making their blog specific to the school and interactions with those who go to the school. A personalized blog containing two way communications with the school, instructors, parents, and students. After these sections, we have mapped out a comprehensive SCHEDULE for the success of this campaign. Within this section we have charted the costs of each proposed tactic in accordance to the allotted BUDGET. Following the budget we communicate a plan to EVALUATE the success of the campaign. This includes measuring revenue, enrollment rates, and online engagement.
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1. Basis of Research In organizing our formative research, we focused on primary and secondary research outlets. As a result, we have come to a better understanding of what BNC is all about. On February 9, 2011, Alanna met with Ashley Burns, Communication Manager for BNC. From this interview, our group gathered information pertaining to their performances, afterschool programs, and community engagement activities. After the interview, we moved on to secondary research. Here we focused primarily on the BNC website and their social media outlets, including twitter, facebook, and their personal blog. BNC has been recognized and printed in major Colorado publications; The Denver Post, Denver Business Journal, The Denver Magazine, The Gazette, and more. These publications gave us a strong understanding on the community’s perception of BNC. Following this secondary research and as well as further communication with the organization, we aimed to focus primarily on the school of BNC in this campaign. We conducted a small survey and gave it to current adult students at the school to get feedback about the school and classes. (See appendices for survey) 2. Situational Analysis BNC is a non-profit organization founded in 1992. BNC’s company, school, and community programs have the mission of enriching lives through innovation in dance. The company’s vision is to be recognized as an international leader in education, development, and presentation of dance. BNC has become known for presenting work that is artistically rich and accessible. The company values collaboration, creativity, and innovation in all of their pursuits. In relation to the marketing and PR, BNC aims to build awareness about the full picture of who they are as an organization. Currently, they feel they do a good job of creating PR interest about their professional productions but, are lacking interest with their school and community programs. For the school, BNC’s biggest goal is to build more awareness about the vast variety of dance and fitness classes they offer that reach far beyond ballet. They have many specialized programs for toddlers through senior citizens that need more recognition. BNC serves more than 300 students every year and is committed to every student regardless of age, education, or financial status. The school provides a professional environment for students of all ages. BNC offers classes not just in ballet, but also in pointe, jazz, modern, contemporary, and Pilates. If a student cannot afford to pay for classes, BNC will provide scholarships and tuition to those who cannot pay themselves. There are also many community programs BNC offers that serve more than 20,000 people annually. BNC has an elementary partnership program that brings year long arts experience to four public schools that are located in high-need neighborhoods. BNC offers 60
5 performances every year in various elementary schools to entertain children and get them interested in dance and theatre. These performances are an interactive way to get people involved with the company. BNC has many community partners that help to fund and sponsor community events. BNC partners are Kansas City Ballet, Lighthouse Writers Workshop, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, Oregon Ballet Theatre, The Colorado Ballet, The Washington Ballet, and many others. BNC wants help bringing more awareness about all of these programs and also about the level of quality they provide. The situation with the school right now is that not enough people understand that BNC is trying to provide people of all ages with a place to harness their creativity though dance. It allows people to express themselves in an innovative way furthering the organizations vision to become a leader in the facilitation and presentation of dance. Many students within the organization go on to be students in some of the top ballet and dance academies around the country. Recently, two of their advanced ballet students were accepted to one of the countries’ top dance programs at Harid Conservatory in Florida. Doing more promotions and advertising about their events could bring more students to BNC and help stimulate revenue. Ashley Burns aims to use PR to help generate more students to come from around the country to BNC’s advanced summer intensive program. She would like students on a local level to come as well. She wants to get students of all ages and ability to come to BNC’s programs, even if it’s just for their adult fitness classes. BNC needs this PR to help generate revenue. With their school and community programs, their goal with PR is to build awareness and find people, corporations, and businesses that want to donate to the cause. Overall, BNC wants more awareness and recognition from people/businesses around their area that can help. Every year $70,000 worth of tuition is given to students who cannot afford the school otherwise. There are 4,700 classes offered in 1 annual year. BNC offers free dance and fitness weeks as well as various summer camps and programs. PR will be used to raise awareness about all BNC has to offer and all the good it brings to the community.
6 3. Organizational Analysis
Strengths
Weakness
Performances
Twitter posts
Current PR for the company alone.
Not focusing on the school
Community engagement- Serving more than 20,000 individuals
programs as much as the company.
annually.
Elementary school programs
Free ticket programs
After school dance classes
Pre-post production discussions (allows community to engage with
Outdoor marketing (flyers and posters)
The BNC dance school site- more informative
Awareness- people don’t know who they are besides a dance company.
Blog is exactly the same as their
professional dancers).
Twitter account- needs some
Website – informative, contains
spicing up.
testimonials, emotional appeal is good.
