Canine Companions

Agency: Cowboy Robot CreativeClient: Canine Companions

Subject: Brand Proposal

CanineCompanions

We are Cowboy Robot Creative also known as CRC.

CRC is a full service advertising and public relations agency located in Austin, Texas.

Our fundamentals are to go above and beyond the requirements listed on Canvas. We value cute photos of Golden Retrievers and Labradors, exclusively. Our favorite restaurant is Verts (partially because it’s across the street from Belo Media Center) but don’t get us started on whether the rice bowl or the salad is the better move.

Our name was inspired by an in-class group project where we were instructed to create something out of Legos and

then pitch it to the class. Together, we created an iPhone dock and alarm specifically designed for children. The finished product resembled a robot, thus the name “Cowboy Robot” was born. We work with the intensity and efficiency of robots but at heart we’re still humans (we think) with a southern charm.

GreetingsHumans!

Brand Proposal 2

Creative Mastermind Media MogulWordsmith Social Media Savant

Max Mitrani Paige SandersBrooke Fallek Paige Sowder

H E R E AT CO W B OY R O B OT C R E AT I V E W E

B E L I E V E I N A H O R I ZO N TA L L E A D E R S H I P

S T R U C T U R E W H E R E E V E R Y E M P LOY E E I S A C E O,

P R E S I D E N T A N D F O U N D E R ( S I N C E W E A L L D I D

E V E R Y T H I N G ) A N D W E H AV E A L L D E C I D E D N OT

TO TA K E A N Y P E R S O N A L S A L A R I E S I N O R D E R TO

H E L P C R C T H R I V E .

Who We Are

Brand Proposal 3

Brand Proposal 4

ExecutiveSummary

Cowboy Robot Creative has created a customized plan to increase annual recruitment numbers across the country. Driven by a strong social media presence, on-campus outreach and strategic PR tactics, our campaign utilizes multiple media outlets including paid social media and earned online news placements. The campaign will run from May 2016 until December 2016.

Our target market is comprised of college graduates between the ages of 21-25 who appreciate giving back and hope to find meaning in their career path. According to research conducted by Forbes, millennials value career paths that provide purpose over those that simply provide a paycheck. Additionally, millennials value a healthy work-life balance, relative to the baby-boomer generation. Our ideal recruit is someone who cringes at the thought of spending their days at a desk, in front of a computer screen. They seek careers that are fulfilling and meaningful, rather than advancement and material gain.

Millennials have grown up in the the digital age and are highly tech savvy. Cowboy Robot Creative has cut all traditional media partially due to its lack of success for CCI in the past but also to focus on efforts that will reach these individuals where they already are -- online and on-campus. A focus will be placed on Facebook and Instagram ads, and on-campus events that feature CCI service dogs.

Our PR and marketing strategies will foster relationships with key media that our target always consumes, such as Buzzfeed. Moreover, our marketing strategies will position a career at CCI as an exciting, meaningful experience, rather than simply a career path.

For the entirety of the campaign, Cowboy Robot Creative will work to create brand awareness amongst potential recruits, educate our primary demographic about CCI’s mission, and hopefully inspire them to become a part of an organization with a higher mission.

Brand Proposal 5

Primary Research

We conducted two separate surveys through surveymonkey.com. We distributed the survey through different Facebook groups that we are members and posting it as our statuses. For our first survey we got a good variety lower and upper classmen. 60% of students said they would consider becoming a service dog trainer and 94% of the total respondents said they were willing to relocate to another state for a job. Both these numbers are incredibly encouraging for Cowboy Robot Creative and Canine Companions. There is substantial interest amongst college students in working at Canine Companions and are willing to potentially move to Santa Rosa, California to do so. CRC conducted a second survey to collect more specific information on the Canine Companions for Independence brand. We saw overwhelming results in this survey that 95% of respondents have never heard of Canine Companions for Independence and 92% of total respondents were not aware of Canine Companion’s dog training program. These numbers indicate that there is a lot of work to do for the CCI brand in terms of awareness and education. While this information seems discouraging for CCI, it teaches us that we need new forms of communication to reach our target. Overall this research guided our campaign strategy to focus on awareness, education, and inspiration to actually make the move and join the CCI team.

Brand Proposal 6

Survey Results:

Brand Proposal 7

Cowboy Robot Creative has created a comprehensive advertising, media and public relations plan for Canine Companions for Independence (CCI) to assist in their overall goal of recruiting Instructor Assistants. The campaign has an eight month timeline (from end of May to December) but is intended for repeated use on a yearly basis and to be adjusted for different locations. Canine Companions’ overall goal is to recruit 10 more instructor assistant annually.

