Final Campaign Book

July 21, 2016

Stephanie Gorman

Lindsey Evans

Chelsey Hunt

Qiana Dietz

Chris McCoy

John Romana

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Letter of Transmittal To Professor Pete Evanow: We would first like to thank you for the opportunity to work closely with both you and Dr. Douglas Swanson to deliver an effective campaign plan for PRactical ADvantage Communications (PRAD). We were happy to take on the task of potentially changing the trajectory of the agency for future students and clients alike. We found that in this student-run agency, teams work together with an efficacy unparalleled in other classes. As the agency in charge of PRAD during Summer 2016, we had the opportunity to both maintain and further develop social media pages and the website. We enjoyed updating print media and creating a plan starter plan for future alumni outreach efforts. Finally, we are looking forward to sharing with you our plan for a one-day donation event for the communications department at California State University, Fullerton. It has been our honor to work on these projects for PRAD. We look forward to hearing your feedback and seeing where this agency goes in futures both near and far. As always, thank you very much for your time and dedication. Warm Regards, Envision Worldwide Stephanie Gorman Chelsey Hunt Lindsey Evans

John Romana Chris McCoy Qiana Dietz

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Table of Contents Executive Summary …… 4 Chapter 1 …… 5

o Background o Situation Analysis o Core Problem o Opportunity

Chapter 2 …… 11

o Key Audiences/Publics o Messages

Chapter 3 …… 14

o Goals, Objectives, Strategies, Tactics & Tools

Chapter 4 …… 18

o Resources o Calendar o Timefox

Chapter 5 …… 22

o Campaign Outcomes o Measurement & Assessment

Chapter 6 …… 24

o Evaluation of Success o Recommendations

References …… 27 Appendix …… 28

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Executive Summary PRactical ADvantage (to be referred to as PRAD for the remainder of this campaign book) is a

student-run public relations and advertising agency. Every semester, a team is chosen to work

exclusively with a particular client for the duration of the term. For Summer 2016, we, the

members of Envision Worldwide, chose to manage and represent the agency. With the guidance

of Professor Pete Evanow, we created a plan that includes a print media and website revamp,

social media maintenance, alumni outreach plan and a potential plan for a one-day donation

event for the communications department at Cal State Fullerton.

During our initial meeting with Professor Evanow, we were tasked with at least initiating several

projects for coming semesters in PRAD. We were asked to manage social media platforms, and

referred to past plans as an outline for effective social media communication strategies. We used

an “evergreen” content strategy, but with more specific content guidelines. We were also asked

to revamp both print communication and the website to minimize copy and maximize

readability. We recreated the website using Wix web design software and redesigned print media

such that they both would be easy to update and maintain in future semesters. We also created an

initial plan to better alumni outreach for future graduates, specifically from the PRAD program.

Finally, we created a plan for a one-day donation event, modeled after similar events held at

other universities, in an effort to increase both alumni engagement with the university and funds

available for the communications department.

We are confident that with the plan we have provided, if well maintained, students will choose

PRAD as their preferred capstone course in future semesters. With improved alumni outreach

and media maintenance, we believe PRAD has a huge opportunity for growth in the coming

years.

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Chapter 1 Background Situation Analysis Core Problem

Opportunity

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Background

PRactical ADvantage Communications was founded in 2011 as a student-run public relations

and advertising agency for California State University, Fullerton. Based out of CSUF’s Irvine

campus, the agency was created through the collaboration of communications students and

faculty as a means to obtain real world, hands-on experience in the communications field. PRAD

is one of two options to fulfill the capstone course requirement for a degree in communications.

Students enrolled in the agency course are given the opportunity to synthesize acquired skills in

public relations, marketing, advertising, and event planning in a thorough campaign plan for a

specified client. Possible clients include corporations, small businesses, nonprofit organizations

and CSUF organizations. Course faculty includes Dr. Douglas Swanson and Professor Peter

Evanow.

At the beginning of the semester, students choose a client from a pool of options, and end up in a

team based on the students that also chose that client. Students then meet with representatives

from their client and devise a communications plan based on the core problem or opportunity

their client expresses. The process requires both thorough research and effective implementation

of aforementioned skills acquired in other classes or in a professional setting. Through this

process, students have the opportunity to step in to the work force with real-world experience.

PRAD offers several potential services to clients, including but not limited to: strategic

communication planning, social media development and management, event planning, news

releases and media kits, graphic design and research/data analysis. While non-profit

organizations can receive PRAD services at no cost, for-profit clients are asked to make a one-

time donation of $1,500 to the College of Communications Foundation.