Facebook page- very active, and contains frequent updates
The summer “free week” event
Opportunity
More cross partnerships
Gaining awareness of all their
Threats
Their tight budget with marketing (internal)
community engagement.
Staff capacity (internal)
The school of BNC – has great
Free after school programs that
offers, like a summer intensives
already exist
7 camp, and Day Off Day Camp
Appeals to younger girls vs.
Enhance the blog
Enhance twitter
End of year Gala
over 50 dance studios in the
Target audience beyond
market they are reaching.
mothers
boys and girls.
Other dance schools- there are
Other well known dance companies in Denver. The Colorado Ballet.
Critically speaking, BNC is an established organization. They are a well-rounded, not for profit organization that impacts the fitness and well-being of their target community. With their after school programs and their free services, BNC does a good job accommodating a varied amount of incomes and lifestyles. They have strong social media activity (Facebook) and their website is well branded. The website contains tutorials that have a strong emotional appeal.
BNC has a lot of potential that they are not taking advantage of. There is a lot of opportunity for the organization once they reach out to the specific audiences and markets they are trying to incorporate into their school. They have their social media sites set up but, there is a lot to be done with them in terms of personalization, and two way communications with followers. They also have a lot of events and performances throughout the year; gaining awareness for them will create opportunity for the school and will help fill up audiences, increasing revenue.
8 BNC has two key weaknesses. First, their outdoor marketing is weak; they’re currently relying on posters and flyers about the company, not the school. They want to increase awareness, and part of doing that would be improving their outdoor display. Second, they are using the same posts for both their twitter and blog accounts. This depicts a lack of interest in the use of social media, even if that is not the case. We want to give specific roles to each of the social media outlets, this way they reach out to the consumers that are active on those specific outlets. Last is their website, though their branding is good, it represents BNC’s dance company more than BNC’s school. Since the school is what brings in the most revenue, they should make it more prominent on the site.
With BNC being a small organization, they are facing a few threats, some of which are internal. First, they do not have a large staff; this can put strain on the time it takes to implement a solid PR campaign. Internally, they are also dealing with a very small communications budget; this makes the campaign less malleable because it has to be budgeted tightly. Externally, BNC offers free after school dance classes, but they are still competing with other afterschool programs. After school dance classes seem to appeal more to younger girls, verses other programs that appeal to both sexes. On top of that, there are many other dance studios in their area. We have to make our target see why BNC is the dance studio to choose. The last real threat would be other ballet companies, such as The Colorado Ballet, who have similar community engagement programs. Currently, BNC is ranked number three when it comes to ballet companies in Denver, following Cleo Parker Robinson, and The Colorado Ballet. They are, however, the only professional ballet company located in Broomfield, which could be used to their advantage. Internal Environment The school of BNC is currently offering classes in ballet, point, and jazz, modern, contemporary, capoeira, and pilates. Among these styles they offer specialty classes, highlighting, Dance with me, Ballet Expressions, and adult specialty classes. Dance with me is a program designed for toddlers and their parents to come to class together. It promotes family involvement and interaction not only with the school but, with the classes as well. The Ballet Expressions class is geared to students and children of all abilities. The teacher is trained in special education
9 physical movement and tailors the class to the abilities of those involved. BNC also offers over 11 adult classes, all of which are geared towards dance and fitness. As of right now the school has 300 returning students, however only 25 of these students are adults. As a result to such a low number of adult students, most of the adult classes have an average of three to five people, besides the more popular classes like ballet and jazz, which contain fifteen to twenty people. Internally the school has a good amount of instructors. Some of which are performers in the company. The organization has a small staff and would highly benefit from a comprehensive PR plan. With such a small staff capacity, the only individual that does the communications is Ashley Burns. She is in charge of the marketing, PR, and advertising for the entire organization, and because of this, it is very difficult to do certain campaigns and projects. The company rarely has interns, which would benefit them given their close proximity to the University of Colorado Boulder campus. Ashley also mentioned that BNC’s budget is very small. With a tight budget BNC is limited in what they can do to meet their PR objectives. Most of their costs are in printing of flyers and posters. Currently they do most of their communications through social media, websites, email blasts, and word of mouth. STORY AUDIT The school of BNC has a very strong connection with their audiences, students, and community; because they need to be reaching out more and telling their stories. Story audit list includes: 1. The “nature of our challenge� story a. The entire organization was under financial scrutiny last year. They were saved through fundraising, because they pleaded out to the community for help. As a result they got a lot of negative news attention. If they turned their challenge into a story it would have gotten less negative attention and more positive attention from the public.
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2. The story about “people in the organization / performance” a. There are hundreds of possible testimonials within the school of BNC that could tell great stories regarding achievement, growth, self-confidence, family involvement, and more.
