This campaign plan showcases skills ranging from tight writing to event planning to working as a team. This was a semester-long group project that was accompanied by a pitch presentation, trend analysis paper and weekly team memos.
This campaign plan showcases skills ranging from tight writing to event planning to working as a team. This was a semester-long group project that was accompanied by a pitch presentation, trend analysis paper and weekly team memos.
This campaign plan showcases skills ranging from tight writing to event planning to working as a team. This was a semester-long group project that was accompanied by a pitch presentation, trend analysis paper and weekly team memos.
Executive Summary This campaign plan is created for the Alzheimers Association, Delaware Valley Chapter with the purpose of reaching a crucial audience that has yet to be engaged: the future caregivers.
After extensive research, we found that the main problem is that this younger demographic (18-24 years of age) is not invested in Alzheimers disease. This younger population is not being reached effectively by the Alzheimers Association on a national or local level.
We believe this issue is pressing because this demographic will end up being responsible for older generations. Although it is important for those currently affected by Alzheimers to be knowledgeable about the disease, it is also necessary to cultivate a relationship with those who will be around to take care of their parents. Our goal is to help bridge the gap between the organization and younger demographics in order to foster emotional investment and engagement within our target audience.
As part of our research, we conducted an intercept survey to assess the knowledge and engagement of our key publics. Our intercept survey continued to reinforce our original assumptions about the main problem. Most students are somewhat likely to donate time and/or resources to the cause yet had not done so in the past, showing us that there is potential for improvement. We noticed that students personal experience with Alzheimers did not affect their knowledge of the disease but those who had been personally affected are more likely to donate to the cause.
This strategic campaign plan seeks to increase knowledge of and emotional investment in Alzheimers disease, and encourage engagement among undergraduate students at the University of Delaware to create a lasting relationship with the Alzheimers Association. To achieve these objectives, we will utilize both traditional PR efforts and social media strategies to best reach our target audience of 18-24 year old undergraduate students at the University.
With the adoption of this plan, the Alzheimers Association, Delaware Valley Chapter will gain access to a critical audience with which they can expect to have a lasting relationship in the years to come.
4
Research I. Primary Research We created a short intercept survey to gauge if our campaign plan was in line with our target audience. We administered the survey to 60 students in the Perkins and Trabant student centers on the UD campus. The results of our survey also reinforced our underlying reason for the campaign that younger students are not emotionally invested in Alzheimers disease.
Intercept surveys were administered to 59 University of Delaware students with a 100% response rate. Respondents were approached in the Trabant and Perkins student centers. The surveys were administered in student centers in an effort to maximize respondent variability. The methodology acts under the assumption that student centers offer the greatest variety of students in terms of age, academic interests, and extracurricular involvement.
See Appendix A
5
SWOT Analysis
Strengths: Most people have older family or friends that they care about Unique organization to bring to a college campus Dominant organization for Alzheimers disease and they already have many sponsors/ relationships Weaknesses: Not an emotionally charged disease Is not as relevant to young people Could possibly get lost among all the other charity efforts at UD Junior Committee is a support group that is underdeveloped Alzheimers Association does not gear its messages towards a younger audience
Opportunities: Many organizations on UDs campus that would possibly take on Alzheimers Association as their philanthropy Active student body that are interested in a wide variety of causes Create a Chapter Assessment Program (CAP) event that Greek Life participants can attend for points toward their chapter assessment score, ensuring attendance at our event. Threats: Other fundraising events on campus. Why should students include Alzheimers in their fundraising/awareness efforts, UDance and other already popular fundraising events established on campus
PEST Analysis
Political: A bill was passed to support Alzheimers disease. Alzheimers has been recognized nationally, but still not very important for our purposes.
Economical: Alzheimers has a huge financial impact on people living with the disease and their family/friends.
