2021 WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY

BATEMAN CASE STUDY COMPETITION

EMILY HARRIS SHERWIN FRANCIES

TEAM LEAD WRITING & RESEARCH DIRECTOR

MELINA ERNST STEFFI LUDAHL

CREATIVE DIRECTOR EVENTS & SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATOR

CHELSEA NEWMAN GAVIN MATTIS

FACULTY ADVISOR PROFESSIONAL ADVISOR
TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 1
SECONDARY RESEARCH • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 2
PRIMARY RESEARCH • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 2
TARGET AUDIENCE • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 3
CAMPAIGN GOAL, THEME, RATIONALE • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 4
KEY MESSAGES • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 4
OBJECTIVES, STRATEGIES, TACTICS • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 4
CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 6
EVALUATION • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 7
BUDGET • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 8
CONCLUSION • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 8
APPENDIX • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • A9
ITEMIZED BUDGET • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • A9

PRIMARY RESEARCH REPORT • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • A10

MEDIA COVERAGE • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • A13
CAMPAIGN TIMELINE • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • A14
BRANDING • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • A15

SOCIAL MEDIA ANALYTICS • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • A16

WEBSITE ANALYTICS • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • A18
EVENTS • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • A19
PARTNERS AND ENDORSEMENTS • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • A21
DESIGN PORTFOLIO • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • A23
REFERENCES • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • A25
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The WAforCivility Campaign educated, promoted and equipped WSU students,
elected officials and community members across Washington State with the
resources needed to foster civil conversations.

WAforCivility garnered statewide and nationwide attention that positioned us to lead a successful
campaign initiative in addressing the incivility crisis; one that industry professionals, other
universities, and states could follow suit in adopting and implementing. We recognize that incivility
in public discourse is a crisis we face as a nation. WAforCivility initiated a movement that incited
positive change and led a conversation to promote civil dialogue.

According to a joint poll from Weber Shandwick, Powell Tate, and KRC Research, 93% of Americans
said incivility is a problem, with 68% of them classifying it as a “major” problem. Our primary
research on the subject showed that nearly 80% of students at Washington State University (WSU)
and 69% of elected officials in Washington identify incivility as a major issue. Our research
identified how our target audiences felt about the declining state of civility and helped make
meaningful decisions throughout the campaign.
To combat incivility in public discourse
and encourage participation, our
campaign was centered around an action-
oriented goal that also educated our
audiences. We collected over 250 survey
responses from students and elected
officials, and conducted several interviews
with industry leaders to create the Civility
Keys — the foundation of our campaign
WAforCivility's website header banner emphasizes the campaign's goal — that helped us educate and equip our
finding common ground in pusuit of civility
target publics with the resources
necessary to foster civil conversations.
We used student focus groups to assess the effectiveness of the language used in the Civility Keys
and helped us create an approach that proved effective to all our target publics. Our campaign
helped start and lead conversations about civility while emphasizing the importance of finding
common ground by organizing virtual events with elected officials, students, and community
members across the state.

Since our target publics are spread out across the state, our campaign used the Washington State
map outline to create branding that resonates and connects with all three of our audiences. We
connected with our audience on social media, virtual events, and through endorsements from key
public figures in the community. By leveraging the close relationship between the Pullman
community, WSU students, and community leaders, we were able to further engage audiences and
widen the reach to other parts of the state.

Through data-driven decisions, WAforCivility educated, promoted and equipped the resources to
foster civility and find common ground, while opening spaces for conversations that encourage
differing perspectives. WAforCivility engaged the audience through values-driven messaging that
resonated with individuals and encouraged them to bridge partisan divides by uniting under one
common goal — finding common ground in pursuit of civility.

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SECONDARY RESEARCH
Secondary research helped us better understand perceptions regarding the state
of incivility among the general public and college students across the country.

The vast majority of Americans see deteriorating conditions of civility in political debate.
Nearly 85% say the political debate has become more negative and less respectful, and 76% say it has become
less fact-based. (“Public Highly Critical of State of Political Discourse in the U.S.”, 2019).
Only 30% of those aged 18 to 29 say it is very important for them to personally not use offensive language.
(“The personal side of speech and expression”, 2019).
A majority of people are unsure how to engage in civil conversations.
Nearly half of all Americans say it is hard to know what others might find offensive.
Nearly 81% of college students support a campus environment where students are exposed to all types of
speech, even if they may find it offensive, but 78% of students are also concerned about inclusivity and
protection from threatening speech. (“The First Amendment on Campus 2020 Report”, 2020).
Close to 92% of Americans say civility is important among elected officials at all levels of government (“Civility
in America 2019: Solutions For Tomorrow”, 2019).
The average American is perceived as the top driver of improved civility ((“Civility in America 2019: Solutions For
Tomorrow”, 2019).
Our campaign was informed by qualitative research and interviews from topic experts detailed in the book, “I’m Right
and You’re an Idiot: The Toxic State of Public Discourse and How to Clean It Up” by award-winning author, James
Hoggan.
Our Civility Keys were also developed through research from this book and interviews with the author, helping
us bring together works of topic experts along with our primary research.

PRIMARY RESEARCH
QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH
SURVEY 1 | WSU STUDENTS| JAN. 21 - FEB. 1 | 191 responses [A10]
We conducted an online survey to gain insight on student perspectives on civility and potential solutions. Responses
were collected from students across all WSU campuses using snowball sampling and convenience sampling.