3. The “striving-to-improve” story a. This would have been appropriate to do right after their community bail out and even now. Touch base with the community and explain through a story what they are doing to make sure they will not be in financial trouble again. Public Perception In our small sample survey we concluded that current adult students are happy with the BNC’s school. When asked on a survey to rank their experience, 95% of adult students ranked between a 9 and 10 on a scale of 1 to 10. The majority of the participants would not change anything about the school and feel it is worth the price of the classes. Through secondary research, we are finding that overall people are very happy with the school and company. BNC is well loved with in the community and has a solid reputation as both a ballet company and an organization. When it comes to their reputation, we perceive that BNC is coming out of a rocky phase. A Denver Post online article uncovered that the company was under financial scrutiny in the summer of 2010. To relieve their financial stress they sent out an email blast, over the summer, to the community of north Denver that has been apart of the organization or has shown interest in the organization. This includes donors, families, friends, students, audiences, and more. In a sense, this entire effort was considered a bailout and got a bad wrap from some of the media. However, it did have two-way communication and addressed measures they were taking to make sure they were never in that financial position again. It seems that their honesty and bond with
11 the community paid off; at their fundraising performance over that same summer, they were able to raise enough money to stay functioning. Their current reputation is strong, they are well recognized with in their community through their pairings with elementary schools and tuition assistant programs. The Denver Magazine wrote an article about their 8th annual luncheon, and praised the organization on their passion for dance and audience participation. External Environment Their supporters include donors, customers, partnerships, and community members. BNC is the second largest ballet company in the Denver Metro area. The largest is The Colorado Ballet, who is celebrating their 50th anniversary this year. Both companies are very similar in their community engagement. They both have schools for student dancers, after school programs, scholarships, and they are both non-profit organizations. The big differences are their dance styles and reputations. BNC has a much more modern and unique style of dance. They appeal to a large audience base, and welcome all levels of dancers. Through research no real opponent has been disclosed. We have been unable to find any real opponents. BNC is an organization devoted to enriching lives through innovative dance. We have not uncovered anyone who has harsh feelings for the organization. When it comes to external competition, BNC is fortunately the only organization of its kind in the northern Denver region such as the Broomfield, Boulder, Arvada, and surrounding areas. They do however compete with other Denver companies which are, The Colorado Ballet and Cleo Parker Robinson. The Colorado Ballet has been present for over 50 years and has a long standing reputation in the state of Colorado. Their mission, similar to BNC’s, states, “Colorado Ballet's mission is to present superior quality in classical ballet and innovative dance through performances, training and education programs that enhance the cultural life of our community while remaining financially sound.� The Colorado Ballet reaches their audiences in similar ways to BNC. They are also a not for profit organization, they engage with the community, and run a well known
12 ballet academy. As a result, it is vital that we target the specific north Denver community for BNC to reduce competition with The Colorado Ballet. Cleo Parker Robinson is also a well known dance company that is located in the Five Points area of Denver. Their mission states, “Cleo Parker Robinson Dance is an international, cross-cultural, dance-arts and educational institution rooted in African American traditions, and dedicated to excellence in providing instruction, performances, and community programs, for intergenerational students, artists and audiences.” The organization is devoted to cross cultural dance arts. It engages with schools within the community and is devoted to the arts. They are a for-profit organization, which separates them from BNC, and they have a very diverse use of dance. This competition doesn’t seem to have the potential to be as significant as the Colorado Ballet, but it is in the top three dance companies in Colorado. 4. Identifying and analyzing publics Customers: Families with small children interested in ballet Adults interested in staying in shape Families with disabled children Adults with limited movement abilities (ex: bad hips, joints) Targeted toward elder adults (ages 40+), also smaller children (preschool, elementary school) Women who want to be active & healthy, alternative ways to exercise Producers: Employees of the company: professional dance teachers, marketing team, office support, etc… Volunteer parents/people of community helping with events, etc… Families of already enrolled children in dance school Enablers: Professional dance companies (set examples/influence) Professional dance schools (set examples/influence) Butterfly Pavilion – cross promote each other Local media General media availability Print media: newspapers, mailers, magazine ads, newsletters Electronic media: e-newsletter, e-mails, social media (blog, FB, Twitter)