Social: Changing attitudes, beliefs, opinions, emotions and behavior about Alzheimers disease Technological: Using technology for research and development on how we are going to achieve our goals/objectives Reaching our audiences on the tactical level using digital media
6
II. Secondary Research Demographics: 17,000 undergraduate students (approximate). 57% female, 43% male Approximately 75-80% of UD undergraduate students are from the Mid-Atlantic region. Less than 15% of UD undergraduate students are from the West Coast. International students make up approximately 4% of the UD student body. Average GPA among UD students is 3.060. Greek Life GPA is 3.203. An estimated 20% of undergraduate UD students are involved in Greek Life.
Psychographics: UD students include those that are highly involved, apathetic and everyone in between. Students will rally behind a cause they deem worth supporting. o Example: UDance is highly successful because it is engaging, interactive and emotional. o Students want to feel a sense of pride and acknowledgment for their efforts in a cause. Students require motivation to support a cause. o They need to understand how they can be affected by the disease or they will not understand why they should care. Family and friends are incredibly important to students (show them how this disease has affected others families) Students are selective and are more likely to support a cause if others do.
Alzheimers Statistics An estimated 5.4 million Americans are affected by Alzheimers. One in eight Americans suffer from Alzheimers. Those affected in Delaware: 2000: 12,000 2010: 14,000 2025: 16,000 (projected) Number of deaths due to Alzheimers disease in 2008 (per 100,000): Delaware: 204 Pennsylvania: 3,863 New Jersey: 1,857 New York: 2,303 Over 15.4 million Americans provided 17.5 billion hours of unpaid care for individuals with Alzheimers valued at $216 billion dollars.
7
III. Background Research Interview with Katie Macklin, Executive Director Delaware:
During our meeting with Katie Macklin, Executive Director Delaware, she helped us to gain some insight into the Alzheimers Association, Delaware Valley Chapter. Macklin mainly gave us some secondary research that complemented our other efforts. This included information on the Alzheimers walk demographics, the 2012 annual report and some personal stories. The personal stories she had from working at the Alzheimers Association, Delaware Valley Chapter will help us bring that emotional tie to our campaign. Macklin also reinforced our idea that Alzheimers is not relevant to college students and this demographic typically does not have much if any investment in the disease.
Interview with Sigma Kappa, philanthropy chair: The Sigma Kappa sorority on the University of Delaware campus is a leading donor for the Alzheimers Association. As a national organization, their philanthropy, known as the Sigma Kappa Foundation, is the second largest donor to the Alzheimers Association behind the government. The University of Delaware Sigma Kappa chapter holds two major events per year to raise money for Alzheimers: Love Duets and Dance for a Chance, which together raise approximately $10,000. Additionally, they have held awareness events featuring speakers including a recently diagnosed woman and a volunteer at a nursing home. They also send their entire sorority to participate in the Walk to End Alzheimers in Wilmington.
8
IV. Potential Key Publics Greek Life: Greek Life accounts for approximately 20 percent of the undergraduate population at the University of Delaware. Students involved with Greek Life at the university are highly active on campus and attend a wide variety of philanthropic and social events. Greek students are leaders in all aspects of campus in addition to maintaining high grade point averages. The Chapter Assessment Program ranks Greek chapters where they earn points for attending professional, philanthropy and diversity events. We can ensure attendance at events by making the event a CAP event for Greek members to earn points for participating. Residence Life: University of Delaware residence assistants (RAs) share upcoming events and information with their residents. The RAs hold floor meetings where they plan events and inform their fellow floor mates of different activities that they have heard of. RAs also post relevant information whenever possible on the floor bulletin boards for their residents to see. Athletes: Among the varsity, club and intramural sports, there are hundreds of athletes on campus. Athletic teams have a strong presence on campus and often take part in fundraising events for various philanthropies. For example, varsity athletes participate in the Pigskin Pass to benefit Special Olympics Delaware and the club lacrosse team raised approximately $10,000 for the Alzheimers Association Delaware Valley Chapter. Registered Student Organization: The University of Delaware has nearly 400 Registered Student Organizations (RSOs) where students join together for one common interest. RSOs hold regular meetings where they not only discuss their cause but also support other RSOs. We plan to specifically target the health related RSOs in order to gain their support in our fight against Alzheimers. Faculty: University of Delaware faculty has a great ability to affect and influence student groups on campus. Faculty are constantly joining student efforts and encouraging them in whatever ways possible. Blue Hen Ambassadors: Blue Hen Ambassadors (BHA) are a very influential group of tour guides on campus. They are the first face that prospective students see and most current students view the BHAs as opinion leaders on campus. BHAs are frequently asked to wear a pin to support an office on campus or to mention a restaurant on Main Street. Biological Science/ Psychology Majors: The neurological basis of Alzheimers disease is uncertain and dementia treatment accounts for a significant portion of gerontological care. The Alzheimers Association should target a campaign designed to increase engagement with and emotional investment by Biological Sciences and Psychology majors given the diseases relevance to the disciplines. Biological Sciences ranks as the most common major at the University of Delaware, with Psychology following shortly after as the fourth most common.