SituationalAnalysis

Brand Proposal 8

Organization’s history and evaluation:

Canine Companions for Independence is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization that “enhances the lives of people with disabilities by providing highly trained assistance dogs and ongoing support to ensure quality partnerships” according to CCI. CCI was founded in 1975 in Santa Rosa, California. Since then it has graduated 4,930 teams from its programs. CCI rated an 84.88 out of 100 on Charity Navigator in 2015. CCI has six regional training centers located all over The United States. CCI has multiple regional training locations all over the country but currently instructor assistants must move to Santa Rosa for their first year of working. Cowboy Robot Creative wants to help them tap into their national market and resources even more effectively.

Product Evaluation

CCI trains four types of assistance dogs that benefit participants (service dog recipients). While training and providing highly-trained service dogs are technically the products of CCI, for the purposes of reaching CCI’s goal of recruiting new instructors, we will refer to the product primarily as the job description, job benefits and processes. The physiological benefits include: a livable salary for the location, relocation reimbursements, free housing for 30 days to ease moving stress, full insurance plans provided, paid time off, and a retirement plan. The more meaningful benefits include: working for a purpose, spending quality time with animals, helping a child or adult in need, moving to an unfamiliar, beautiful city, and making a difference in the world. The strengths and weaknesses of the organization and the job can be viewed in the SWOT table. Overall, CCI is an organization that makes a tangible difference in people’s lives; however, limiting the initial training to just Santa Rosa leads to recruitment issues.

Consumer Evaluation

Again, the actual consumers of the product are the participants however for the purposes of CCI’s recruitment objectives we will consider the consumer the potential employee and further examine that population. CCI looks for recruits who are recent college graduates typically with a degree in animal sciences, psychology, or human services. CCI recruits from all over the country. One of their biggest problems they face for recruitment is asking employees to move to Santa Rosa, California for at least nine months. Recruiting from these majors and interests are important because they do not see this career move as an arbitrary life decision. CCI does best with recruits who see working there as an opportunity to enhance their education, careers, and volunteer experience.

Competitive Evaluation

Direct competition would include other organizations that people are willing to relocate their lives for which include Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, and the U.S. Military Armed Forces. All three of these organizations are highly recognized and respected. They allow employers to make immediate positive assumptions about a volunteer’s character. However, these programs require their volunteers to sacrifice a lot of their lifestyle luxuries and freedoms. Peace Corps and AmeriCorps are successful because they heavily target college students. They both also have very helpful websites with a ton of important information and tangible steps to take immediate action. AmeriCorps does a really good job at sorting people based on their interests and where they want to serve. These types of nonprofits combine helping citizens but also incorporate the new chapter of life that potential recruits are seeking.

Indirect competition includes other service dog organizations. CCI had a relatively low score on Charity navigator compared to other service dog charities. CCI scored an 84.99 while Puppies Behind Bars scored 98.18, Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind scored a 90.80 and National Education for Assistance Dogs scored 91.91. Puppies Behind Bars (PBB) has such a high rating (nine consecutive 4-star out of 4-stars ratings) primarily due to fiscal management, accountability and transparency. One of PBB’s biggest advantages is a captive audience, inmates looking for ways to ease loneliness and rehabilitate back into society while still imprisoned. Also, big box store pet chains like PetSmart and Petco have in-store dog training facilities all over the country. PetSmart and Petco are well-known names and could be the first point many dog trainers-to-be look for job opportunity. However, Petco is a large corporation that focuses on profit and pets and does not directly focus on philanthropy, service, and community. PetSmart does have an independent non-profit called PetSmart Charities that people can donate to while checking out but again their primary focus is on pet health, supplies, training and grooming.

Problems and opportunities

Cowboy Robot Creative’s campaign will help CCI overcome lack of brand awareness and mission awareness by potential recruits. CRC sees a lot of opportunity and room for improvement for Canine Companions for Independence. There are untapped markets for potential recruits and underused regional resources that could be instrumental in recruiting instructors each year.