Key findings:

Nearly 80% of WSU students view incivility in public discourse as a major issue.
About 82% of WSU students said they faced verbal backlash after voicing opinions on controversial subjects.
Roughly 55% of those surveyed felt pressured to lie about political views to avoid criticism.

SURVEY 2 | WASHINGTON STATE ELECTED OFFICIALS| JAN. 21 - FEB. 1 | 75 responses [A12]

We conducted an online survey to gain insights on how elected officials across Washington State view incivility in public
discourse. Participants were recruited through convenience sampling.

Key findings:

Nearly 69% of elected officials view incivility in public discourse as a major issue.
More than 88% of elected officials said social media significantly shapes public perception on politics.
Over 88% of them have faced verbal backlash after voicing their opinions on controversial issues.

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH
FOCUS GROUPS WITH WSU STUDENTS [A11]
We conducted four focus groups with a combined total of 16 participants to better understand how WSU students felt
about our campaign messaging and the Civility Keys we developed. Participants also completed a short questionnaire
after the focus group. Two focus groups were conducted on February 4 and two were conducted on February 5. One of
the four focus groups were set up as a control group to better understand the effectiveness of the messaging.

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Key themes from focus groups:

Students felt that incivility is a major issue but were unsure about how they could play an active role in improving
the state of civility.
Students had a clear preference for one of the two campaign messaging options provided.
The civility keys helped the students have a more productive, civil conversation when compared to the control
group where the keys were not introduced.

ASKED AN OPEN-ENDED QUESTION IN OUR SURVEY FOR WASHINGTON STATE ELECTED OFFICIALS [A13]
We asked elected officials how incivility in public discourse can be fixed from their perspective.

Key themes from survey:

Promote civility through education — in the public sphere and through schools and workplace training.
Encourage conversations at a local level.
Listen to opposing political beliefs.
Acknowledge different perspectives and express opinions in a non-aggressive manner.
Find common ground.
Respecting others and their views.

TARGET AUDIENCE
Primary audience — Students at Washington State University
WSU is home to 20,976 students from 48 states and 106 countries. Nearly 60% of the
Pullman population is made up of college students. Students of today are the employees
and leaders of tomorrow — capable of influencing workplace interactions. Through our
research, we have found that a majority (80%) of students are willing to take steps to
educate themselves about civility. Our campaign takes an educational approach — helping
students across the WSU system by providing resources to foster and engage in civil
conversations in classrooms and the workplace.

Secondary audience — Washington State Elected Officials

A vast majority of Americans say that uncivil comments by political leaders encourage
incivility (79%), according to Weber Shandwick’s Civility in America report. Our research
found that a majority of elected officials and politicians agree that incivility is a major
issue across the nation (69%). Our campaign encourages elected officials to be more civil
and influence community members across Washington State to follow suit.

Tertiary audience — Community members in Washington State

In an effort to be more inclusive and make progress towards meaningful change in all parts
of Washington State, we made the decision to include community members across the state
as a target audience. While WSU students and elected officials are members of the
community, this gives the general public an opportunity to support the cause and amplify
the campaign.

This was also a data-driven decision. While WSU students and elected officials remained in
key focus, our primary research suggested that individual voters are perceived as a key
player in improving the state of civility. Over 32% of students surveyed said individual voters
are responsible for making American politics more civil, while 31% pointed to politicians as
the responsible party. Our campaign followed the educational approach, targeting all
Washington State residents through elected officials and direct messaging.

3
CAMPAIGN GOAL, THEME, RATIONALE
Goal: To educate, promote and equip WSU students, elected officials and community members
across Washington State to engage in civil conversations.
Our audiences expressed interest in engaging with a social media campaign and virtual events that would promote civility in
public discourse. Based on quantitative and qualitative data we collected, we developed our Civility Keys: to listen,
acknowledge, empathize, and respect. Our Civility Keys served as the foundation of our campaign — promoting the notion
that we do not have to agree with each other but should, at the very least, model civility by acknowledging one’s values,
opinions and perspectives.

This insight prompted us to develop our campaign, WAforCivility. Our campaign’s theme centers around the need for and
importance of finding common ground in pursuit of promoting a culture of civility. We encouraged our target audiences to
counter the incivility crisis in our state by pledging #WAforCivility and #CougsforCivility. We used the hashtag
#WAforCivility to target all our audiences while #CougsforCivility was used to specifically target towards WSU students,
appealing to the school spirit. By pledging, our target audiences are attesting to best implement our four Civility Keys into
their lives.

When developing our campaign name and theme, we believed we would drive participation if we created a campaign
customized and tailored around our target audiences — WSU students, Washington State elected officials, and community
members. We wanted to promote a focused effort that guided our audiences toward our desired outcome — to make
Washington State civil. Our campaign branding and logo mirrored our efforts to increase campaign awareness and equity by
integrating the shape of Washington State into our logo and incorporating the state colors in our branding.

KEY MESSAGES
KEY MESSAGES
All of our messaging has been crafted from our primary research.
We used these key messages to encourage our target audiences to
take our pledge and implement our four Civility Keys into their
lives. During the research phase, we tested our key messaging of
the Civility Keys to ensure it resonated with our audiences.

"In pursuit of civility, we must find

common ground."