13 Limiters: Other competitive dance studios o Ones that offer classes, schools, day camps, etc… Other professional dance companies The key publics for BNC are disabled students, older women (50-75), and families with children. With these key publics, BNC will be able to fully meet their goals as an organization. 1. Disabled Students a. Opinion Leaders/Intercessory Publics i. This key public’s opinion leaders are mainly their parents or caretakers. These people highly influence this key public because they are around them during their day-to-day activities. Their intercessory public would be the media because their parents or caretakers would most likely be influenced by the media to engage with BNC. b. WINs (Demographics/Psychographics/ Geographics) i. The wants, interests and needs for this key public are to have the ability to feel a part of an activity, no matter their ability, and to broaden their interests as far as activities go in their lifestyle. The age for this group ranges from 5 to 21 and the socioeconomic status of this public is middle class. There aren’t any specific gender/cultural/ethnic/religious traits among this public. The geographic area for this key public is Brighton, Thornton, Northglenn, Arvada, Westminster, Boulder County, Louisville, Superior, and Lafayette. c. Benefit i. The benefit for this key public would be that BNC would provide an opportunity for disabled students to participate in an activity not usually offered at other ballet schools. 2. Older Women, ages 50-75 a. Opinion Leaders/Intercessory Publics i. The opinion leaders for this key public would be people who are friends with these women that aren’t in this specific group. They may influence and encourage them by word of mouth about the programs that BNC offers. The intercessory public for this group is definitely the media. b. WINs (Demographics/Psychographics/ Geographics) i. The wants, interests and needs for this key public is that they want and need to know about a different ways they can exercise. It would also be an interest to them because of the other classes
14 offered that is specific to some of their needs. The age range of this group ranges from 50 to 75 years old. The socioeconomic status of this group is middle class. There aren’t any specific gender/cultural/ethnic/religious traits among this public. The geographic area for this key public is Brighton, Thornton, Northglenn, Arvada, Westminster, Boulder County, Louisville, Superior and Lafayette. c. Benefit i. The benefit for this key public is that BNC has the ability to offer programs and classes for these women who are looking for alternative, fun ways to exercise that won’t jeopardize their health in any way. 3. Families with children a. Opinion Leaders/Intercessory Publics i. The opinion leaders for this key public would be other families involved with BNC and also those who aren’t among the key publics by word of mouth. The intercessory public would be the media as well. b. WINs (Demographics/Psychographics/ Geographics) i. The wants, interests and needs for families with children would be the want to have their children involved with some sort of activity that they would like. The interest is to be involved with other families and have an impact on the community. The need is to have families socialize with other families that have similar interests for both their children. c. Benefit i. The benefit for families with children is that BNC is able to offer classes and programs that will enable familial involvement year round.
POSITONING STATEMENT BNC aims to be the leader in innovative dance in Colorado. With their passion for community and education, they engage their audiences in the discipline and benefits of dance. They are dedicated to enriching lives through dance.
15 GOALS Based on BNC’s mission and vision, the organization has three main goals. The first two are task management goals, followed by a relationship management goal. 1. Their first goal is to increase annual revenue. From our primary research we found that the BNC School earns the majority of the organizations revenue; grossing approximately $374,000 over the last twelve-month period. In the next 12 months, we want to increase the school revenue by 10% or approximately $35,000. This advances their desire to be recognized as an international leader in the education, development, and presentation of dance, as stated in their vision. 2. Their second goal is to increase the enrollment rates at the BNC School; specifically for their adult classes. According to current rates, the BNC School has 300 students and only 25 of them are adult students. They are currently offering 5 regular adult classes, and 6 power hour classes. Ultimately, we want adult students in each adult class. This will continue the organizations desire to enrich lives through innovation in dance, as stated in their mission statement. 3. Their last goal is to increase awareness of the BNC School, to continue their pursuit for leadership and desire to enrich lives, as stated in both their mission and vision. OBJECTIVES 1. Awareness a. To have an effect on the awareness of North Denver women, ages 50 –75, toward the BNC School; specifically to increase their understanding of the benefits the school offers for adult students. (Evaluate through measured reach; frequency of media impressions, and social media)
b. To have an effect on the awareness of North Denver disabled students; specifically to increase their knowledge about the opportunities BNC has for disabled students. (Evaluate through measured reach; frequency of media impressions, and social media)
c. To have an effect on the awareness on families with children in the North Denver community; specifically to increase their understanding of the BNC school. (Evaluate through measured reach; frequency of media impressions and social media)
2. Action a. To have an effect on the action of North Denver women ages 50-75; specifically to increase the enrollment rate of adult students and increase school revenue. (Increase adult enrollment rate by 50 % in the next six months; 13 new adult students).