9
Situation Analysis The Alzheimers Association is the leading voluntary health organization in Alzheimers care, support and research. The organization currently appeals to the target audience of individuals with 50+ years of age to inform them of the dangers of Alzheimers. There are well-established programs and services that focus almost exclusively on those threatened by the disease; however, they fail to cultivate a relationship with a critical audience: the future caregivers. While the organization attempts to aim some of these programs toward a younger audience, they are neither engaging nor emotionally appealing.
This audience is difficult to engage. The typical college student is selectively active and carefully allocates their time to specific causes to which they have a personal connection. The campaign should have a University-wide appeal in order to best compete with other philanthropic causes on campus. Given that the Alzheimers Association has no direct ties to the University of Delaware, a staunch barrier for communication exists and can only be overcome by fostering relationships with opinion leaders and key publics.
10
Core Problem/ Opportunity Based on our extensive research, we found the Alzheimers Association is missing out on a vital target audience: the future caregivers. This group needs to be more knowledgeable about the disease, emotionally invested and engaged so that a lasting relationship with the Association can be created and the growth and success of the Alzheimers Association can be continued.
11
Campaign Goal
To increase understanding of and emotional investment in Alzheimers disease, and encourage engagement among undergraduate students at the University of Delaware to create a lasting relationship with the Alzheimers Association.
12
Objectives, Strategies and Tactics Objective 1: To increase understanding of Alzheimers disease among 18-24 year old students at the University of Delaware by 10% by the end of the Fall 2013 semester.
Strategy 1: To educate students on the differences between typical aging and Alzheimer's symptoms using the '10 warning signs' as well as the national impact of the disease. ! Tactic 1: Facebook: Infographics to push out through our Facebook page. These make information easy to digest and are more interesting for consumers in this generation. Justification: The figures presented by the Alzheimers Association may not resonate with students given their lack of exposure to at-risk individuals. The infographics created for this campaign present the information by comparing the figures with information relevant to students to increase emotional salience. ! Tactic 2: Twitter: Weekly Twitter schedule and hashtag relevant to UD students. Justification: Twitter has become one of the most used social media platforms among college students. In order to have the greatest reach, we will create a Twitter handle, @UDEndAlz. This Twitter handle will tweet facts pertaining to Alzheimer's as well as any relevant news that develops twice a day. Sigma Kappa's philanthropy is the Alzheimer's Association. A sister in this sorority at UD will manage this Twitter handle. ! Tactic 3: The Review: Alzheimer's Association weekly brain teasers Justification: These exercises will help to engage and entertain the target audience regarding Alzheimers disease. An increase in exposure to the concept of the disease will help to raise interest.
See Appendix B, C and D
13
Objective 2: To increase emotional investment in Alzheimers disease among 18-24 year old students at the University of Delaware by 10% by the end of the Fall 2013 semester.
Strategy 1: Utilize testimonials from those previously and/or currently affected by Alzheimer's disease ! Tactic 1: Video: Student testimonials about how they or their families have been affected by Alzheimer's disease including living family members, if possible. Justification: Students are moved by other students, especially peers that may have been through a very difficult time. Video testimonials of students can be posted on the Alzheimer's page and then tweeted out to gain attention from other students. ! Tactic 2: The Review Article: Opinion article/ editorial by a student who is affected by the disease in The Review. The student will tell their story and initiate a call to action for UD students to get involved with the Alzheimers Association. Justification: This piece would stress the current philanthropic nature of the UD campus, highlighting several events such as UDance and would ask students to extend a hand to the Alzheimers cause.