"Take the pledge and join us in the fight

against incivility."

WAforCivility's four Civility Keys

OBJECTIVES, STRATEGIES, TACTICS

Primary audience — Students at Washington State University

OBJECTIVE #1: To educate 2,000 WSU students about WAforCivility through social media outreach and virtual
events between Feb. 8 and March 8.
Strategy #1: Educate students on the issue of incivility in public discourse.
Tactic A: Leverage Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to build campaign awareness.
Target WSU students organically through Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
Utilize targeted Instagram ads to reach students to increase website and social media click-through rates.

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 Create hashtags that WSU students can connect with and rally behind (#WAforCivility and #CougsforCivility).
Gain earned media from the university by sharing our campaign messaging and initiatives across social media,
including its Facebook Page (@WSUPullman), which has a built-in reach of approximately 107,000 likes.
Tactic B: Host virtual events to increase reach and engage with students.
Hold an event in partnership with the WSU Jay Rockey Chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America
(PRSSA) about ethics in public relations and civility.
Host an event targeting student leaders at WSU that educates students and WSU student leadership on ways to
model civility and create an environment of mutual respect in all aspects of human relations.
Organize a “Civility and Politics” event that brings together Washington State elected officials, students, and
community members to learn about ways to improve the state of civility in our nation.
Strategy #2: Build credibility and presence across the WSU community.
Tactic A: Secure endorsements from key figures in the WSU community
Meet with Kirk Schulz, president of Washington State University, and secure an endorsement for WAforCivility.
Meet with and secure campaign endorsements from the chancellors of WSU’s branch campuses.
Meet with and secure a campaign endorsement from Bruce Pinkleton, dean of the Edward R. Murrow College of
Communication.
Have our events posted on the WSU official events calendar to increase reach.
Tactic B: Reach students through earned media placements.
Target students through placements in WSU news outlets.
OBJECTIVE #2: To promote our campaign by reaching 10 registered student organizations between Feb. 8 and
March 8.
Strategy #1: Establish incentives to increase student participation in WAforCivility.
Tactic A: Hold weekly social media raffles.
Post weekly giveaways on our website and social media channels that encourage students to pledge.
Develop contest rules and guidelines that increase entry submissions, engagement, and impressions.
Strategy #2: Collaborate with WSU faculty and campus organizations to amplify our campaign messaging,
Tactic A: Reach out to WSU faculty to seek campaign endorsements and support
Email WSU department heads to ask if they could pledge and share our campaign with their respected faculty
and professors.
Reach out to professors in the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication to ask if they are willing to offer
extra credit to their students for attending our virtual events.
Secure keynote speakers from the WSU community to present in our virtual events.
Tactic B: Partner with The Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public Policy and Public Service for a virtual event.
Organize a guest-speaker session with an industry expert on civility through a partnership with The Foley
Institute, WSU’s non-partisan public policy institute.
OBJECTIVE #3: To equip WSU students with the resources needed to counter incivility through our website and
get 50 students to pledge #WAforCivility between Feb. 8 and March 8.
Strategy: Create waforcivility.com, that centralizes all of our campaign content, efforts, and initiatives.
Tactic A: Leverage social media to direct our audiences to go to our website.
Include the waforcivility.com link in the bio of all WAforCivility's social media channels.
Plan a paid social media campaign on Instagram that directs users to click on our website.
Tactic B: Make waforcivility.com a user-friendly site that is easy to navigate.
Generate a bounce rate below 50% by designing a landing page that directs users to a call-to-action.
Motivate students to pledge by having an animated pledge count on the top of our pledge page.

Secondary audience — Washington State Elected Officials

OBJECTIVE #1: Educate 50 Washington State elected officials on the significance of our campaign between Feb. 8
and March 8.
Strategy: Encourage Washington State elected officials to support a student-led statewide initiative that aims to
counter incivility.
Tactic A: Conduct elected-official outreach.
Email senators, representatives, and congressional members across Washington State to invite them to
participate in our campaign.
Tactic B: Communicate our research findings through blogs and social media posts.
Post key statistics from the research we conducted.
OBJECTIVE #2: To get 5 elected officials to promote our campaign and get 10 elected officials to pledge
#WAforCivility between Feb. 8 and March 8.
Strategy: Highlight the rise of incivility in our state by identifying the needs and wants of elected officials’ constituencies
(WSU students and community members).
Tactic A: Build campaign recognition through community leaders to extend our reach.
Reach out and follow-up with elected officials via email and encourage them to share our campaign on their
social media and with their colleagues.
Create campaign recognition through promotion on social media by trusted community organizations and
members of the WSU community.
Tactic B: Host an event with Washington State elected officials.
Reach out to Washington State representatives, senators, council members, and mayors via email to ask if they
are willing to attend and participate in a virtual event with WSU students and community members.

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 Tertiary audience — Community members in Washington State
OBJECTIVE #1: Educate community members on the significance of our campaign and get at least 50 people to
pledge #WAforCivility between Feb. 8 and March 8.
Strategy: Motivate community members to pledge #WAforCivility by increasing WAforCivility's social media presence
on all mainstream platforms — Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
Tactic A: Educate community members by posting graphics daily on social media for community organizations and
members to share on their social channels.
Tactic B: Target community members through earned media placements consumed by statewide residents.