Sources: http://www.peacecorps.gov/openings/http://www.nation-alservice.gov/programs/americorps

Brand Proposal 9

• Comprehensive benefit plan for full-time employees

• Sufficient relocation assistance

• Standardized, linear process

• Low stress, highly rewarding

• Solid repuation

• Three years is a long time to spend on getting a certification

• Little room for upward mobility

• Focus on college graduates narrows recruitment pool

• The pay is potentially lower than a traditional post-college job

• Recent graduates who are unhappy with their current job prospects

• People who find their desk-jobs unfulfilling or meaningless

• Organizations such as the PeaceCorps have more prestige; therefore, bringing in more recruits

• CCI is not an immediately recognizable name on a resume

• Local programs that don’t require relocation

SW

OT

Brand Proposal 10

T

Brand Proposal 11

TargetAudience

Our ideal recruit is a single recent college graduate between the ages of 21 and 25. This person will have a passion for giving back and doing meaningful work. While a background in animal science or psychology is a plus, it is not necessary to excel within CCI. This candidate values getting a sense of fulfillment from their work, and does not feel satisfied with the idea of spending their life behind a desk.

21-25 year olds

College Educated

Any gender

Brand Proposal 12

This is Casey. She is 22, a graduating senior, and a psychology major. She enjoys volunteering her time at the Austin Humane Society and loves giving back to the community. She isn’t sure what her post college plans are yet, but she hopes to find a job that is meaningful and fulfilling. Throughout our campaign, we’ll mention how Casey, our ideal candidate, will be affected.

Meet Casey

Brand Proposal 13

AdvertisingGOALS:

Awareness: CCI is already a name well-known with its participants. Cowboy robot creative will work to create brand awareness amongst potential recruits, our target market. This will include events and signage that gives potential recruitments a very basic understanding of who Canine companions for Independence is.

Educate: as our survey results show, not only are college students not familiar with the cci name but they also do not know about the service dog training programs. This goal is to help make our target market more knowledgeable about the work that canine companions does and the tangible difference they make in so many people’s lives

Inspire: Once the target market is aware and educated about CCI the objective is to inspire action. This step is the final push that influences college students and recent graduates to make the decision to apply for the Canine Companions team.

How this will affect Casey, our persona:

Although Casey enjoys being active and giving back, she is still a millennial, and she has a habit of checking her social media feeds frequently. We will take advantage of this by advertising on Facebook and Instagram.

Brand Proposal 14

Tone and Manner:

All of our messaging will be inspiring and motivating. Our ideal recruit will feel triggered to learn more about Canine Companions and consider the possibility of being a trainer.

Key Benefit and Support:

Becoming a dog trainer at Canine Companions is a fulfilling career, and you get to spend all day with dogs. What’s better than that?

Intended Effects :

We want our target to see our promotional material and find more information about what it takes to be a dog trainer at Canine Companions.

Primary Message:

Find meaning in your work with Canine Companions.

Example of Intagram Post:

Caption: Tired of your coworkers? Click here to learn more about becoming a dog trainer!

Brand Proposal 15

Media


Casey doesn’t spend much time listening to the radio or watching TV, and consumes most of her media through mobile and online consumption. We will use this to our advantage by placing advertisements on Facebook and Instagram.

GOALS:




Brand Proposal 16

Key Problem:

Through our primary research, we discovered that CCI has a brand awareness problem. Our survey showed that 95% of CCI’s target recruit demographic is unaware of the organization and its mission.

Objectives:

From the beginning, it was clear to us that CCI didn’t need much traditional advertising. The organization speaks for itself, and a flashy campaign does not align with the organization’s mission or their ideal recruit. We believe that the best way to increase recruitment numbers is by raising awareness about the organization through brand appropriate creative on social media and on an individual level at on-campus events. With that being said, we do believe that CCI has opportunities to allocate advertising dollars in a way that will effectively reach their target in places that this age demographic already is - on campus and through social media.

Flight Schedule:

Brand Proposal 17

PublicRelations


Casey is very active on campus and in her extra-curricular activities. She enjoys being involved in many university and volunteer organizations. Casey also enjoys reading up on current events on websites such as Buzzfeed and UpWorthy. We will use this to our advantage

GOALS:




Brand Proposal 18

Hound Hangout

Join Canine Companions for a playful day with some of the best dogs ever. We are planning on bringing Canine Companions furriest and cutest to college campuses in order to draw the animal loving students in. While holding the cuddly creature why not take the opportunity to share what Canine Companions is, and the jobs that are available post grad. Each of these events will hand out catchy graphic stickers that the students can hold onto. We plan on doing a hangout once a month for a semester at each of the schools Canine Companions has a partnership with.

