The State College Mayoral Candidate Debate, hosted by The Daily Collegian and the

Centre Daily Times, was an effort to engage the Penn State student body in local politics. The

event was held at the State Theatre in downtown State College from 7-9 p.m. on Tuesday,

October 17. The democratic candidate (Don Hahn), republican candidate (Michael Black), and

independent candidate (Ron Madrid) all answered a series of questions posed by The Daily

Collegian’s Editor-in-Chief, Sam Ruland. All candidates had the chance to answer the questions

asked, and then rebuttal each other’s responses in front of a crowd of both native State College

residents and Penn State students.

The Daily Collegian exhibited a large online and on-campus presence during the

promotion, encouraging students to come out to the event or stream it online through the

Collegian Facebook feed. Riley Cook, current Promotions Assistant Manager, then Promotions

Specialist, was in charge of planning our strategic promotion strategy to target students who may

have been interested in attending or watching the debate.

In order to effectively market our event in the one month time frame we were given, the

Promotions Department relied heavily on social media outreach, guerilla marketing tactics and

direct organization outreach.

In terms of social media outreach, leading up to the event our Promotions department

heavily pushed our marketing materials on different social networking platforms such as

Facebook and Twitter, where our largest following is. On Facebook, we propelled a Facebook

event that we created in conjunction with The State Theatre by having all representatives share it

on personal accounts with their friends, classmates, and professors. All emails sent out regarding

the event had the link to our Facebook event attached so that information was easily accessible in

the form of a digital invitation. Part of the Facebook page also allowed for students to submit
questions they would have liked to be seen asked at the Debate. We also scheduled Tweets to be

sent to our approximately 56,000 followers, giving us massive online exposure.

The guerilla marketing tactics employed consisted of our representatives flyering on-

campus in high-traffic areas such as the student union building, downtown, and other locations.

By making ourselves available to the student body for two weeks leading up to the event, we

allowed a lot of interpersonal interactions and convinced some students who wouldn’t have

otherwise attended that the event was worth their time.

Our effort to directly reach out to different organizations and specific student groups

arguably was our most successful method of marketing the Debate. Representatives were given

the task to research all on-campus groups, and then take that knowledge to distinguish which

groups of students would likely showcase the most interest in coming. Through this mindset,

student groups such as the College Democrats, College Republicans, and Women in Politics (to

name a few) were contacted directly in an effort to get them excited for the event and bring with

them their like-minded peers. Beyond just clubs, different professors and officials in departments

like Political Science were reached out to so they could pass information on to their students. In

some cases, professors incorporated the Debate into their curriculum or shared marketing

materials with students.

The three marketing strategies combined really maximized the impact of our promotion

and allowed for the most outreach at the lowest cost to us. All tactics employed seemed to allow

the greatest exposure possible. Below is the schedule of promotion for the event.

SCHEDULE OF PROMOTION
MID-SEPTEMBER - Promotions Department became aware of event, began brainstorming

ideas about how to reach the greatest number of students.

MID-SEPTEMBER - Began conducting research on different student organizations to

determine what groups may be most receptive to coming to the event. Research also began on

what Penn State faculty to reach out to. Additionally, Promotions explored the personal

connections of employees to specific groups on campus that may have interested members.

OCTOBER 2, 2017 - Began guerilla marketing by handing out flyers in high-traffic areas on

campus, and placing flyers on bulletin boards where students often travel through. Occurred

through event.

OCTOBER 9, 2017 - Began reaching out to the groups and professors previously researched.

We were receptive to questions and requests for more information up until the event.

OCTOBER 9, 2017 - Started social media push. Representatives were asked to share news of the

event on all personal platforms. Additionally, we began posting in popular Facebook pages

students are a part of (i.e. Penn State Class of 2020 Facebook page, etc.).

OCTOBER 16-17, 2017 - Big push on social media, emailing, and on-campus flyering right

before the event. Follow-up emails sent.

The Promotions department worked heavily with other departments and personnel in The

Daily Collegian Business Division to allow for a successful event. In order to secure the location
for our the debate, our Business Manager, Leen Obeidat, met with State Theatre management to

offer advertising in return for renting the venue. We partnered with the Centre Daily Times in

order to gain exposure to the local State College community, but the Collegian was solely in

charge of marketing the Debate to students.

Our collaboration continued when we worked with our Creative Department heavily to

create the marketing materials. This included social media content and flyers that our

representatives handed out on specific targeted days leading up to the event.

The event’s main goal, to ultimately allow the students an avenue to become engaged in

local politics, was a success. With about 200 students attending the debate in person, and around

1200 streaming online, The Daily Collegian believes that the event served its purpose. Not only

did it allow for increased civil activism among students, but it also promoted our brand image as

being socially aware of our surroundings and a viable source for local news.

This promotion is special because not only did the serve the business division in

promoting our brand, but it fundamentally served our purpose as a newspaper in allowing

students to know more about their local government.

 MAYORAL CANDIDATE DEBATE
FREE AND OPEN TO ALL

GET A CHANCE TO MEET YOUR NEW STATE COLLEGE MAYOR!

MICHAEL DON RON

BLACK HAHN MADRID

TUESDAY, OCT. 17 STATE THEATRE

7 P.M. – 9 P.M. 130 W. COLLEGE AVE.

814-865-2531
collegian.psu.edu
123 S. Burrowes St. State College, PA 16801