OBJECTIVE #2: Promote our campaign by partnering with 5 local businesses and other Washington-based
organizations between Feb. 8 and March 8.
Strategy: Increase participation, reach and impressions among the larger Washington community.
Tactic A: Acquire sponsorships from local businesses.
Highlight sponsoring businesses and organizations to encourage shares and increase impressions among the
larger Washington community.
Increase reach through promotion from businesses through Instagram and Facebook.
Tactic B: Reach community members through elected officials.
Retweets/shares from elected officials’ accounts.
Elected officials promoting the pledge and Civility Keys at events.

CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

Challenge #1: Lack of interaction from elected officials in the initial implementation phase
We were unable to reach the wider elected officials in Washington State in the initial stages due to a lack of
credibility.

Opportunities:
We shifted our focus to leaders in the community and the WSU system. By securing partnerships and
endorsements from reputable campus organizations such as Associated Students of Washington State
University (ASWSU) and leaders, we were able to reach more elected officials in the later stages of the
campaign.
We elevated our presence in the community by reaching all city-wide elected officials in Pullman and their
endorsements on social media also allowed us to gain involvement from state-wide elected officials.

Challenge #2: Facebook Advertising

Facebook and Twitter categorized our campaign as a political/social change initiative and blocked all planned
advertisements. This delayed our advertisement calendar and required us to go through several identity
confirmation checks, which were not approved during the campaign implementation period.

Opportunities:
We shifted our advertisements to Instagram since the platform allowed us to run advertisements. Since
Instagram does not have broad interest-based targeting tools like Facebook, we pivoted to incorporate an
advertisement blitz - a week-long ad campaign to increase frequency and impressions.
Due to the uncertainty surrounding Facebook and Instagram ads and the inability to advertise on Twitter due
to the “political content,” we put more emphasis on organic reach, earned media and shared media.

Challenge #3: COVID-19

COVID-19 concerns resulted in the start of the spring semester being pushed back. The uncertainty and the
extended winter break forced our team to push back fielding our survey by over a week due to concerns regarding
response rates. We were unable to field surveys to community members due to COVID-19 concerns and time
constraints caused by the delayed start of the semester. This prompted us to create an entirely virtual campaign.

Opportunities:
We focused on digital messaging through several university channels to field our survey. To solve this, we
engaged with faculty and staff at various colleges and departments to distribute surveys.
Although attendance at our events was low in the initial implementation stage, we were able to secure guest
speakers and panelists across North America, which helped improve attendance. We also incorporated a
conversational tone across all virtual events in an effort to be more engaging.

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EVALUATION
Primary audience — Students at Washington State University
OBJECTIVE #1: EXCEEDED
To educate 2,000 WSU students about WAforCivility through social media outreach and virtual events between
Feb. 8 and March 8.
Generated 23,000 impressions on Instagram and reached 13,000 people. [A16]
Engaged with 770 students and acquired an average post-engagement rate of 18.1%.
Generated 10,240 impressions and reached 8,367 accounts through Instagram ads targeting WSU students. [A16]
Reached students through WSU Pullman’s Facebook page, which has approximately 110,000 followers and includes
a significant student population.
Secured endorsements from WSU President Kirk Schulz representing the WSU system; WSU Vancouver Chancellor
Mel Netzhammer; WSU Global Campus Chancellor Dave Cillay; WSU Tri-Cities Chancellor Sandra Haynes; and
Edward R. Murrow College of Communication Dean Bruce Pinkleton. [A21, A22]
Reached 3,426 students at WSU Vancouver, 1,716 students at WSU Tri-Cities, and 3,100 students at WSU Global
received an email informing them of the WAforCivility Campaign.
Engaged 56 students across three virtual events through partnerships with WSU faculty and campus organizations.
Event #1 - Ethics and Civility [A19]
Event #2 - Leaders of Tomorrow [A19]
Event #3 - Civility and Politics [A20]
Garnered 93 reads online for The Daily Evergreen’s article, “Students compete in national public relations campaign,”
reached 995 people on The Daily Evergreen’s Facebook page, received 22 engagements on The Daily Evergreen’s
Facebook page, and reached approximately 10,000 people through The Daily Evergreen’s Twitter page. [A13]
OBJECTIVE #2: EXCEEDED
To promote our campaign by reaching 10 registered student organizations between Feb. 8 and March 8.
Held four giveaways to incentivize and encourage WSU students to pledge #WAforCivility.
Generated 1,368 impressions and prompted 161 profile visits. [A16, A17]
Increased entry submissions and impressions by requiring people to tag two friends to enter.
Partnered with The Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public Policy and Public Service on an event promoting civility,
featuring award-winning author, James Hoggan, as the guest speaker. (The Foley Institute has a reach of roughly
1.57 K subscribers on YouTube and 350 followers on Twitter)
Had 101 people attend the live stream event on YouTube. [A20]
Partnered with two professors from the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication to offer extra-credit
opportunities.
Reached 102 registered student organizations including, ASWSU Executive board and WSU International Student
Council, WSU College of Republicans, Chi Omega, Delta Delta Delta, Phi Sigma Kappa, and Alpha Kappa Psi.
Had representation from over 15 registered student organizations at WAforCivility events. [A19, A20]
OBJECTIVE #3: EXCEEDED
To equip WSU students with the resources needed to counter incivility through our website and get 50 students
to pledge #WAforCivility between Feb. 8 and March 8.
A total of 76 students pledged #WAforCivility.
Garnered 228 pageviews (142 unique pageviews) on our blog page. [A18]
Achieved an average bounce rate of 42.96%. [A18]