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b. To have an effect on the action of North Denver Disabled students; specifically for more disabled students to enroll in the classes specified to their needs. (Increase the number of disabled students by 5 over the next six months) c. To have an effect on the action of families with children in North Denver; specifically to increase the family involvement at the BNC school and increase enrollment in all classes. (15 % enrollment increase in six months; total 45 new students)
STRATEGY BNC’s key message is to appeal to our key publics and to ensure they are getting the care and services they deserve. Our main three key publics are families with children, disabled students who need scholarships, and older women (50-75). Proactive Strategy Proactive strategies for BNC would be the best approach to achieve their ultimate goal. BNC’s goal is to increase revenue, increase enrollment in their adult classes as well as build an overall awareness of who BNC is to the public. In order to accomplish these objectives, BNC should participate in some of the suggested tactics that we have provided. For instance, BNC should use organizational, interpersonal, advertising and news media to increase the overall awareness about their organization. After utilizing these important tools, adult participation in classes should increase and BNC’s revenue should increase as well. Another great tool for BNC to use is a mandatory survey to give at the start of their involvement with the school of BNC. By handing out these surveys, with basic questions geared towards students, students will be able to aeffectively think about their experience with the school and have a voice concerning what they would like to see done differently. In accordance to giving students a voice, BNC’s school will be able to adjust their programs to the liking of their key publics and eventually increase enrollment in their programs. Spokesperson Christin Crampton Day is the new executive director at BNC as of January 2011. Not only has Day operated her own business for twelve years, she has danced professionally for 25 years of her life. She is experienced in the public relations field; with credentials ranging back two decades. Day has received many awards such as being named the Denver Business Journal’s “Power Book” as one of Denver’s top newsmakers in 2007, and the “Forty under 40” business leader’s award. Day’s enduring passion of dance has led her to this position at BNC and she hopes to bring to life the company’s mission and vision. With her specific experience and solid credentials, she would be a great spokes person for women ages 50-75. She is relatable and passionate about BNC. Julia Wilkinson Manley, the school director, is highly recognized by the BNC community. Parents of students state she is “personally invested in the growth of each dancer.” Julia’s
17 extensive background in dance includes performing in many professional ballet companies; she is also an award winning choreographer. Her charisma and passion for dance makes her a great spokesperson for families with children in the North Denver community. For our last public, disabled students in North Denver, the spokesperson would be Heather Sutton. She instructs a class called Ballet Expressions that is designed to meet the ability level of all students participating. She is a registered dance/movement therapist and with degrees in Special Physical Education & Development and Somatic Counseling Psychotherapy. Her class offers a therapeutic dance experience; designed to increase body awareness, help to develop fundamental motor skills, build self-esteem, learn focus, and let students have fun expressing themselves creatively; as stated in the class description.
Endorsers Our most affective external endorsers will be third party advocates for each of our publics. Specifically, for families with children, testimonials from parents or children who attend classes at the school is the best way to appeal to other parents and children. This kind of endorsement could take place in video form or just merely a quote on their website. Currently, they have a testimonial posted stating; “We keep coming back to BNC (5 yrs) because we’re part of the family. The talented and experienced BNC staff can keep my 7 yr old ballerina focused and my 49 year old body in shape. They really have something to offer everyone. We also LOVE the professional company and see every show. You can feel their synergy when they dance. They are all beautiful and excellent role models for our children.” – Adult student and parent of a Ballet A student We want to continue getting testimonials like these but, we want to personalize them with the actual names and ages of the students they are quoting. These same kind of endorsements are vital for our two other publics, women (50-75) and disabled students. Relating to the specific publics through personal experiences of others within that same public is significant for obtaining the goals of BNC. Specifically, a disabled student is more willing to attend Ballet Expressions after hearing another student similar to him/her speak highly of it. The same goes for women; if they can relate to the women who love the adult classes they are more likely to sign up for them. Beyond students, we can look at possible third party endorsers who participate in the North Denver dance community. Below is a list of seven possible endorsers within the greater Denver area 1. Bethany Cagle director of Denver Independent Choreographers Project- an organization aimed to reveal unique technique and choreography in Denver. 2. Jane Monreal- TV Newsperson/Host. She is a local dance expert who currently does a radio segment called “morning after’, providing expert feedback on the hit show So you think you can Dance?
18 3. Shalee Horstman- created a company called Dance for the Soul, Inc . She believes in therapeutic healing through movement; a one woman company. 4. Onye Ozuzu – she is the Director of Dance at UC Boulder and an associate professor. 5. Chelsea Pierotti is the poms Varsity head coach at Broomfield High School. 6. Pamper yourself Denver- is a beauty blog that recommends fitness places and salons in the greater Denver area. 7. The Denver Mom’s Blog- a blog for moms around Denver. They discuss ways to get fit in 2011. Rational appeal The rational appeal presented in this campaign has three different propositions; factual, conjecture, and value. The factual proposition is based on primary research, a survey, conducted to discover current client satisfaction or dissatisfaction. The conjecture proposition is based on the notion that there needs to be more adult students to fill the adult classes. The value proposition is based on the fact that all of the main three key publics will be fully serviced to their needs no matter age or disability.