Booth at Career Fairs, University Career Services Center

Among all of the boring and mundane desk jobs present at your everyday career fair, Canine Companions plans on standing out against the crowd. This group of students is actively searching for something to do after college, which makes them ideal. Even though Canine Companions is an alternative route to the traditional post college job, there will be people in attendance who are interested in something different. In addition to the actual career fair, we plan on using the university career services databases to upload the requested positions online. This is needed because it hits all of those cool kids who skipped the career fair because they didn’t want a typical corporate job.

Host info Sessions

After the Hound Hangout and booths at career fairs, hosting info sessions is the next step. Students who are really interested in moving to California for Canine Companions will want more information. Whether it be selling their parents on the idea or feeling confident enough in the program to move, these info sessions are a must. They will highlight detailed information about the job opportunities at Canine Companions and give specific outlines of what to expect. These will be held on the college campuses for the convenience of students and be promoted at the Hound Hangout and the career fairs.

Reaching out to Volunteer Organizations:

College students who have volunteer or service background are more likely to have some of the interests that Canine Companions looks for in potential employees. Sending information and speaking at their meetings about the events, the website, and career opportunities is the best way to reach this philanthropic group.

Listicles about Canine Companions:

Our target market is constantly trolling websites such as Buzzfeed, The Odyssey, Mashable and Gawker. Each of these websites is a source of very modern news information that uses quirky and brief wording to grab the attention of readers. Many of these writings are in the form of listicles; an article on the Internet presented in the form of a numbered or bullet-pointed list. A few examples of these said listicles that we can send to/collaborate with Buzzfeed are “These 13 puppies will make you want to quit your job and become their trainer” and “15 reasons why you should move to California and become a dog trainer”

Featured in Articles:

“12 exciting jobs to take post grad” and “The best alternative jobs to take right after graduation” are two examples of listicles that get shared constantly by millennials on their facebook newsfeed. Although these only feature Canine Companions as compared to the Buzzfeed listicles, word is still wide spread to our target market.

Spotlights on specific people:

On a more serious scale of viral sharing are heartfelt stories that appear on websites such as Elite Daily, UpWorthy, NowThis and Huffington Post. This is an opportunity to create spotlights on specific people who have been positively affected by Canine Companions. These could range from children, college students, and veterans who have emotional stories that can be shared. These will aim to tug at the heart strings and be shared across media platforms.

Linkedin:

Currently Canine Companions has 1,791 followers and only posts about once a month. We would up this to at least one post a week. Recommendation: When more budget is available boost and promote boosts to target specific markets. Targeting profiles with a “dog trainer” or volunteer background and placing ads on their newsfeed can boost organization exposure and followers. Canine Companions as a non-profit also gets a 50% discount from Linkedin on all job postings.

Brand Proposal 19

Budget:We believe that the best way to increase recruitment numbers is by raising awareness about the organization through brand appropriate creative on social media and on an individual level at on-campus events. Therefore, we have chosen to allocate our budget on Facebook and Instagram advertisements as well as marketing collateral, to be distributed at our on campus events.

Brand Proposal 20

Brand Proposal 21

Wrap Up:Cowboy Robot Creative is confident that our comprehensive strategy will reach our target by creating a message that connects with people on a personal level. By focusing our efforts on online and campus outreach, we will reach our ideal recruits where they are. We are confident that our research and insights have allowed up to develop a lean, highly efficient and personalized plan. We’re thrilled with the idea of working with Canine Companions and look forward to hearing your feedback. Thank you for your consideration, and we’ll speak soon.

Brand Proposal 22

Appendices :http://www.forbes.com/sites/karlmoore/2014/10/02/millennials-work-for-purpose-not-paycheck/#52a4b0175a22

http://www.cci.org/site/c.cdKGIRNqEmG/b.3978475/k.BED8/Home.htm

http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=3418#.Vx5D_pMrK8U

http://www.peacecorps.gov/openings/

http://www.nationalservice.gov/programs/americorps

http://www.forbes.com/sites/karlmoore/2014/10/02/millennials-work-for-purpose-not-paycheck/#52a4b0175a22

http://fortune.com/2015/03/26/3-things-millennials-want-in-a-career-hint-its-not-more-money/

http://fortune.com/2015/07/15/millennials/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/51577?trk=tyah&trkInfo=clickedVertical%3Acompany%2CentityType%3AentityHistoryName%2CclickedEntityId%3Acompany_51577%2Cidx%3A2

Brand Proposal 23

Documents

Canine Companions