by
Nathaniel Urban
Student agency teams designed and implemented public
relations campaigns for their clients to provide positive outcomes for each
organization. The student team for Associated Charities of Ashland County managed a donation event that gained
more than 500 donations for the Kids Closet program, which provides clothing to
local families-in-need. The student’s
campaign nearly doubled Associated Charities clothing inventory in just one
day. "Our team did an
outstanding job from start to finish. They saw what our need was and away they
went with it. Their ads on social media were right on target with the goal,”
said Shirley Bonfiglio, Assistant Director
and Events Coordinator for Associated Charities.
No Pawz Left Behind, a local animal welfare organization
that works in cooperation with the Ashland County Dog Shelter, worked with
their student team to earn supply and monetary donations valued at more than
$300. As an added bonus to the campaign,
an adoptable dog found its “fur-ever” home during the two-weekend event. The student agency team also succeeded in
creating more public awareness of No Pawz Left Behind through a social media
boost that provided adoption information.
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PR
Campaigns student agency team for the Ashland University
Writing Center
present their work to clients and classmates.
(From L to R: Kaitlyn
Dailey, Nuri Lee, Megan Furby,
and Susanna Savage),
Photo Credit Amanda
J. Weed
|
The Ashland
University Writing Center also partnered with a student agency team to build awareness of its
services among student athletes. Through
a targeted campaign that integrated social media and educational presentations
with AU sports teams, Writing Center appointments among athletes increased 57%
over the previous three months. “The students who chose the Writing Center for their project
did fantastic work. They had a solid plan, which they executed very well with
minimum resources. I am planning to use their promotional model next year and
am so grateful for their time and hard work,” said Dr. Maura Grady, director of
the AU Writing Center.
The students who worked with Donate Life Ohio, in cooperation
with Ashland University Eagle
Wellness, made it their goal to better educate other students on the
impact organ donation can have on other people’s lives. The group hosted a
public lecture for their guest speaker, Ashland University Professor and organ
donation recipient Dr. Mark Hamilton, who discussed how organ donation helped
save his life.
“We knew our client needed to create more public awareness
with students to show the value of organ donation as well as how to become a
donor. We also knew a lot of students loved having Dr. Hamilton for class so we
saw the impact he could have by sharing his personal story with students,” said
Tyler Starr, a junior double-major in Public Relations & Strategic
Communication and Sports Communication, who worked on the campaign.
The Department of Communication
Studies at Ashland University is committed to creating real-life
opportunities for students to demonstrate what they have learned in the
classroom. Each of the local Ashland businesses and Ashland University
organizations benefitted from the work done by the students in the public
relations campaigns course.
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| Students of Public Relations Campaigns, Photo Credit Amanda J. Weed |