14
Objective 3: To increase engagement among 18-24 year old students at the University of Delaware with the Alzheimers Association by 250 people by the end of the Fall 2013 semester.
Strategy 1: Motivate students to participate and donate time to Alzheimer's awareness events ! Tactic 1: Chapter Assessment Program (CAP) Event: Hold a campus wide event that includes a variety of different speakers. The event will include Katie Macklin, Executive Director Delaware; Kathy Murray who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's at the age of 36; and three student speakers with different points of view on the disease. The event will also incorporate live tweeting where students can tweet questions, personal stories, comments with the hashtag "#UDEndAlz." There will also be opportunities to register for the "Walk to End Alzheimer's" at the event. Justification: Students in Greek Life must attend a certain number of events in exchange for points toward their CAP score. This serves as an effective way to ensure attendance at our event and provide further opportunities to participate. ! Tactic 2: Facebook: A short video, which asks people of their emotional connection to the postman, friends grandfather and then their mother. The concept is to get people to start thinking about Alzheimer's disease as possibly being relevant to them in the future. Justification: People would see this idea of the postman versus your mother consistently before, during and after our campaign at the pre/post survey and our video. Facebook is ideal for disseminating videos because it pops up on your news feed and you can play it without having to follow any links. ! Tactic 3. Twitter: Ask opinion leaders on campus to tweet out pictures of themselves with signs that support the Alzheimers Association. Justification: Pictures often tend to go viral. Opinion leaders can tweet out pictures of themselves and encourage their followers to re-tweet the pictures as well. Pictures are simple but also leave a lasting impression and will hopefully encourage others to do the same.
15
Strategy 2: Encourage students, through opinion leaders, to register for and participate in the Walk to End Alzheimer's. ! Tactic 1: Facebook: Create an event page sent to various RSOs and students on campus inviting them to attend the Walk to End Alzheimer's. Justification: Most RSOs and major groups on campus have a Facebook group for their members. When the group is created, our key publics and some of the more pertinent RSOs would be contacted and invited to the Walk. ! Tactic 2: Twitter: Create a separate hashtag for the Walk to End Alzheimers. Justification: There should be a separate hashtag for the walk to separate the education campaign from the engagement part of the campaign. People can use this hashtag to discuss the walk beforehand as well as use it during the walk to tweet out pictures of themselves and their teams. ! Tactic 3: The Review: Walk to End Alzheimers advertisement. Justification: A large majority of undergraduate students read the student-run newspaper, The Review. Paying for a catchy ad in a section of The Review will influence a student's decision to attend the Walk. ! Tactic 4: On-campus registration tables. Justification: By having registration sites set up for students to register for the Walk to End Alzheimer's, we can have face-to- face communication to encourage students to register for the walk. We would include one of these outside of our CAP Event but also once a week in Trabant leading up to the walk.