The rational appeals for women o A factual representation of the school;
Fair cost
Fun
Good exercise
Adaptive programs
Nice people
Flexible class schedule
Large studio space
First week free
o Conjecture proposition;
Increase adult students
Good environment
Comfortable for all levels
The rational appeal for families with children o A value proposition asserting the schools best interest is for the students;
Safe
Whole family involvement
Repeat customers
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Individual growth
Recognition
Self – confidence
Self –expression
Motivation
A rational appeal for disabled students o A factual representation of how the school incorporates disabled students;
Therapeutic practice
Learning
Engaging
Increase motor skills
Trained instructors
Adaptive
Peer support
Family engagement
Emotional appeal There are two important emotional appeals involved with our message: love and virtue. Our message contains an emotional appeal because it provides the key publics comfort in knowing BNC is flexible to each client’s needs, no matter what disability or what age. The love appeal will encompass feelings of family togetherness, nostalgia, compassion and sensitivity. All of these feelings may be evoked by participants involved with the different types of classes. The virtue appeal is involved with the message because of the societal values embedded within. For instance, the Ballet Expressions class that’s offered helps disabled children have the ability to participate in a dance class, no matter their disability. Also, for older women or women with injuries, there’s a class offered that will tailor itself to medical need with in the class, which provides more opportunity for older customers.
Love appeals Families with children
20 1. Family togetherness- a mother and her little girl getting their hair done in dance buns in the mirror. Dad walks in and says “look at my two beautiful girls� then we see mom and daughter walking out of house in their ballet attire holding hands. They are leaving to go to the Dance with Me class featured at the BNC sschool for parents and toddlers to dance together. 2. Nostalgia- a mother looks at her 18 year old daughter and drifts back to her first dance recital. The little girl has a wide smile and big bright eyes; she is glowing on stage. We see the moms eyes focus on the young woman in front of her now and her eyes water with memories. 3. Love- an image of a dad hugging his daughter after a dance recital. His face appears relaxed and prideful, the daughter is around 6 years old and has her entire body wrapped around her dad. Her eyes are closed tight she seems relieved by her dads embrace. Disabled students 1. A warm image of a disabled child engaging with the instructor of the dance class. The image is of the two dancing together, the teacher showing the student with one hand, while her other hand holds on to the disabled student’s hand. Both are smiling and activity engaged in what they are doing. Women ages 50-75 1. Togetherness -Pleasant image of older women in dance attire warming up on a ballet bar and on the floor. Some are stretching while others are doing technique. They are all smiling and looking towards each other as if they are engaging in conversation. Everyone appears relaxed and comfortable. Virtue Appeals Families with children 1. Esteem appeal - this image depicts two parents watching their younger daughter dance through the looking glass outside of the studio. The mother is pointing at the daughter, and the dad is watching with pride as his little girl does a double pirouette. Disabled students 1. Social acceptance- a disabled student is at the front of the dance studio bowing, the rest of the students in the class are looking his way; their faces exude excitement, they are cheering and clapping. The bowing student at the front is smiling and seems thrilled by the acceptance and peer support he is receiving from the class. Women (50 -75) 1. Esteem- An image of an older woman posing in the studio mirror. She is prepping for a pirouette in her stance. Confidence exudes her as she watches herself; her back is upright, pelvis is tucked under and her feet are turned out. She is in perfect form.
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TACTICS Tactic Adult classes survey
Details Students fill out a general survey about what they want to see more of from BNC. Gives insight to the faculty on new ways of teaching/programs to implement.
New Student Survey
We want every new participant at the school to also fill out a survey. Each new student will receive a free week after doing so. This will allow the school to learn where their consumers are hearing about the school and why they chose the school, enhancing opportunity for growth and stability. Offer free adult classes 2 X’s a year to get potential students to visit BNC. Organization can oversee deliverance of this message. Provides a direct way to promote BNC. The adult free weeks will be advertised by email notifications, an entertainment ad, as well as be included on the BNC home page two months prior to when the free weeks take place. These free weeks will also be tweeted and blogged about as well as mentioned and encouraged on facebook. Blogs on news, videos and photos of BNC students/performances. News will include upcoming performance information and student achievements in dance. Videos will be posted of students rehearsals so that parents and students can go on the blog and check it out. Highlight one student every week to tell their story on the blog to make the page feel more personal.
Promote free adult weeks
Social Media interaction; Blogs
BNC will join facebook causes, a place for non-profit fundraising. Here they can talk about the events coming up and the
Public Women (50-75), and families
Type Organization al media
Objectives O2, a
Women ( 50-75)
Interpersonal media
O1,a O2,a
Women ( 50-75), families, and disabled students
Organization al media
O1- a,b,c
22 fundraisers taking place which will generate more revenue. This will be a place for BNC to talk about the classes they provide and the new classes that will be opening. Twitter
Boulder Creek Festival special event
BNC shadow day
Use twitter to talk about BNC promotions, spur student, potential student, and community interactions. BNC will use twitter to promote their company and start conversations with their followers. Their goal is to get feedback from the people following them to better understand their audiences. BNC will encourage students to retweet about special offers. Student performance during the Boulder Creek festival. Take BNC to a family public to conveniently showcase the company to its audience. This event brings in 450,000 people annually and BNC will take place in the event in 2012. The event takes place in late May every year and application forms are due by the February prior to the event date. The event allows local talent to perform on one of five stages. BNC will submit an application this next February with a $250 application fee to be entered and advertised in the festival. The $250 dollar fee will be raised through company performances put on throughout the year. Invite potential students to shadow a BNC student for the day. Will be effective in generating future audiences. There will be an email blast encouraging students to get involved in the shadow day by handing out goodie bags for those participating. Potential students can pick 3 classes that they would like to shadow someone in for the day. These shadow sessions can take place all in one day or, the potential student can do the three classes on separate days and shadow someone different each time. These will appeal to families who have children but also disabled students.
