Group Assignment:

 

• Your client information can be found here: http://prssa.prsa.org/scholarships_competitions/bateman/

• Once given your client, research your topic, which is mental health in the United States. You should conduct environmental scanning on the issue. This means that you must immerse yourself into the background details, statistics, facts, and figures.
  • Get a good understanding and grasp of your topic. Scan how the topic is covered in the media (e.g, national and local press, popular culture), and also have a firm knowledge of how the topic is understood by scholars and academics. You will need to listen, observe, absorb, and condense a lot of information quickly. Here are resources that can assist you with this:
    • Campaign to Change Direction materials: http://prssa.prsa.org/scholarships_competitions/bateman/Change%20Direction%20Materials_October%202016_Main.pdf (specific about the organization and the issue)
    • Mental Health Texas: https://mentalhealthtx.org/
    • Spindletop Center: http://stmhmr.org/MHMR_MH.html
    • World Public Opinion: http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/
    • Gallup Poll: http://www.gallup.com/home.aspx
    • National Library of Medicine: https://www.nlm.nih.gov/
    • PubMed/MedLine search for “mental health” “college students”: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=%22mental+health%22+%22college+students%22; PubMed/MedLine search for “mental health” “college students” “African Americans”: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=%22mental+health%22+%22African+american%22+%22College+students%22; PubMed/MedLine search for “mental health” “college students” “Hispanic”: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=%22mental+health%22+%22Hispanic%22+%22College+students%22; PubMed/MedLine search for “mental health” “college students” “Asian American”: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=%22mental+health%22+%22asian+american%22+%22College+students%22
    • PubMed/MedLine search for “mental health” “older adults”: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=%22mental+health%22+%22older+adults%22; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=%22mental+health%22+%22asian+american%22+%22older+adults%22; https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=%22mental+health%22+%22african+american%22+%22older+adults%22

• Consider your publics. According to your book and the APR study exam, publics are groups of people tied together by some common element. “Before starting to plan, public relations practitioners need to clearly define groups with which an organization needs to foster mutually beneficial relationships. Objectives need to say which public a public relations strategy is designed to reach.” Gather information on your groups. Break down your publics using geographics, demographics, psychographics, social technographics, and issue behavior.
  • A quick refresher:
    • Geographics: where your public actually is, where your public physically lives or attends school — For your campaign, you must plan for it to happen in the Golden Triangle area.
    • Demographics: who people are (race, age, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, education, nationality, religion, income); quantifiable characteristics of a population
      • Resources for demographics:
        • University populations (Department of Education): https://nces.ed.gov/globallocator/
        • American Fact Finder (US Census Bureau): https://factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/index.xhtml
        • American Community Survey: https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/ 
        • ESRI ZIP Code Lookup: http://www.esri.com/data/esri_data/ziptapestry
        • AdAge: http://adage.com/results?search_phrase=demographics
  • Psychographics: what people care about, what your publics’ consumer patterns, beliefs, and attitudes are
    • Claritas Segmentation based on ZIP code: https://segmentationsolutions.nielsen.com/mybestsegments/Default.jsp?ID=30 (The Segment Details is an interactive tool that lets you examine segment groups based on demographics and behaviors. Once you have identified a segment group, you can click on each segment tile to view more details about the segment’s traits.)
    • YPulse (Millennial marketing insights): https://www.ypulse.com/youth-insight
    • Kantar Futures: http://thefuturescompany.com/our-thinking/
    • Ad Age: http://adage.com/results?search_phrase=psychographics
    • Nielsen: http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/reports.html 
      • http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/journal-of-measurement/volume-1-issue-3/understanding-memory-in-advertising.html
      • A Fresh Look at Multicultural Consumers http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/reports/2017/a-fresh-look-at-multicultural-consumers.html
      • Multicultural Millennials: The Multiplier Effect  http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/reports/2017/multicultural-millennials–the-multiplier-effect.html
  • Social technographics: how does your public behave and interact online
    • Forrester “group(s) consumers into four groups: Social Skippers, Snackers, Savvies and Stars—the Skippers spurn commercial social interactions and the Stars demand it.” In their 2016 report, “In 2016, the average US online adult receives an overall score of 40 and fits into our Social Savvies category. Social Savvies consider social tools a part of their everyday lives. On average, US online adults score highly for explore and discover— they use social tools to discover new products and also to explore them when they’re considering their purchases. Compared to last year, US consumers are slightly more social media savvy in 2016: The Social Technographics Score for the average US online adult has increased from 37 in 2015 to 40 in 2016. “
    • Nielsen Social Media Report: http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/reports/2017/2016-nielsen-social-media-report.html
    • YPulse (Millennial marketing insights): https://www.ypulse.com/youth-insight
    • Kantar Futures: http://thefuturescompany.com/our-thinking/
    • Pew Center: http://www.pewinternet.org/
      • Social media demographics and behaviors by generation: http://www.pewinternet.org/fact-sheet/social-media/
  • Issue behavior: This is linked to the situational theory of publics. At this level, you have to understand how your public is connected to the issue. What is their level of involvement? What is their problem recognition? Do they see mental health as a concern or view it as equal to their physical health? What constraints do they have about the issue of mental health? Do they have any stigmas?
    • At this stage, it would require you to do survey research, focus group research, or interviews.
• Now develop your goals. Based on your research, what publics do you want to reach, and what goals do you want to address? What will be your objectives?

