The Project UT, 2008 Service Organization

The Project: Public RelationsAn outline for creating themes and logos, web presence,

promotional ideas, and awareness on campus…

{The following slide is a comprehensive flow chart for Public Relations that is broken down in later slides. Feel free to add onto them as you see fit.}

© 2007 Doug Farmer: The Project

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Project PR Steps

Define Project’s goals, objectives,

purpose

Brainstorm Theme, tag line that fit

objectives/purpose

Develop logo for promotional

materials

Gather media, content for sites

List questions students might ask

Create site, MySpace, and

Facebook

1) Theme Creation

2) Web Presence

3) Campus Presence Decide on mix of

promotional materials

Compare prices of

promotion ideas to the

current budget

Order promotional items, top priority first

Create timeline from Promotions


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First: Theme CreationThe purpose of The Project’s theme, why frats can use

corny logos, and why The Project can’t afford to…


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Define Project’s goals, objectives,

purpose

Brainstorm Theme, tag line that fit

objectives/purpose

Develop logo for promotional

materials

Purpose of the Theme

“The Project” is a brand. Every year there’s a different theme/product line. Our goal is to bring new volunteers in AND build awareness and recognition into the Project name. More on Theme creation can be found in Appendix A.

Coke

vanilla

cherry

zero

diet classic

The Project

2004 Theme

2006 Theme: Highway to Help

2008 Theme: “LOVE”

2005 Theme 2007 Theme: “007”

Step 1: Define objectives Step 2: Brainstorm Step 3: Logo time!

What Makes a “Good” Theme

• Fits “The Project’s” purpose. • Descriptive/informative tag lines.• Doesn’t over-shadow “The Project” • Although it seems like a list of steps can stifle the

creative flow, it’s good to create a structure to start off with. Creativity flows within limitations.


“The challenge we marketers face is the issue of Congruence. The style a brand displays when attracting customers must be congruent with how customers interact with the brand during all touch-points.”

- Skyon, Brand Autopsy Blog

Why Frats Have Corny Shirts

• The Project:

– Shirts used to recruit volunteers

– Not very well known

– Students aren’t looking for us

• Frats/Sororities:

– Shirts are for fun and usually entail parodies of popular logos

– Greek organizations are well known

– Students actively seek them


2008 Example: “LOVE”

• Here’s how the 2008 theme was born:


Objectives: Start out with the important stuff. The Project means a lot of

different things to a lot of different people. Students see it differently than the recipients so try to think

about The Project through the eyes of someone living

in the area. Renovate, create hope, build for the

future, communicate, learn, connect. Things like that.

Connect: Our chairs eventually decided to focus on the connection aspect for brainstorming. At this point

anything goes. It’s helpful to bring any pictures you think are good metaphors for the objective you chose. One

we included was a picture of handshakes. We settled on

connecting in order to spread “LOVE.”

“LOVE”: It’s a free-for-all at this point. Ideas can come from anywhere. Luckily we remembered the Beatles

song about love and started basing the promotions off that. Songs like this are good as well as movie

themes, books, whatever. Anything that has to do with the Theme. The logo should always include “Project” to make sure people know

what’s going on.


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Second: Web Presence

Providing a path from promotional materials to websites and, finally, registration…

Gather media and content sites

List questions volunteers will have

Create site, MySpace, and

Facebook


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Possible Questions

• Make a list of possible questions volunteers and team leads will have. Each will have a few slightly different ones.

•Information:•Time commitments•Meeting times•Volunteer/Team lead ratio•Location of sites•Event time/date•What to bring•Signing up•Will it be safe•Who benefits•Who’s in charge•Who are the chair members

•From the year before:•How many turned out•Before/After pictures•Who did it help•News coverage

•Include:•Random Facts•Quantifiable results•Last year’s videos•Testimonials•Interviews of Chairs•Who will be recording the event

Gather media and content

List questions Create websites

Content and Media

• Gather all of the necessary content and information to be placed on the website, Facebook, and MySpace.

– Video of the prior years

– Before and After pictures

– Testimonials from prior year

– Interviews of Chair members

– Logo, picture of flyers



Create The Websites

• First: sign up for an email address for The Project. G-mail will work as long as someone is checking it periodically. The email address will allow you to sign up for the social networking sites.

• Speak with the SOC about creating the Website. The price is $10 a month the maintain the website.



Create The Websites

• Time commitments

• History

• Sign up info

• Responsibilities

• Meeting Times

• Site Locations (Map)

• Safety concerns

• Who benefits

• Who’s in charge

• Chair members

• Testimonials

• Random facts

• Quantifiable results

• Before/After pictures

• Video of year before

Project Site Facebook MySpace


• Sign up info


• Who benefits

• Chair members

• Random facts


• Description of Theme


• Sign up info


• Who benefits

• Chair members

• Testimonials

• Random facts


• Video of year before

• Video interviews of chair members



Web Link Layout



Registration Site

Website

MySpace

Facebook

Below are the sites and the direction of links between them. MySpace and Facebook will link to each other and provide links to the website and registration. The website will also link directly to registration.

Third: Campus PresenceSegmenting the student population, developing the right mix of

promotions for a small budget, and following a time-line…

Decide on promotional mix

Compare prices of promotion ideas to the current budget

Order promotional items, top priority

first

Create timeline from promotions


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Student Segments

• Demographics:– Only UT students will be participating.

– Mostly undergraduate students.

– Male/Female undergrad ratio is about 50/50.

• Classifications:– From the Office of Institutional Research:

http://www.utexas.edu/academic/oir/statistical_handbook/05-06/

– Provides data from 2005-2006 year for Students.