Secondary audience — Washington State elected officials

OBJECTIVE #1: EXCEEDED
Educate 50 Washington State elected officials on the significance of our campaign between Feb. 8 and March 8.
Contacted all 49 senators, 98 representatives, and 10 congressional members in Washington State, inviting them to
participate in our campaign.
Shared our research findings through blogs and social media posts. [A23, A24]
Examples: “88% of politicians have faced verbal backlash after stating their opinion on controversial subjects”
and “82% of students have felt attacked when voicing their opinions.”
OBJECTIVE #2: EXCEEDED
To get 5 elected officials to promote our campaign and get 10 elected officials to pledge #WAforCivility between
Feb. 8 and March 8.
Sent follow-up emails throughout our campaign implementation period.
Held a virtual panel on civility and politics with elected officials from Washington State, WSU students and
community members. [A20]
Panelists: Rep. Matt Boehnke, Mayor Barb Tolbert, Mayor Glenn Johnson, City Councilman Scott Hokonson,
Mayor Anne McEnery-Ogle, and Councilmember Laurie Lebowsky.
Facilitated a Q&A session that allows students and community members to engage in conversations about
civility with Washington State elected officials.
Built campaign recognition through social media endorsements from key campus and community leaders.[A21]

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 Had 11 elected officials pledge #WAforCivility.
Three elected officials promoted WAforCivility on social media.
Seven elected officials promoted the campaign by participating in events. [A20]
Rep. Matt Boehnke introduced WAforCivility at the Tri-Cities Civility Caucus, which is made up of approximately 24
politicians, teachers and business owners.

Tertiary audience — Community members in Washington State

Objective #1: EXCEEDED
Educate community members on the significance of our campaign and get at least 50 people to pledge
#WAforCivility between Feb. 8 and March 8.
Had 87 community members pledge #WAforCivility.
Reached the Pullman community through earned media placement in The Daily Evergreen and WSU Insider. [A13]
OBJECTIVE #2: EXCEEDED
Promote our campaign by partnering with 5 local businesses and other Washington-based organizations Feb. 8
and March 8.
Partnered with various restaurants across the state including local businesses in Pullman, Vancouver and
Everett, and national organizations such as Domino’s Pizza, The Rock, Starbucks and The Bookie. [A24]
Reached PRSA members through a PRSA weekly-roundup mass email (30,000 reach).
Fielded attention from the Association of Washington Business: Capitol Focus production team from our WSU
Insider article, who offered to feature our WAforCivility campaign on TV. [A24]

BUDGET
ITEMIZED BUDGET 6.19% ITEMIZED IN-KIND DONATIONS
TOTAL SPENT | $229.31 8.72% TOTAL RECEIVED | $311.79
■ Instagram Promotion ■ Instagram
■ Website Domain ■ The Bookie
■ Incentives
16.92%
■ Starbucks Gift-Cards 43.87%
■ Website ■ Pizza
■ Tax 4.93% ■ Starbucks Goodies 14.43%
6.41%

63.23% 32.07%
3.21%

CONCLUSION
Incivility in public discourse has now reached crisis proportions in our community, state and nation. Through our
WAforCivility campaign, we sought to bring an end to this crisis by educating, equipping, and promoting our audiences
with the resources needed to model civility and create a more bipartisan society. WAforCivility served as a catalyst for
change in the community and led a campaign initiative in addressing the incivility crisis — one that industry
professionals, other universities, and states could follow suit in adopting and implementing.

We exceeded our campaign goals, garnering 68,622 impressions on social media, reaching 34,235 people, and engaged
with 1,139 individuals. We were overwhelmed by the outpour of support from our audiences. We connected with our
audiences by having an all-around digital public relations campaign that encouraged people to participate through virtual
events, giveaways and social media posts.

174 WSU students, Washington State elected officials, and community members made their demand for an improved
state of civility in Washington State loud and clear by pledging #WAforCivility.

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 APPENDIX
ITEMIZED BUDGET AND DONATIONS

A9
PRIMARY RESEARCH REPORT
QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH — WSU STUDENTS: SURVEY
FINDING 1: WSU Students view incivility in public discourse as a major issue.

We aimed to understand how students view incivility in the community, state and nation to determine the approach our
campaign takes. In our survey, 78.1% of students identified incivility in public discourse as a major issue. We analyzed
student opinions on civility using univariate analysis and a five-point Likert scale (one being “not an issue” and five being
“major issue”).

Also, of the 151 respondents who were asked to express their opinion on civility, 83.44% (n=126) of WSU students said
it is necessary. Based on these findings, we concluded that the majority of WSU students are aware of the state of
incivility and allowed our campaign to focus on providing the resources to foster civil conversations.

FINDING 2: Incivility is a widespread issue on WSU campuses.

One way incivility manifests in conversations is through verbal backlash. To better understand how widespread uncivil
interactions were among WSU students, we asked students if they have faced verbal backlash after voicing their opinion
on controversial topics. We evaluated these using univariate and bivariate analyses.

Of the 145 respondents that answered the question, 82.07% (n=119) indicated that they have been victims of verbal
backlash. 54.48% (n=79) of WSU students surveyed also said they have felt pressured to lie about their political beliefs
to avoid criticism.