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Situation Analysis

A situation analysis is characterized by identifying the “5 Cs”: company, customers,

collaborators, competitors, and climate. As the background for PRAD as an organization

(company) was given on the previous page (6), the following is the remaining pertinent

information for the situation analysis.

Customers: PRAD has worked with clients both on and off CSUF campus, including but not

limited to: Mazda, CSUF Grad Program, Young Americans, Clarion, CSUF Communications

Department and PRAD itself. Of the companies/organizations that are receptive to working with

a student-run agency, they are usually communicative with their team and open to collaborating

with the communications plan brought to them.

Students are also considered a PRAD “customer,” as they must be marketed to effectively in

order to choose COMM474 over the other available capstone course option. CSUF students often

balance a delicate schedule, often working with pressures of a full course load, internship and

part-time employment, if not full-time.

Collaborators: CSUF organizations and students can be considered collaborators with PRAD as

well as customers. They have the ability to vouch for the quality of work done by the students in

the agency.

Competitors: The main competitor for PRAD is the other available capstone course. It is located

on the CSUF main campus and is therefore more easily scheduled around for students juggling a

hectic schedule. Also, because of the nature of PRAD and its low agency awareness, most other

Southern California public relations and advertising agencies become heavy competitors in the

market. For example, other agencies, such as Estey-Hoover and Creative Partners, have featured

advertisements on Google and may be chose over PRAD due to their “professional persona.”

Climate: PRAD is an agency in a highly competitive Southern California market. It doesn’t

currently have any problems with negative image or perception.

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Situation Analysis (cont’d) For our campaign, we used a SWOT analysis method to determine the strengths and weaknesses

present in PRactical ADvantage Communications.

Strengths

o Offers real-world experience to students

o Gives networking opportunities to students in both on- and off-campus capacities

o Is a cost-effective option for clients o Is a secondary option for the required

capstone course o Wide variety of clients and large

agency portfolio

Weaknesses

o Course/agency awareness is low o Student-run agency may cause clients

to question quality of work o Course is located on the Irvine Campus

and may be less desirable to students o Weak engagement with PRAD alumni o Short summer semester may deter

clients & students, lower engagement

Opportunities

o Several potential clients in the Southern California region

o Students can add to their portfolio/resume

o Flexibility in marketing campaigns to improve image due to being a young organization

o Large pool available for word-of-mouth advertising/discussion

Threats

o Other professional agencies that may have a better image at face value

o Another capstone course available located on the main campus

o Students may be fired from their team o Although unlikely, students may work

with a “bad” client

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Core Problem We discovered that a core problem to address in this campaign is the current state of marketing

in the form of web design and print media. Professor Evanow expressed exasperation with how

much copy is seen on the agency walls (current print media) and on the pages of the website.

Also, social media engagement has remained low, with the most success in followers being

found on Twitter. When looking through previous campaigns for social media details, we found

the information to be vague and overarching. We focused on these two problems quite heavily in

the campaign.

The secondary problem we addressed was the lack of PRAD alumni outreach and engagement.

There is a high opportunity for word-of-mouth marketing, but that marketing pool cannot be

tapped in to without proper outreach.

The tertiary problem specific to this campaign and in this particular semester is the length of time

given to the campaign due to the nature of a summer semester. It is less likely to see high student

engagement with campus-based groups during a summer semester because enrollment is

substantially lower. Moreover, due to the tasks required to address the core problem of the

campaign, much of the evaluation of this campaign will be in theory. Web and graphic design

takes time and attention, and had this campaign been given the full 16-week length, we could

have launched our content at the 8-week mark and had a better opportunity to evaluate our

campaign.

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Opportunity The biggest opportunity available to the team this semester was the relatively unknown nature of

PRAD. For this reason, we were given the opportunity to completely revamp the marketing

scheme of the agency with little to no backlash. Often times, it’s difficult for a brand to make

changes to its marketing without losing brand awareness. For example, JC Penney changed their

logo three times over a three-year time span, and the company went down to 56 percent logo

awareness in 2012 from 84 percent in 2010. After this drastic change, JC Penney was forced to

undo all of its marketing rebranding and revert to the old logo to maintain brand awareness and

customer loyalty.

In a lot of ways, our team benefitted from the young brand that is PRAD. We were able to

feature the many facets of the agency in an entirely new way through social media, and web and

print design.

