PR and Campaigning On Campus
As I was walking through campus today (and last week), I was bombarded with advertisements for students running for class president. Because this is a PR class, I wanted to look at how well these campaign used PR tools to spread their messages and win over voters.
Here are some of the PR strategies I came across:
1. Cupcakes: One of the candidates (Anne Moser, maybe?) used pink signs with her name and cupcake graphics across them. One day last week she and her entourage stood by the tunnels on campus to pass out cupcakes. I thought this was a good idea because she at least got my attention..and now I associate her with cupcakes.
2. Music on the quad: Today, one of the male candidates had his truck parked near tally with country music playing, and signs with his name, etc. This was also a unique tactic.
3. Campaign fliers and simple signs: lots of the candidates used fliers to pass out. Most of which ended up in the trash. The only thing that made each stand apart from the rest were different colors. This can also be said for many of the signs. I think these people need to PR strategies
4. One interesting (and each) tactic was a guy who set up recycling boxes throughout campus with a sign attached saying something like: “Please recycle my components fliers..vote for (so and so).” I really enjoyed this idea: clever, and doing something useful/productive with his campaign
5. While some of the signs across campus were very bland, a couple with artistic or eye catching phrases did actually get my attention, which goes to show that standard PR tools, when used correctly and with a new spin, can go far. One sign was red with the outline of a wolf..but the wolf drawn on the sign was very artistic and unique. It definitely stuck out compared to the rest.
It seems, in general, most candidates relied on the same tactics as each other, not really branching out or trying to things to get more votes. While I didn’t look further into their campaigning, I wondered if they thought about blogs, websites, or facebook groups like we have talked about in class. Or, if they tried to (excuse the phrase) think outside the box.
Heres a question for the rest of the class: What strategies would you implement that would be cheap and effective if you were in charge of these students’ public relations plan?
Here are some of the PR strategies I came across:
1. Cupcakes: One of the candidates (Anne Moser, maybe?) used pink signs with her name and cupcake graphics across them. One day last week she and her entourage stood by the tunnels on campus to pass out cupcakes. I thought this was a good idea because she at least got my attention..and now I associate her with cupcakes.
2. Music on the quad: Today, one of the male candidates had his truck parked near tally with country music playing, and signs with his name, etc. This was also a unique tactic.
3. Campaign fliers and simple signs: lots of the candidates used fliers to pass out. Most of which ended up in the trash. The only thing that made each stand apart from the rest were different colors. This can also be said for many of the signs. I think these people need to PR strategies
4. One interesting (and each) tactic was a guy who set up recycling boxes throughout campus with a sign attached saying something like: “Please recycle my components fliers..vote for (so and so).” I really enjoyed this idea: clever, and doing something useful/productive with his campaign
5. While some of the signs across campus were very bland, a couple with artistic or eye catching phrases did actually get my attention, which goes to show that standard PR tools, when used correctly and with a new spin, can go far. One sign was red with the outline of a wolf..but the wolf drawn on the sign was very artistic and unique. It definitely stuck out compared to the rest.
It seems, in general, most candidates relied on the same tactics as each other, not really branching out or trying to things to get more votes. While I didn’t look further into their campaigning, I wondered if they thought about blogs, websites, or facebook groups like we have talked about in class. Or, if they tried to (excuse the phrase) think outside the box.
Heres a question for the rest of the class: What strategies would you implement that would be cheap and effective if you were in charge of these students’ public relations plan?
posted by Jessica @ 9:28 PM
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