We also found that 84.09% (n=74) of respondents that identified as female indicated that they have faced verbal
backlash, compared to 79.07% (n=34) of respondents that identified as male.

Based on these findings, we concluded that incivility is a major issue among WSU students. We used these key data
points to highlight the issue among WSU students and campus leaders. Our campaign focused on starting a
conversation about civility among students through virtual events and creating safe spaces founded with fundamental
values of civility where everyone is free to voice differing opinions.

FINDING 3: WSU students believe citizens and politicians

are responsible for making American politics more civil.
31.72%

We asked students who they believed were responsible for 16.55%

making American politics more civil. Of the 145 WSU
students that responded, 31.72% (n=46) said citizens are
responsible while 31.03% (n=45) selected politicians. Also, 1.38%
15.17% (n=22) of WSU students indicated that the news
media was responsible. Notably, 75% of those that selected
“other” said all these parties were equally responsible.
15.17%
Based on these findings, we decided to incorporate the 31.03%
larger public since our primary and secondary audience
already falls under the broad category of community
members. Since students indicated that citizens and
politicians are responsible for improving the state of ■ News media
incivility, we hosted a panel discussion with elected officials,
■ Social media
politicians, community members, students and members of
■ Politicians 4.14%
the news media to lead a conversation on how each of these
entities could contribute to improving the state of civility.
■ Corporations
■ Individual people / voters
■ Other

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FINDING 4: Instagram is the best platform to reach students.

In our survey, we asked students how many hours they spend on each social media platform daily. We analyzed the
data using bivariate analysis.

We found that of the 136 students that responded to the survey, most people spend 1-3 hours on social media. Of the
people that spend 1-3 hours on social media, 63.24% (n=86) said they spend the most time on Instagram, followed by
Snapchat (45.59%, n=62).

Based on this finding, we concluded that Instagram is the best social media platform to reach WSU students across all
campuses. During the implementation period of our campaign, we ran targeted ads on Instagram to reach more WSU
students based on this data.

FINDING 5: Students believe guest speaker sessions and virtual conversations can improve the state of civility.

We aimed to understand how to best assist students and the campus community in improving the state of civility at
WSU. We evaluated responses for the following categories: guest speaker sessions, virtual conversations and
discussions, creating awareness through social media among others, and civility training. The data was analyzed using a
five-point Likert scale for each category (one being not beneficial at all and five being extremely beneficial).

We made the decision to organize events that focused on virtual conversations and discussions and include guest
speakers based on this finding. Our campaign social media accounts placed emphasis on creating awareness among
our target audiences by highlighting key data from our findings and encouraging Washingtonians to implement the
Civility Keys in their daily life.

QUALITATIVE RESEARCH — WSU STUDENTS: FOCUS GROUPS

THEME 1: Facebook and Twitter were the two social media platforms students felt demonstrated the most
incivility.

"I see lots of nasty arguments on Facebook, and then plenty of sass back and forth on like Twitter as well.”

THEME 2: All participants in the three experimental focus groups said the Civility Keys was a beneficial resource
when it comes to engaging in civil conversations. They also indicated that raising awareness and educating
students on fostering civil conversations would improve public discourse.

“I felt like the four keys were common sense. Like this should just be what you should do. So if this was going to be
pushed on campus-wide, I think it would be effective.”
THEME 3: Some students do not voice their opinions because they do not feel educated enough in politics or
current issues.
“I don't know enough about politics and current issues. I think I'd rather not say one or the other just because of my
ignorance because I'm not sure.”
THEME 4: Some participants said they do not state their political opinions to avoid judgment or verbal backlash.
“Personally, I would say no, I haven't been attacked just because I know to keep my mouth shut.”

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 QUANTITATIVE RESEARCH — ELECTED OFFICIALS: SURVEY
Limitation: The number of questions in this survey was limited to be respectful of the time constraints elected officials at all
levels of government face.

FINDING 1: Elected officials view incivility as a major issue.

In line with the student survey, we wanted to better understand how elected officials across Washington State view the
issue of incivility in public discourse. The survey data showed that 69.12% of respondents indicated incivility as a major
issue. We analyzed the data using univariate analysis and a seven-point Likert scale with one being “not an issue” and
seven being “major issue”.

FINDING 2: A majority of elected officials have faced verbal backlash.

We aimed to gain insightful quantitative data on the prevalence of uncivil conversations among elected officials to
inform the approach of our campaign. We evaluated the data using univariate and bivariate analysis.

We found that of the 68 respondents, 88.24% (n=60) said they have faced verbal backlash after voicing their opinions on
controversial subjects.
Our findings show that 94.44% (n=17) of elected officials who identified as Republican said they have been verbally
attacked while only 82.76% (n=24) of Democrats and 84.62% (n=11) of Independents indicated the same.

We also found that 90.32% (n=28) of elected officials who identified as female indicated they have faced verbal backlash
while 84.38% (n=27) of those who identified as male said that same.

FINDING 3: Twitter is the ideal platform to reach elected officials.

We asked elected officials how many hours they spend on each social media platform to identify the best way to reach
them. We used univariate analysis to evaluate the data.

We found that a majority of elected officials indicated that they either never use social media or do not use it daily.