Women ( 50-75), families, and disabled students
Interpersonal media, Promotional Media
O1-a,b,c O2- a,b,c
Families with children, and disabled students
Interpersonal media
O2- b,c
23 Brochure/flyers
Promote company awareness, membership services, and features to generate support for the organization. The flyer and brochure will be redone quarterly to allow the company to update any classes or summer programs being changed. These materials will be placed in public school offices, coffee shops, grocery stores, restaurants, Targets, salons, and children’s hospitals in the Broomfield and Boulder areas.
Families with children
The example brochure and flyer appeal specifically to the entire school and what it has to offer to everyone.( see appendices)
Women 50-75
Beyond the broader versions of flyers and brochures that we have examples of, we recommend creating a flyer and brochure to appeal to each of the public’s. For women the brochure and flyer would highlight why women should come to BNC’s school and depict the qualities of the organization through images of women just like those we are trying to reach.
Disabled students
With this target it is important to have a separate brochure and flyer that appeal’s to their needs. We want to show images of disabled students dancing in studios and having a good time.
Dance-a-thon Press release
Highlight an event put on by the company that benefits the community and the company. Dance-a-thon to raise money for a BNC student scholarship fund. This event will be a fun competition for students to see who can dance the longest. Parents will sponsor their child by agreeing to donate a set amount for each hour their child dances. Those left dancing at the end of the night will receive prizes such as tickets to a BNC company show, movie tickets, mani/pedi gift certificates, etc.
Women ( 50-75), families, and disabled students
Organization al media
O1- a,b,c O2- a,b,c
Women ( 50-75) and families
News media
O1- a,c O2- a,c
24 Flash Mob
Entertainment section ad
Adult free week
Disabled class Print Ads (optional)
Women 50-75
Students will correlate doing a flash mob at different local sites. Middle school aged students will do a flash mob at Broomfield’s 4th of July parade and BBQ. They will be wearing a BNC shirt with a pink tutu and will get up and dance when a certain song comes on at the BBQ. The older, high school aged students will perform a flash mob in downtown Boulder in the high traffic area of 16th street mall. One student will walk down the mall with a boombox gathering other student followers and the students will perform when they reach the most crowed area of the mall, at 13th and Broadway. Place an advertisement in the local Boulder county paper highlighting current classes and performance updates.
Families with children in the boulder and Bromfiel d area.
News Media
O1- b
Women ( 50-75) , families, and One ad should be specific to the adult free disabled week. Highlighting the event and the classes students offered.
Advertising and Promotional Media
O2- a,c
Advertising and Promotional Media
O1 &O2 – a,b,c
One should be geared to the class that is offered to students with disabilities. Collateral to put in local magazine and news Women papers. ( 50-75) , families, An ad that displays our target women and dancing and enjoying their time. This ad disabled will stress the concept of “getting fit while students having fun.”
Families w/ Children
This stresses the family environment that takes place at the school. It depicts children from 3-18 performing and being a part of the school.
Disabled students
This ad directly illustrates what we want the multi-ability classes to look like. We want to stress that “ability is limitless” at the school because they offer this kind of opportunity.