Also available to us via PRAD is a large pool of alumni that play a detrimental part in student-

based discussion about the agency. Previous campaigns for the agency have mentioned in the

importance of Social Exchange Theory, in which individuals are more likely to believe the

legitimacy of a brand or product if they hear about it from people in their social network. We

relied on this theory heavily in our decision to reach out to alumni via email and open up a

discussion about their experience with PRAD. We were then able to use the first-hand accounts

of alumni to push information about the agency on social media. This alumni pool opportunity

has a chance to address both the problems of low brand awareness and low alumni engagement

in the future.

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Chapter 2 Key Audiences/Publics Messages

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Key Audiences/Publics As previously mentioned in the situation analysis, PRAD has two key audiences: prospective

clients and prospective students.

For prospective clients, the agency finds itself in a highly competitive Southern California

market. Given the nature of PRAD as a student-run agency, there is a possibility for clients to

question the ability of the students in the agency and the quality of the ensuring work. Although

the cost of working with PRAD is substantially lower than working with other agencies in the

market that does not mean the client does not still value their money. It’s important that our

messages are tailored to address that potential problem.

Prospective students, however, we believe require more persuading that prospective clients. They

often balance a schedule with a full course load, part-time or full-time employment and

potentially an internship with a required minimum number of hours. However, although students

may have some monetary disinclination in terms of expenditure, typically people in the “student

age-range” are charged by experiences. With the message strategy, we need to cater to this

public’s inclinations in order to maintain enrollment and the large (and positive) alumni pool.

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Messages PRAD’s mission statement is as follows:

“PRactical ADvantage Communications provides innovative communication and

branding services for local businesses and nonprofits through strategic planning

and communication. By strengthening the knowledge, vision, and creativity of our

students we bridge the gap between the classroom and professional world while

helping students build strong portfolios and business practices.”

The two main goals expressed by the agency are to:

• “…[g]ive students the best possible preparation for a professional career by

allowing students to get hands-on experience developing and executing

communication campaigns for “real world” clients in an agency setting.”

• “…[s]erve as a capstone course option for students in Advertising, Entertainment

& Tourism Communications and Public Relations.

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Chapter 3 Goals & Objectives Strategies Tactics & Tools

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Goals, Objectives, Strategies, Tactics & Tools – (Goal 1 of 3)

Goal 1: Our initial goal was to maintain the social media pages (primarily Facebook, Instagram

and Twitter) and increase engagement with posts on these platforms. This goal functions as an

extension of the goal from Spring 2016 to increase awareness of PRAD as an available (and

desirable) capstone course to fulfill the requirement.

Objective 1: Based on the brevity of a summer semester and the lack of student

engagement during the summer months, we had an objective to increase social media

following by 5-7 percent. However, we wanted to focus more on engagement than

following, given that number of followers is not telling of public opinion. Knowing that,

our objective was to increase engagement with posts (average likes, comments and

shares) by 7-9 percent.

Strategy 1: On our emphasized social media platforms, we chose to produce

evergreen content that would maintain interest for both target publics.

Tactic 1: Create content that falls in to three categories:

• Agency information: course information, background and current

projects

• Client information: brief profiles, logos and quotes

• Alumni profiles: information about experiences, quotes

See Appendix I for Post Samples

Tools 1: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Hootsuite

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Goals, Objectives, Strategies, Tactics & Tools – (Goal 2 of 3) Goal 2: Our second goal was to modify the agency’s marketing scheme to lean more toward one

of professionalism, while also showcasing students and their abilities. This goal is intended to

address the potential weakness of clients questioning the capability of a student-run agency.

Objective 2: Within the 8-week time frame, our objective was to have a complete revamp

of the website and print media completed and ready to launch. Due to the nature of

graphic design and the required attention to detail, the only quantifiable objective we can

have for this goal is to have the content 100% completed.

Strategy 2: Using the old website and print media as an informational template, we

chose to redesign both completely.

Tactic 2: To create the ideal PRAD image, we emphasized the following things:

• Minimal copy on both print media and the website

• Develop both with the idea that they can be updated with a quick “plug

and chug” method by inserting new photos and client logos

• Scroll design rather than click-through for the website

• Include student names with photos

See Appendix II for Website and Print Media Images

Tools 2: Wix web design software (free), Photoshop

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Goals, Objectives, Strategies, Tactics & Tools – (Goal 3 of 3) Goal 3: Our third and final campaign goal was to increase PRAD alumni engagement. Professor

Evanow expressed some concern with the little engagement that goes on given the intimate

nature of the agency. This goal also finalizes the cyclical nature of our campaign, as engaging

with alumni creates content for social media platforms and by extension, increases awareness of

the agency (Goal 1).