However, we found that of the 68 elected officials that responded to the survey, a significant portion of them spend 1-3
hours on social media. Of the people that spend 1-3 hours on social media, 44.12% (n=30) said they spend the most
time on Facebook, followed by Twitter with 23.53% (n=16).

Although the data indicated that elected officials spend the most time on Facebook, many of them said they use
Facebook for personal purposes in conversations with our team members. Hence, we made the decision that Twitter is
the ideal platform to reach the audience.

Since we were unable to reach a wide audience of elected officials in Washington through social media, we conducted
extensive outreach operations to a majority of elected officials in the state by email and/or phone (State, County, and
City levels).

FINDING 4: Elected officials believe social media has a major influence in shaping public opinion.

We aimed to find the amount of influence social media has on public opinion to inform our campaign objectives.
Responses were evaluated using univariate analysis and a five-point Likert scale with one being “none at all” and five
being “a great deal”.

We found that 88.23% of elected officials in Washington believe that social media has a significant influence in shaping
public perception on politics. Based on this data, we decided to target Washingtonians on social media through elected
officials and our key messaging.

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 QUALITATIVE RESEARCH — ELECTED OFFICIALS
In our survey, we asked elected officials how they think we could improve the state of civility in our state and the
country. We received a total of 68 responses. The key themes are outlined below.

THEME 1: Elected officials said educating the public on civility and civil discourse would help the current
situation.

“Educating everyone on positive techniques to discuss public discourse and issues that impact us all.”

THEME 2: Elected officials felt that media outlets should not be biased and must focus on being non-partisan.

“Train and expect news outlets to be non-partisan.”

THEME 3: A significant portion of the respondents indicated the need to listen to other opinions without being
aggressive.
"Agree with someone or not, listen and give your opinion without being aggressive."

MEDIA COVERAGE
WAforCivility earned several pieces of media coverage. We
followed a strategic approach and pitched to news media which
could reach all our target audiences.

THE WSU INSIDER:

“Student-led civility campaign endorsed by President Schulz”.

The WSU Insider is the central news source for the entire
WSU system, reaching students, faculty and staff, as well as
community members across Washington State.
This resulted in subsequent placements on News Break, Daily
Political Press, and Opera News.

THE DAILY EVERGREEN:

“Students compete in national public relations competition”

The Daily Evergreen has 70,000 web visitors each month and
is delivered to more than 200 high-traffic locations.
It is a key news source in the Pullman community and is
widely read by both residents, students and WSU alumni
across the state.

Other media coverage:

Fielded attention from the Association of Washington

Business’ Capitol Focus during the implementation period.
The episode aired after the implementation period on
March 14, 2021.
Being featured on Capitol Focus allowed us to reach
elected officials, but the metrics and reach from the show
are not included in this report since it was past the
implementation period.

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CAMPAIGN TIMELINE

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BRANDING
Logo:

Colors:

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SOCIAL MEDIA ANALYTICS
Educating and equipping our audiences with the resources to counter incivility on social media was a key
part of our campaign. We accomplished our objectives by directing people to our website through social
media and educating them through the Civility Keys. Our key social media statistics include:

Received a total of 68,622 total impressions.

Gained 28,200 impressions on Instagram, 18,222 impressions on Facebook, and 22,200 impressions on
Twitter.
Reached a total of 12,035 people through Facebook and Instagram.
The majority of impressions on Instagram and all impressions from Facebook and Twitter were organic.

Social media promotion:

We spent a total of $145 on Instagram ads, promoting two posts.

Increased impressions and reach among WSU students.
Increased link clicks to our website.

The following accounts helped us garner more impressions by promoting our campaign on Twitter:

Kirk Schulz (President, WSU) - 11,100 followers

Dr. Noel Schulz (First Lady, WSU) - 4,063 followers
Bruce Pinkleton (Dean, Edward R. Murrow College of Communication) - 1,124 followers
Paul Bolls (Associate Dean of Research, Murrow College) - 920 followers
Stacey Hust (Chair of StratCom, Murrow College) - 579 followers
Edward R. Murrow College of Communication - 5,411 followers
WSU College of Agricultural, Human, and Natural Resource Sciences - 5,346 followers
Brandon Chapman (Pullman City Councilmember) - 1,870 followers
WSU Global Campus - 1,126 followers
Office of the Provost - 741 followers
WSU System - 3,278 followers
WSU Center for Civic Engagement - 1,198 followers
WSU PRSSA - 276 followers
WSU Everett - 1,510 followers
Daily Evergreen - 9,998 followers

Top Instagram Posts:

#1 liked video
97 impressions
18 likes
89 reach
5 profile visits

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 184 impressions
31 likes
16 comments
139 reach
20 profile visits
5 website visits

Top Twitter Post:

1,979 impressions
99 engagements
10 likes
10 profile clicks

Top Facebook Post:

16 reactions
406 reach
26 engagements
10 post clicks

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WEBSITE ANALYTICS
The WAforCivility webpage was the centerpiece of our campaign. The site featured 10 pages that were
designed to educate and equip all our target audiences with the necessary tools that improve the state of
civility in communities across Washington State.

The key element of waforcivility.com was the pledge, which helped us promote civility among our audiences while
also equipping them through our Civility Keys. The pledge page housed sections for each of our target audiences,
where they can attest their name to the initiative.

We strategically placed our Civility Keys on individual specific audience-based pledge page so that the keys must be
viewed before signing the pledge. This ensured that every individual that signed the pledge noted the keys.