See Appendix E
16
Key Publics and Messaging As all of our key publics are undergraduates at the University of Delaware, we chose to use too many similar strategies and/or tactics for each key public. Unless otherwise stated, all strategies are aimed toward all key publics. Those that have a specific tactic are listed below. Greek Life o Greek Life accounts for approximately 20 percent of the undergraduate population at the University of Delaware. Students involved with Greek Life at the university are highly active on campus and attend a wide variety of philanthropic and social events. Greek students are leaders in all aspects of campus in addition to maintaining high grade point averages. The Chapter Assessment Program ranks Greek chapters where they earn points for attending professional, philanthropy and diversity events. We can ensure attendance at events by making the event a CAP event for Greek members to earn points for participating. o CAP Event (Objective 3, Strategy 1, Tactic 1) Registered Student Organizations o The University of Delaware has nearly 400 Registered Student Organizations (RSOs) where students join together for one common interest. RSOs hold regular meetings where they not only discuss their cause but also support other RSOs. We plan to specifically target the health related RSOs in order to gain their support in our fight against Alzheimers. o Facebook event for the Walk to End Alzheimers (Objective 3, Strategy 2, Tactic 1) Athletics (Varsity, JV and Intramural) o Among the varsity, club and intramural sports, there are hundreds of athletes on campus. Athletic teams have a strong presence on campus and often take part in fundraising events for various philanthropies. For example, varsity athletes participate in the Pigskin Pass to benefit Special Olympics Delaware and the club lacrosse team raised approximately $10,000 for the Alzheimers Association Delaware Valley Chapter. o Influential campus leaders tweet out pictures of support (Objective 3, Strategy 1, Tactic 3) Biological Science/ Psychology Majors o The neurological basis of Alzheimers disease is uncertain and dementia treatment accounts for a significant portion of gerontological care. The Alzheimers Association should target a campaign designed to increase engagement with and emotional investment by Biological Sciences and Psychology majors given the diseases relevance to the disciplines. Biological Sciences ranks as the most common major at the University of Delaware, with Psychology following shortly after as the fourth most common. o Although we did not assign a specific strategy or tactic to this key public, we will be asking them to begin an RSO on campus dedicated to Alzheimers awareness. This RSO will be in charge of the campaign launch.
17
Messaging:
We plan to frame our messages to fit our entire target audience of undergraduate students rather than narrow it down to our specific key publics. Going back to our core problem/opportunity, we found that undergraduate students at the University of Delaware are neither very knowledgeable about Alzheimers disease nor very engaged with the Alzheimers Association or the cause. From our intercept survey, we observed that many were somewhat likely to get involved and not many had a personal connection with the disease. The majority of undergraduate students are not emotionally invested in the disease and/or cause.
All Key Publics:
Alzheimers is the ultimate thief. It steals your memories.
They say memories last a lifetime, unless Alzheimers steals them.
How do you know that its JUST old age? Know the signs.
Could you imagine meeting your best friend for the first time, every day?
Alzheimers is incurable. With your support, we can change that.
Athletes:
You thought concussions were bad... ! To be accompanied with a visual/infographic
Budget Total Budget: $2,435 School Bus to Wilmington Walk to End Alzheimers: Bus: $960 1 Bus holding up to 80 people $1.50/ person/ hour 7:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. (8 hours total) This is the maximum cost, based on participation.
The Review Ad/ Brain Teaser Space: The Review: $680 1 1/2 page advertisement for the walk at $330/ad 5 1/8 page brain teasers $70/ad Non-profit organization rates.
Chapter Assessment Program Event: Event: $295 2 handheld wireless microphones $20 each 1 Data projector and screen $115 Tech support $20/hr for 2 hours 2 Stages, 2 risers $50/stage Rental space is free for student groups in the student centers.
Staff: No Cost Sigma Kappa Sorority has volunteered to host the event as a part of their fundraising for Alzheimers Association. They currently hold Alzheimers Association as their chapter philanthropy. Social media tasks will be managed by a member of Sigma Kappa in exchange for volunteer hours.
Miscellaneous: Total: $500.00 Incidental money that can be used for things that may unexpectedly occur or we might later decide to implement (ex: printing needs).
23
Evaluation Evaluation is important to understand a campaigns effectiveness. This campaign, Raising Future Caregivers, aims to increase knowledge of Alzheimers disease, foster emotional investment in the disease and increase engagement with the Alzheimers Association among the target audience.
To evaluate understanding: A pre- and post-survey will be administered to a random sample of 1,000 students. The survey will ask questions that will assess the understanding of key points concerned Alzheimers disease and the current state of treatment. To ensure that any increase in understanding can be attributed to the tactics listed, the post-survey will ask respondents to select which tactics increased understanding, if any. The results of the survey will measure the increase in understanding, and also the effectiveness of each tactic.
To evaluate emotional investment: A pre- and post-survey will be administered to a random sample of 1,000 students. The survey will include questions that assess willingness to get involved with the cause as well as past volunteer experiences and/or donations.