• Create a basic campaign strategy for your client. You must set goals and objectives based on research findings. Your basic campaign strategy should include: 

1. Goal:Goals are longer-term, broad, global and future statements of “being.” Goals may include how an organization is uniquely distinguished in the minds of its key publics.
   1. Your client gave you a goal. Tinker with it based on your research.
2. Theoretical Basis for the Campaign
3. Objectives: Objectives focus on a shorter term than goals. Objectives are written after research on all publics is done.
   1. Objectives (1) define WHAT opinion, attitude or behavior you want to achieve from specific publics, (2) specify how much change you want to achieve from each public, and (3) tell by when you want to achieve that change.
   2. Objectives should be SMART: Specific (both action to be taken and public involved); Measurable; Achievable; Realistic (or relevant or results (outcome) oriented); and Time-specific.
   3. Objectives establish standards for assessing the success of your public relations efforts.
   4. Objectives come in three general types: Output objectives measure activities, e.g., issue 10 news releases during the month or post three tweets per day. Outputs can help monitor your work but have no direct value in measuring the effectiveness of a campaign. The Barcelona Principles discourage the use of output objectives. Process objectives call for you to “inform” or “educate” publics. Outcome objectives specify changes in awareness, opinions, behavior or support. (For example, “Increase downloads of our product coupon by 25 percent from October levels by Dec. 31.”) Outcome objectives require high-level strategic thinking. You must determine, for instance, which changes would be consistent with organizational goals and demonstrate public relations effectiveness to management. 
4. Strategy
   1. Strategies provide the roadmap to your objectives. (Communication strategies target publics for change. Action strategies focus on organizations’ internal changes.)
   2. Strategies describe HOW to reach your objectives.
   3. Strategies include “enlist community influentials to …,” “accelerate involvement with …,” “position the company as …” or “establish strategic partnerships with … .”
5. Tactics
   1. Tactics are your tools.
   2. Tactics are specific elements of a strategy or tools for accomplishing a strategy.
   3. Examples include meetings, publications, product tie-ins, community events, news releases, online information dissemination and social networks.
   4. Activities are details of tactics: six meetings, four publications, three blog posts and one tweet per day. Activities have dates, indicate who is in charge and tell what attendance or outcome is expected.
6. Evaluation/measurement of success
   1. Measure effectiveness of the program against objectives.
   2. Outcome objectives generally call for changes in awareness, opinions, behavior or support. Behavior change is usually considered the ultimate sign of public relations effectiveness. But some assessments consider long-term outgrowths of public relations actions as well. The highest level of public relations impact could be social or cultural changes.
   3. Determine how members of each key public interpreted messages. (Meaning comes from individual interpretations.)
   4. Identify ways to improve, and develop recommendations for the future.
   5. Adjust the plan, materials, messages and activities before going forward.
   6.  Collect data and record information for use in research phase of next program.

• Create media materials for the campaign. For example:
  • create a full media kit with the following components with a pitch letter to a TARGETED MEDIA CONTACT. This letter should “clearly identify the contents of the media kit, state why the event deserves coverage, give the names of the persons to contact for further information, and explain why the information is being sent. The letter should be written in a way that will entice readers to review the contents of the media kit” (Diggs-Brown, p. 69). Review the bad pitches on the Bad Pitch Blog and the good pitches on the D2L links and content pages for inspiration.
  • Write a media advisory about your media conference.
  • Write an issue backgrounder.
  • Write a media release for the news conference announcing the launch of the campaign, or write a media release announcing another facet of your campaign.
  • Write 2 fact sheets – one must be an organizational fact sheet (all about your organization). The other must focus on your issue. Both must be one page.

 

Remember: (1) Double-space, (2)Spell-check, (3) Proofread, (4) Format

Include: Relevant sources of information, Relevant documents you chose to work from, Completed Writing Outline

Completed Writing Outline

The purpose of this writing outline is to force you to think through your writing of the campaign tactics. This form is what many agencies require their writers to complete prior to submitting their work for client approval.

* * *

Writing Product Type:

Your Organization:

Brief background on your organization:

Specific targeted public(s):

Secondary public(s) if any:

       

Outcome desired from public(s) – Select the most appropriate one from the list:

1. Knowledge
2. Attitude
3. Behavior

How the outcome is tied into the self-interest of the public(s), i.e., why they should care:

Main information or message to be conveyed:

Secondary information or messages:

Specific media or method for dissemination of this writing piece:

Follow-up activities with media, if applicable:

Sources of information:

 

Examples of final campaign projects: