executive summaryThe Northwood University Ski Club over the years has almost completely diminished. Although the club was going strong when it first started, members quickly pulled back. This is why KJW decided to take on this club. Since the beginning of our firm in 1997, we have had the experience of working with high end clients and have a 95% return rate. We see the full potential, but we know that current students and incoming freshman are unaware of the club and all the activities that come along with it. Our hope is to recruit current students and also have a large focus on recruiting the incoming freshman. With all of our different forms of advertising we are hoping to reach every student and let them know what opportunities await them.

target audienceNorthwood University clubs are only open to students enrolled in classes, this makes our target audience a slim one. The primary target market for the ads we are running will be aimed towards the incoming freshman. By targeting the entire group of incoming freshman, in the long run all students at Northwood University will have heard about the club. We will also have a large focus on advertising all over campus to remind students that the club is there. Along with those two target markets we will be aiming towards any student interested in skiing, snowboarding and anyone else wanting to join a group to meet new people and possibly pick up a new hobby.

key member benefitsThe biggest benefit that will come to students involved in the ski club will be fun. The club is completely voluntary, offering no scholarships or anything else of monetary value. The ski club allows students to meet other students with the same interests and also gives them the chance to travel to various ski and snowboard resorts. The club will not only travel to ski resorts around Michigan but also to other places like Canada and Colorado. And also, along with any other club, it is a great way to network and open new doors.

support

Theresa Sullivan was in charge of the Northwood University Ski Club, and she provided us with contact information for students that were part of the club in the past. After talking to three previous members they came to the general consensus that this club was a great idea, but not advertised as much as it should have been. There wasn’t enough information on the club. The main reason two out of the three members joined was because they wanted to experience slopes from all over the United States, while the third group member joined for fitness. From people that we have talked to, everyone seems to agree that with an advertising campaign like ours, the ski club could have a complete turn around.

media channelsKJW will use three forms of media to reach the students. We chose a magazine ad, television ad and also direct mail. We chose these three forms of media because we feel that these are the most effective. The direct mail piece will be mailed to all incoming freshman homes. This way in the long run, every student will have come in contact with information about the ski club. The magazine ad we will run in the Northwood University magazine that is mailed to students every few months. The final form of media will be the television ad that will be run on various television channels. These channels are MCTV, ABC, ESPN and also E. We chose these stations because we feel this way we reach everyone. MCTV and ABC will reach students interested in community activities, ESPN will reach mainly men and E will reach the woman. We feel that by advertising on 4 very different types of television channels we will reach a wide range of students, interested in many different things.

northwood university’s ski club

media schedule

television

Stations Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov DecE! X X X X XMTV X X X X XESPN X X X X XMCTV X X X X X

magazine

Magazine

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov DecNU Idea X X X X

direct mail

Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct N o v Dec X X X X X

measurement The only way we can measure how effective our ads were is by seeing how many students contact the school with more information, and by how many join. Since we are starting the club back up it will be easy to see how many people were affected by our ads. Another simple way to see how many people joined the club is at an informational meeting we could survey the students why they are interested, if they seen the ads and which ones appealed to them the most.

conclusionsWe would like to thank you for your time and interest in our campaign. With the knowledge of our primary and secondary target markets, we feel that our agency is the key to the resurrection of this great program. With the persuasion of our media campaign, KJW is confident that your needs will be satisfied with our help.

northwood university’s ski club

creativemagazine

The headline of our advertisement is the thought bubble of the skier. When a person who enjoys winter sports is flipping through the magazine, this will catch their eye, making them stop to look at the entire advertisement. When they stop their eyes will follow the smaller thought bubbles down to the student who is studying. This will peak their interest and lead them in the over line which is also our tagline, Study Hard Play Harder. We think that this tagline line will entice our target market because they are students who spend a large amount of time studying and will want something to do activities on the weekends that they will be able to set their minds free of studying. Below our over line and tagline is our logo. Our logo is the Northwood University logo modified to say Ski Club underneath it. We believe that this logo will catch people’s attention. Students see this logo on everything around Northwood University, and it has a brand equity already established. This brand equity will help our organization look more formal and prestigious, which is what the Northwood University name implies. Instead of using a plane background with just white space, we decided to follow the Northwood University color scheme. It starts with a light blue in the top left corner and fades in to a lighter blue then to a white in the bottom right hand corner. Northwood’s colors are blue and white, so when students see this background they will be able to an assumption that it is for Northwood without looking at anything else.

The proximity of the objects in our advertisement are laid out very specifically. We wanted to separate the pictures and words so that the text was easy to read and so that the eyes followed the visuals to the copy. There is a lot of rhythm in our advertisement. The eyes go directly to the skier, and then they follow the thought bubbles line to the student, where your eyes then shift to the right to read the text. The text then follows with rhythm in the sense that study hard is above play harder. Then your eyes follow down the text and to our logo. Our advertisement has an asymmetrical layout because it is not identical on both sides.

Our advertisement has the appeal of pleasure. It shows entertainment and the opportunity to travel and have fun; the ski club will be like a mini vacation for students.

The type of copy that we use in this advertisement is a one-liner. Mostly everyone can assume what a ski club is, so there is no sense in explaining it. Our main objective is to tell the students that Northwood does have a ski club, and that they should join.

televisioncell 1

In this first cell there will be video of students sitting in desks looking around the room being bored. In the background there will be a teacher lecturing. Her voice will be soft and muffled, barely understandable. You will also hear the sounds of the teacher writing on the chalkboard.

cell 2In this cell the camera will zoom in on one student and everyone else around him will disappear. The student will be sitting at his desk, bouncing his leg, and tapping his pencil on his desk. You will still hear the voice of the teacher lecturing and writing on the chalkboard, but it will be even softer now. The student will then breathe in really loud and then exhale in a loud sigh. The blurbs that are shown in this cell will not be visible, they are just shown to make the point.

cell 3In the third cell the camera will still be focused on only this student, he will still be bouncing his leg and tapping his pencil. Then cartoon thought bubbles will start forming on the screen.

cell 4In this final cell the student and the cartoon thought bubbles will disappear. The screen will go to a ski hill with a giant ramp and in the background you will see a skier approach-ing. Then the skier will ride up the ramp and be launched in to the air, like the picture shows. Then the image will pause, like shown in the picture, with the skier in the air. In this por-tion of the advertisement there will be a loud and extreme music playing in the background. This music will then cut out and an announcer will first say, “Study hard”, in a softer calmer voice. Then the announcer will say, “Play harder”, in a louder, more excited tone. After he says this, the North-wood University Ski Club logo will slide in to the frame from the left, moving right.

This type of television advertisement is what is known as a slice of life or problem and solution. It takes a portion of a student’s typical day at Northwood University, sitting in class and studying, and offers them a solution to this problem, the Northwood University Ski Club.

Since we will be advertising on MTV we will be using creative techniques with the MTV influence. Our primary and secondary target markets grew up watching MTV so they are use to the quick and jerky cuts from scene to scene rather than the slower and more sensible cuts. From this we will also be using combinations of live action, with the classroom scene and the skier. We will include animation with the thought bubbles appearing. Typography will appear on the screen when the Northwood University Ski Club logo appears at the end. We will also being using high film speeds with high film quality, especially when showing the skier.

northwood university’s ski club