Objective 3: We hoped to receive responses from 50 percent of the given alumni

available for contact. This would be the bare minimum number of responses to maintain

social media posts both for this summer semester and still have content available for at

least a couple weeks in the fall semester for the new team to work with.

Strategy 3a: Reach out to alumni directly for first-person accounts of their

experience in PRAD and current presence in the communications field.

Strategy 3b: Reach out to current students at the close of the semester.

Tactic 3: Develop a short survey with a combination of closed- and open-ended

questions to give to alumni, and a slightly different survey to give to students at

the close of the semester to have alumni content for the incoming semester.

• Close-ended questions include semester of PRAD involvement, client

they worked with, contact information

• Open-ended questions include positive/negative aspects of the

experience, things the individual would change given the opportunity,

etc.

See Appendix III for Survey Samples

Tools 3: PRAD email (we decided against using a SurveyMonkey survey

due to the nature of the intended data being more qualitative than

quantitative, and an email allows for a more personal conversation with

someone as opposed to software tallying the individual’s responses)

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Chapter 4 Resources Calendars

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Resources Our team used a variety of resources to achieve our campaign objectives.

First, we used available PRAD social media platforms and the embedded Analytics technology

where applicable.

- Instagram

- Twitter and Twitter Analytics

- Facebook and Facebook Analytics

We also briefly used Google Analytics to analyze to current state of the website.

For web design, we used Wix website builder. We chose this software because it’s relatively new

and considered to be very user-friendly. It’s taught in most web design classes and should be

widely accessible. We also consulted several campus alumni, PR and advertising agency and

university websites to base our design from.

In addition to campaign-based software, we also relied upon campaign books from previous

semesters to evaluate our own trajectory and map out future steps in the campaign.

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Calendars Again, due to the brevity of a summer semester, we focused heavily on the weekly meetings to

stay on track. Each team member had a specific portion of the campaign they focused on, and

each week, we had a short team meeting either before or after class to determine the week’s tasks

to be completed. The following is a break down of week-by-week tasks by project section:

Website Revamp:

o WEEK 2: Determine positive aspects and points for improvement o WEEK 3: Research agency and campus websites and choose new website template o WEEK 4: Begin breaking down copy from old website to minimize wordiness on the new

website o WEEK 5: Embed concise copy into new website template o WEEK 6: Add original photos into website template with team and individual names o WEEK 7: Get approval from Professor Evanow and begin steps toward completion o WEEK 8: Finalize website, present and launch

Social Media Plan:

o WEEK 2: Begin informational posts (background, course information and current projects)

o WEEK 3: Continue strategic posts from week 2 o WEEK 4: Begin agency profile posts (to include logo, brief description and quotes where

available) o WEEK 4: Continue strategic posts from week 3 o WEEK 5: Continue strategic posts from week 3 o WEEK 6: Begin alumni profile posts (to include background information and quotes) o WEEK 7: Continue strategic posts from week 6 o WEEK 8: Begin posts about final campaigns

Alumni Outreach:

o WEEK 2: Complete survey for alumni o WEEK 3: Reach out to alumni via email o WEEK 5: Organize responses and coordinate with social media manager o WEEK 6: Develop survey for current students to complete at end of semester o WEEK 8: Get survey results from current students

Print Media Revamp:

o WEEK 4: Have print media template ready o WEEK 5: Add original photos into print template with logos o WEEK 6: Begin final detailing steps toward completion

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o WEEK 7: Complete final print ad Timefox As the largest team this semester, we were able to portion out the work quite effectively.

According to Timefox, as a team, we spent 163.33 hours working on this campaign. Individually,

Lindsey Evans spent 20.5 hours working on preliminary web design, and spent 6.5 hours

redesigning the print media. In total, Chris McCoy and John Romana (the two main team

members in charge of redesigning the website) logged 63.75 hours. McCoy worked for 29.5

hours, and Romana worked for 34.25 hours. Qiana Dietz, who focused exclusively on social

media updates, logged 20.58 hours. Chelsea Hunt started the semester working on the plan to

improve alumni outreach and logged 24 hours working on that project. She shifted over as a

backup for social media posts and logged 3.5 hours on that project. As account executive,

Stephanie Gorman logged 22 hours of work with team meetings and campaign write-ups (this

figure is not reflective of hours spent designing a one-day donation event for the communications

department).