Freshmen

Sophomores

Juniors

Seniors

Before deciding on promotional materials, take a look at the UT student body for insights.

Promotional materials

Compare prices to the budget

Order items Create timeline

Student Segments




Freshmen: A great deal of freshmen live on campus and present an easily

accessible segment. They are also more likely to use social networking sites and

have the time available to volunteer.

Sophomores: Slightly less attractive segment than freshmen. Fewer

sophomores live on campus than freshmen, but social networking site use

is still high.

Juniors: Most of the small number of juniors still on campus are RAs and can

be reached easily. They can also provide an avenue for promoting to Freshmen and Sophomores in the dorms. Juniors off campus will be pretty busy and don’t

use social network sites as much.

Seniors: Very few live on campus and they are much harder to reach through social networking sites. Aim to reach these students through organizations,

classes, or whenever they are on campus walking around. Jester and

West Mall are areas of high traffic that might reach seniors. However, Seniors

will have less time to volunteer.

Promotional Item Ideas

• This is a cursory list of promotional items and their associated costs. The Theme and Logo need to be created by this point. It might be good to shop around for better prices.

– 4 by 8 flyers: logo on the front, information on the back.– 8.5 by 11 regular flyers– T-shirts from the prior year– Business Cards: Logo on front with space to write in your name and

personal contact information. On the back include relevant information and contact info for The Project with a link to the website.

• $50 for 500 from www.Jakprints.com (without shipping)

– Door handle tags: 4 by 9 inches• $180 for 500 from www.Jakprints.com (smallest amount, without shipping)

– Banners• $300 for a color banner, $150 or less for a simple one.




Marketing Ideas

• This is a list of marketing ideas and their corresponding promotional materials. Add any ideas you have to the end of this list.

• Market to RAs: RAs have access to on-campus Freshmen and Sophomores and the dorms. They can post flyers and make announcements to residents. You may need to contact the URHA to get permission for flyers.

– Flyers, business cards, door tags

• Market to Organizational Leaders: This includes fraternities, sororities, clubs, and UT groups. This will hopefully reach students in every segment as well as some of those that live off-campus.

– Flyers, business cards, door hangers for houses of frats/sororities

• Table in West Mall or Jester: Depending on the location, tabling will reach both on-campus and off-campus residents that are walking around. Target high traffic areas to get the greatest reach. For for tabling is in the Public Relations binder.

– Banners, flyers, business cards




Marketing Ideas

• Announce in Classes: Reaches many different student segments. PowerPoint slides can be created with information on Project that teachers can include in their notes/presentation.

– Business cards, flyers, PowerPoint slide

• Daily Texan Coverage: There are a few ways to get coverage in the Daily Texan. The first is to actually pay for an advertising spot. The second is to include a flyer with each paper. The third and more difficult way is to get some sort of article written about The Project prior to the event. Either contact them directly about writing and article or view the appendix on “Guerilla Marketing” to get some ideas on how to get noticed.

– Flyer

• KUT Radio Announcement: Not many students listen to KUT so it might not be cost efficient to use. However, if you decide to contact them about mentioning The Project, do it close to the event.




Marketing Ideas

• Post on www.Utvolunteer.org: Reaches students actively seeking volunteer opportunities and provides you with a way of reaching potential team leads and future chair members. Someone in the office should be able to create the listing for you.

• Social Networking Sites: Skewed towards Freshmen and Sophomores who use the site more. Try to move students from these sites directly to The Project website where they can get more information and, eventually, the registration page. On Facebook you can message members as the date approaches to change their main picture to the logo for The Project.

• A-Frame on Speedway: This will hopefully reach a good number of students from each segment. Application for A-Frame or Exhibit is in the Public Relations binder.

• Banner on 21st, UTC: A large, simple banner can be placed on the bridge between the business school and the UTC. Applications are in the Public Relations binder.

– Banner




Budget and Pricing

• This is where the segmentation info will come in handy. Make a note of the current budget and how much you plan on having closer to the event. Prioritize what mix of promotions will reach the greatest number of people and still provide enough of an incentive for them to volunteer their time and effort.

• Some of the promotions will only reach students on-campus, others will reach a number of both groups. Promotions that focus on networking sites will skew towards the younger classes. Seniors are by far the largest segment at UT continuously, but they’re also the busiest and have the least time to volunteer. You’ll have to reach them earlier than the other segments to make sure the day of the event is still open for them.




Timeline Creation

• Again: Some promotions will be most effective at different times. Make sure to get the promotional items ordered early so that they’re ready to go when you are.

• Focus most of your promotions during the two weeks leading up to The Project. However, make sure to reach Juniors and Seniors earlier because the are busy and you want to make sure The Project gets onto their calendars.

• Some of the promotion ideas like flyer posting and banners take time to get permission for. Add these in early.




Appendix A: Guerilla Marketing

• These are some of the ideas we had for guerilla marketing using the “LOVE” theme for Project 2008:

– Since our theme included the Beatles walking across Abbey Lane, we thought about having 4 members dressed like the Beatles walk around with paint brushes and trash bags to promote The Project.

– We looked at buying hundreds of biodegradable Post-It™ notes to post around campus with the website listed and random hearts or drawings on them that have to do with The Project.

• For more information on Guerilla Marketing and ideas: – “The Anatomy of Buzz” by Emanuel Rosen– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guerrilla_marketing– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viral_marketing

• More information on Theme creation:– “Positioning: The Battle For Your Mind” by Al Ries and Jack Trout– Harvard Business Essentials: “Marketer’s Toolkit” – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positioning_%28marketing%29


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Appendix B: Previous Years


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