25 BUDGET/SCHEDUAL/EVALUATION Schedule
The adult class survey was conducted by the PR team and took us about a day to do. The social media tactic is planned for April 16, will be administered by Ashley Burns (Communications Manager), and is expected to take about 3 days to do. The BNC Shadow Day is expected to take place on April 23, will be carried out by one of the school’s dance teachers and will take one day. To promote the free adult weeks, we expect this to be done by May 1, to be executed by the PR team and will take about a week to carry out. We would like to see the brochures and flyers out by May 14 which will be handled by the PR team and is expected to take about a month. The Dance-A-Thon press release will be handled by the PR team and is expected to take two days to execute by May 14. The entertainment section ad will be conducted
26 by the PR team and is expected to take one day to be finished by May 14. The Boulder Creek Festival falls on Memorial Day weekend and we have chosen May 29 to be a part of it. A team of students will perform at the festival and this performance is expected to take about a month to prepare. Budget Personnel Cost (assumed) Estimated Materials (paper, printing, postage, etc…) Media (advertising rates)
N.A $750-2000
$350
Online Magazine Newspaper Miscellaneous TOTAL
50 200 100 $100-900 $1,200-3,250
The total project cost will be between $1,200 and $3,250. Let’s assume at our Dance-AThon event and at the Boulder Creek Festival, that we get 65 donors that donate $50 each. That will be our break-even point. If we assume that we receive about 57 new adult students from this campaign, that take 1 class a week at $57, then we would also reach our break-even point. Evaluation To measure our campaign’s success, we will take several steps to evaluate each of our presented objectives. Our primary objective is awareness. First, we want to have an effect on the awareness of North Denver women ages 50-75 towards the BNC school; specifically to increase their understanding of the benefits the school offers for adult students. Second, we want to have an effect on the awareness of North Denver disabled students; specifically to increase their knowledge about the opportunities BNC has for them. Lastly, we want to have an effect on the awareness of families with children in the North Denver community; specifically to increase their understanding of the BNC School. There are several different techniques to use to measure this first objective. One of the main techniques is to focus on the message exposure. A way to do this is to assess the amount of hits BNC receives on their website, Facebook page and blog. Another way is to track the possible size of the audience is to analyze the message content in our advertising and to survey customers about the message recall.
27 Our second objective is action. Initially, we would like to have an effect on the action of North Denver women ages 50-75; specifically to increase the enrollment rate of adult students by 50% and increase school revenue. Then, we would like to have an effect on the action of North Denver disabled students; specifically to increase the number of disabled students by 5 to enroll in the classes specific to their needs. Finally, we would like to have an effect on the action of families with children in North Denver; specifically to increase the family involvement at the BNC School by 15% and increase enrollment in all classes. The techniques that will be used to measure our second objective are audience participation, direct observation and relative media effectiveness. For audience participation, we will figure the number of people who acted on the relayed messages about the programs at BNC. From there we can figure to see if we made our increased enrollment goal. For direct observation, we can observe at an event, Boulder Creek Festival for example, to see how well the audience receives the student’s performance. We can observe if the crowd is asking for more information about BNC and their offered programs. For relative media effectiveness, we will measure how the newly enrolled students at BNC heard about the classes being offered. We will ask them how they heard about us and from there we will know whether they heard about it from social media, news media or from advertisements.
28 References Type of Source Person
Ashley Burns , BNC , Communication manager
Person
Stephanie Moir , Administrative assistant at the school of BNC
Text Book Websites
Online articles
Reference
Ronald D. Smith (2009). Strategic Planning for Public Relations, 3rd ed. New York: Routledge
http://www.coloradoballet.org/about/historyhttp://www.cleoparkerdance.org/about.htmly
http://www.bncdance.com/ http://www.facebook.com/bncdance http://twitter.com/#!/bncdance http://www.youtube.com/user/balletnouveau http://www.linkedin.com/company/ballet-nouveau-colorado
1. Wenzel, John. "Ballet Nouveau Colorado appoints new executive director." Denverpost.com (2011): 1-2. Web. 3 May 2011. <http://www.denverpost.com/entertainment/ci_1708856 8>. 2.
Eyl, Eryc. "The Mile High Makeout: Ballet Nouveau Colorado turns to local singer-songwriter for inspiration ." Reverb. N.p., 22 Apr 2011. Web. 3 May 2011. <http://www.heyreverb.com/2011/04/22/the -mile-high-makeoutballet-nouveau-colorado-turns-to-local-singer-songwriter-forinspiration/>.
3.
Wenzel, John. "Dancing as fast as they can: Ballet Nouveau's dire dance for stability." denverpost.com. The Denver Post, 23 Jun 2010. Web. 3 May 2011. <http://www.denverpost.com/entertainment/ci_15580511>.
4.
Wenzel, John. "Just In: Ballet Nouveau Colorado pleads for nearly $200K by July 31." denverpost.com. The Denver Post, 08 July 2010. Web. 3 May 2011. <http://blogs.denverpost.com/artmosphere/2010/07/08/just -in-balletnouveau-colorado-in-dire-straits-pleads-for-fundraisinghelp/1085/>.
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Appendix A. Organizational media including a brochure and flyer. The brochure and the flyer will be used to promote awareness, membership services, and other features to help increase revenue.
Appendix B. Advertising and promotional media that will include entertainment section ads. These ads will highlight current classes and performance updates. This section will also contain a few print ads that can be placed in local papers and magazines.
Appendix C. This section will contain News Media. BNCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Dane-A-Thon press release will be included. The press release serve as a mechanism to get other community members involved in the BNC school by letting them know about a fundraising contest.
Appendix D. This section also includes organizational media. The surveyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s will go in this section which served as our primary research and new surveys will be produced for each of our target audiences in order for BNC to improve what they offer their clients.
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Appendix A
31
Appendix B
32
Appendix C
33
Appendix D