See Appendix IV for Breakdown

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Chapter 5 Campaign Outcomes Measurement & Assessment

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Campaign Outcomes, Measurement & Assessment Due to the nature of our campaign leaning more toward redesigning creative content, we did not have as much opportunity for quantitative measurement. However, our primary source of numerical data comes from social media engagement.

o During our 8-week semester, we increased Twitter followers from 530 to 550. In this facet, we didn’t quite reach our 5 percent objective, but we largely attribute that to the nature of a summer semester – students aren’t engaged with campus-based groups as much as they are during a regular semester. However, according to Twitter Analytics, we definitely did see an increase in post engagement (meaning views, likes and retweets).

o We increased the Instagram following from 151 followers to 169, increasing the following by nearly 12 percent. Quantifying engagement increase or decrease is more difficult for Instagram given that there isn’t any “Analytics” software imbedded into the app. However, we did see an increase in likes on each post (although, as previously stated that’s not always indicative of public opinion).

o The Spring 2016 campaign increased the Facebook page “likes” from 401 to 412 during a 16-week campaign. During our 8-week campaign, we increased the Facebook following almost the exact same amount, from 412 “likes” to 422. Also, according to Facebook Analytics, the post prior to our use of the page reached 20 people. Our first post reached 338 people, and the second post reached 271.

We did complete the print media and web redesign. Both are ready for launch. If we had a full 16-week semester, we would have the website ready for launch by week 8, and would have used Google Analytics to compare website engagement. Based on preliminary numbers, we found that most website visitors reach the website either via Google search or external link. This means most people either don’t know how to get to the website or that the URL is too difficult to remember. Also, average time spent on the page is relatively low: on average, less than three minutes. In the weeks after the website launch, we would have been able to compare visit tendencies and have a better understanding of whether the new design benefitted the agency. For alumni outreach, we more than met our goal for respondents. We contacted 11 alumni and received responses from 7, giving us nearly 64% response rate. This was enough to have content for our semester, and at least a few weeks of the following semester.

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Chapter 6 Evaluation of Success Recommendations

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Evaluation of Success After having only 8-weeks to maintain a campaign for PRAD, we’ve concluded that our

campaign was a success. Although we didn’t reach the intended following objective for Twitter,

we did reach the objective for Instagram and matched the Facebook following increase of a

campaign that doubled the length of ours. We also reached our more important campaign

objective of reaching more people and increasing engagement with posts. We believe the

strategic posts offering three different types of content prevented followers from getting bored

with the content. Also, it’s important to note, that this portion of the campaign was successful

even given the brevity of the semester and the unlikely tendency of students to engage with

campus-based groups during the summer months.

Although we didn’t have an opportunity to launch the website during the time frame of the

campaign, we foresee the website being very successful. We delivered exactly what the client

asked for, and Evanow was very happy with it. We’re looking forward to the redesigned website

being an important part of the agency brand.

We also completed the print ad redesigns, emphasizing a design that can be easily updated every

semester. We reached out to alumni of whom we had contact information, and were more

successful in terms of responses than we anticipated. We believe that in future campaigns, using

a similar strategy with more alumni will be successful in maintaining (and possibly growing) the

pool of alumni available for word-of-mouth PRAD discussion.

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Recommendations We recommend future teams working with PRAD do the following:

- Follow the previously mentioned social media post guidelines. These are considered

“evergreen” posts, and will always be relevant to the agency. o These posts include informational posts about the agency, brief client profiles,

and alumni testimonials. They intend to exemplify the uniqueness of PRAD as

opposed to the other capstone course. - We recommend also that the PRAD Facebook page be disconnected from Dr. Doug

Swanson’s personal Facebook page. This would give the agency more opportunity to

sync social media accounts like Twitter and Instagram such that posts on all platforms

will be pushed to each platform separately. For example, and Instagram post will show up

on our Facebook feed, a Facebook post will show up on our Twitter feed, etc. - Update the website and print media within the first two-four weeks, depending on when

the photos are taken. Both are designed for ease of edit, such that each semester can

market its new team with no trouble. - Maintain alumni outreach in a similar format, and continue surveying current students.

Try to maintain a large pool of respondents by getting contact information from those

current students. New teams should be able to contact at least ten alumni every semester.

Continue to modify the survey format, and try to get multimedia interviews from current

students and alumni. This will increase content diversity on social media platforms.

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