In addition, the survey will measure the emotional salience of individuals suffering from Alzheimers disease with a wide range of connectedness to an individual. Sample subjects would include: a parent, a friends relative, a neighbor, a mailman. To ensure that any increase in emotional investment can be attributed to the tactics listed, the post- survey will ask respondents to select which tactics increased understanding, if any. The results of the survey will measure the increase in understanding, and also the effectiveness of each tactic.
To evaluate engagement: Physical and digital participation will measure engagement. For events held on campus and the Wilmington Walk to End Alzheimers, attendance numbers will gauge whether engagement is successful or not. For social media tactics, traditional metrics like retweets and likes will determine online engagement.
24 Appendices Appendix A
Intercept Survey: 1. Have you been personally affected by Alzheimers disease? If so, describe how you are affected. Yes_____ No______ How?____________________________________________
2. The treatment for Alzheimers disease is expensive, but is successful in curing the disease.
True_____ False_____
3. How likely would you be to participate in events supporting Alzheimers disease research and awareness?
Very unlikely Somewhat unlikely Somewhat likely Very likely
4. Have you ever donated time and/or resources to the Alzheimer's cause? If yes, describe how. Yes_____ No______ How?____________________________________________
5. Do you think you understand the difference between dementia and Alzheimers disease? Yes_____ No______ Maybe______
25
Intercept Survey Results:
0 27 38 13 now ||ke|y wou|d you be to parnc|pate |n events suppornng A|zhe|mer's d|sease research and awareness? very unllkely SomewhaL unllkely SomewhaL llkely very llkely 34 20 46 Do you th|nk you understand the d|erence between demenna and A|zhe|mer's d|sease? ?es no Maybe
26
33 67 nave you been persona||y aected by A|zhe|mer's d|sease? ?es no
27
Appendix B Infographics Two categories: The impact of Alzheimers disease (in terms of cost, etc.) 10 signs of Alzheimers
Impact:
28
Impact:
29
Impact:
30
10 Signs:
31
Appendix C
Potential brainteasers:
1. Johnnys mother had three children. The first child was named April. The second child was named May. What was the third childs name?
2. How much dirt is there in a hole that measures two feet by three feet by four feet?
3. Billie was born on December 28th, yet her birthday always falls in the summer. How is this possible?
4. What seven-letter word has hundreds of letters in it?
Appendix D
Tweets to be released: Alzheimers disease is the sixth leading cause of death in the US. #UDEndAlz
1 in 3 senior citizens dies with Alzheimers or another type of dementia. #UDEndAlz
Alzheimers disease is the most common type of dementia. #UDEndAlz
Alzheimers disease is the ultimate thief. It robs children of their parents and grandparents. #UDEndAlz
1 in 9 people aged 65 and older have Alzheimers disease. #UDEndAlz
5.2 million Americans of all ages have Alzheimers disease. #UDEndAlz
Did you know that there are more than 15 million caregivers of people suffering with Alzheimers or other types of dementia? #UDEndAlz
Did you know that Alzheimers is the 5th leading cause of death for people 65 and older? #UDEndAlz
17.5 billion hours of unpaid care were spent helping people with Alzheimers disease. You could be a future caregiver. #UDEndAlz
32
Appendix E Event Timeline:
September 10, 2013 6:00-7:00 p.m. 6:00-6:03 p.m. Introduct|on- Slgma kappa phllanLhropy chalr 6:03-6:13 p.m. Speaker- kaLle Macklln, LxecuLlve ulrecLor uelaware 6:13-6:23 p.m. Speaker- kaLhy Murray, lndlvldual dlagnosed wlLh Alzhelmer's aL an early age 6:23-6:33 p.m. Speaker- unlverslLy of uelaware sLudenL wlLh a personal connecLlon Lo Alzhelmer's 6:33-6:43 p.m. Speaker- unlverslLy of uelaware sLudenL wlLh a personal connecLlon Lo Alzhelmer's 6:43-6:33 p.m. & A- kaLle Macklln addresses any quesLlons sLudenLs may have 6:33-7:00 p.m. C|os|ng remarks-Slgma kappa phllanLhropy chalr