Additionally, our blog page provided an in-depth view of the state of incivility in our nation while emphasizing our
key messaging and rationale for the campaign. We published a total of nine blogs that focused on educating the
audience on the issue and offering our team’s perspectives. By using action-oriented language, our blog posts
encouraged everyone to take the pledge and do their part in the effort to improve the state of public discourse.

WAforCivility website had a total of 3,217 views and 2,443 unique views over the implementation period.
With 1,083 views, our home was most visited, followed by our pledge page with 807 views and our about page
347 views.
Visitors spent an average of 1 minute and 58 seconds on the website.
WAforCivility had an average bounce rate of 42.96%.
Our home page had the lowest bounce rate with 33.06%, followed by the blog page with 33.33% and the
about page with 46.94%.
Following requests from community leaders and elected officials, our website will remain live and active until April 8.

Audience acquisition:

68.17% (484) accessed our website through direct channels.

16.34% (116) accessed our website through social media channels.
10.56% (75) accessed our website through referrals.
4.65% (33) accessed our website through organic search.

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EVENTS

Ethics and Civility

Our first event was held on Thursday, February 18, in
partnership with the Jay Rockey Chapter of the
Public Relations Student Society of America
emphasizing our commitment to improving the state
of public discourse in the workplace. In this event, we
engaged with 16 student members of PRSSA and led
a conversation about ethics in public relations with
Dr. Jordan Foley while also learning more about our
Civility Keys.

Leaders of Tomorrow
Our second event was held on Thursday, February
25. This event had 24 attendees and aimed to
educate student leaders on how to model civility by
creating an environment of mutual respect in all
aspects of human relations — both offline and
online. We also discussed how to restore civility in
the workplace while highlighting the importance of
our Civility Keys with Pullman City Councilmember
Brandon Chapman.

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Restoring Civility
Our third event was held in partnership with The
Foley Institute for Public Policy and Public Service
via YouTube Live on Tuesday, March 2. This event
was crucial as The Foley Institute is well known in the
WSU community. At our event, James Hoggan
discussed how to escape toxic political rhetoric while
engaging 101 attendees in a live Q&A session.
Hoggan is the president of an award-winning public
relations firm in Vancouver, British Columbia —
Hoggan & Associates, and the best-selling author of
I’m Right and You’re an Idiot: The Toxic State of Public
Discourse and How to Clean It Up.

Civility and Politics

Our final event took place on Thursday, March 4. All
27 attendees engaged in conversations about civility
in politics and the state of civility in our community,
state and nation with Washington State elected
officials, politicians, WSU students, and
community members. We organized this event to
get elected officials' perspectives on how civility
impacts their everyday lives.

Panelists:
Glenn Johnson - Mayor, Pullman WA
Barbara Tolbert - Mayor, Arlington WA
Scott Hokonson - Councilmember, Malden WA
Rep. Matt Boehnke- Representative, WA-8th LD
Carolyn Long- Former Democratic Nominee for
Congress, WA-03

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PARTNERS AND ENDORSEMENTS
Secured endorsements from key figures in the WSU community to establish credibility. These included:

WSU President Kirk Schulz representing the WSU system: Letter of endorsement and social media promotion.
WSU Vancouver represented by Chancellor Mel Netzhammer: Social media and connected to school newsletter.
WSU Global Campus represented by Chancellor Dave Cillay: connected to school newsletter.
WSU Tri-Cities represented by Chancellor Sandra Haynes: connected to school newsletter.
Bruce Pinkleton, dean of the Edward R. Murrow College of Communication: social media and faculty email.

Partnered with campus organizations and secured endorsements from businesses across Washington State
to establish credibility. These included:

The Bookie: Pullman

Starbucks: Pullman
The Rock: Vancouver
Stick + Stone: Tri-Cities
Versalia Pizza: Spokane
Tasty Curry: Everett
Wendel Family Dental: Vancouver
The Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public Policy and Public Service
WSU Jay Rockey Chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA)

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Endorsement letter from WSU President Kirk Schulz.

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DESIGN PORTFOLIO

A23
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REFERENCES
About WSU Vancouver. (n.d.). Retrieved from
https://www.vancouver.wsu.edu/about-wsu-vancouver

Civility in America 2019: Solutions For Tomorrow. (2019, June). Retrieved from
https://www.webershandwick.com/wp-
content/uploads/2019/06/CivilityInAmerica2019SolutionsforTomorrow.pdf

Public Highly Critical of State of Political Discourse in the U.S. (2019, June). Retrieved from
https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2019/06/19/the-climate-for-discourse-around-the-
country-on-campus-and-on-social-media/

The Challenge of Knowing What’s Offensive (2019, June). Retrieved from

https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2019/06/19/the-challenge-of-knowing-whats-offensive/

The First Amendment on Campus 2020 Report. (2020, May). Retrieved from
https://knightfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/First-Amendment-on-Campus-
2020.pdf

The Personal Side of Speech and Expression. (2019, June). Retrieved from
https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2019/06/19/the-personal-side-of-speech-and-
expression/

Quick facts WSU. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://wsu.edu/about/facts/

Quick facts WSU. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://tricities.wsu.edu/quick-facts/

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2021 BATEMAN CASE STUDY COMPETITION
WASHINGTON STATE UNIVERSITY
TEAM PRogress