RETHiNK HOME
Role
Senior writer for RETHiNK HOME campaign
Member on the 2015 CSULB Bateman Team
About the campaign
RETHiNK HOME is a public relations campaign built on behalf of HomeMatters® in partnership with LINC Housing and Housing Long Beach for the Public Relations Student Society of America Bateman Competition. The campaign received an Honorable Mention for its creative strategies and execution.
Overview
THE BLUEPRINT
CAMPAIGN SUMMARY
College students know firsthand the challenges of budgeting for housing, various bills and everyday needs such as food and transportation. While it is almost expected for college students to have several roommates in order to afford housing, overcrowded housing is becoming all too common across the U.S. as housing prices continue to rise and Americans struggle to afford safe, stable and quality housing. So what is happening to the housing market in America and how does it impact us and our lives?
The Bateman Team at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) conducted research to answer these questions, better understand our client and target audiences, and to inform campaign goals. Secondary research helped us understand the issue of affordable housing, the role of home in our lives, the American Dream and HomeMatters: its mission, goals and efforts. Our primary research taught us about our target audiences: what they know, how they feel and what motivates them to engage in the issue of affordable housing as it pertains to their American dream.
We found that the affordable housing crisis is affecting so much more than the housing market. A survey of 222 members of our target audience revealed that 71 percent believe the American Dream is achievable. However, the majority of survey respondents ranked quality of health as the most important factor to their American Dream, while owning a home was least important. Ultimately, our research led us to conclude that the American Dream has changed over time to encompass numerous interpretations of success. While home may not play its traditional role as the image of having achieved the American Dream, it plays a quintessential role in our lives as it is the foundation, rather than the image, for success. The CSULB Bateman team needed to introduce our target audiences to HomeMatters in order to educate them of its mission, encourage them to rethink the idea of home and the American Dream, and encourage them to join the affordable housing movement.
Leveraging the importance of home, we created the RETHiNK HOME campaign. We used our student focus group to guide our theme and logo choices, as well as tactics and incentives for engagement. We partnered with HomeMatters supporters LINC Housing and Housing Long Beach and hosted a panel event, all of which tied in to our RETHiNK HOME theme. Our team focused on increasing awareness and educating target audiences, while encouraging engagement with HomeMatters. We tabled on campus and at a sporting event, held seminars, hosted contests and raffle events, and created a theme song while connecting with our audiences through social media. Through strategic planning and careful implementation, we educated our audiences, answered questions, dispersed key messages and encouraged them to RETHiNK HOME and support HomeMatters and the affordable housing movement.
Our RETHiNK HOME campaign reached nearly 375,000 students, professors and Long Beach residents. We gained a total of 478 HomeMatters supporters by holding class seminars and tabling events that offered a fast and easy avenue to join the HomeMatters movement. We produced 140,278 social media impressions and garnered 230,028 media impressions through two media placements. We generated a total production equivalency of $132,850 for an ROI of 144. Our campaign built relationships among key players in affordable housing – the CSULB Department of Social Work and Department of Journalism and Mass Communications, and local HomeMatters supporters LINC Housing and Housing Long Beach – that will continue to grow for years to come. Furthermore, our campaign increased awareness of affordable housing and HomeMatters throughout CSULB and the Long Beach community.
Research
AMERICA’S HOUSING DEMAND
SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS
The U.S. government has set a standard in which individuals and families must spend under 30 percent of their income on housing to stay above low-income or poverty level. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the average low-income family makes $1,470 per month with an average housing cost of $1,250, leaving only $220 for other expenses such as utilities and food. Unfortunately, this equation has become familiar for many Americans as half of the country is making detrimental sacrifices to afford housing. The problem does not lie on individual income and wages. It lies in the constantly rising cost of housing, making it difficult for Americans to afford the cost of living, let alone own a home. There is a housing crisis in the U.S.
The housing crisis impacts more than just one’s ability to afford a home. Home is the foundation for all other aspects of our lives. HomeMatters, a nonprofit organization with a mission to spread awareness of the essential role that home plays in our lives, communities and nation – particularly in terms of health, education, success, public safety and the economy – hopes to change the perceptions of and advocate for affordable housing in America. HomeMatters partnered with the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) and the Bateman competition to raise awareness of its mission and efforts toward affordable housing.
COMMUNITY INFRASTRUCTURE
SECONDARY FINDINGS
After reviewing HomeMatters’ history and online presence and a number of websites that focused on the history of the American Dream, affordable housing and the HomeMatters pillars, our team was able to determine specific strategies to successfully implement our plan. This information allowed our team to understand HomeMatters’ strengths and weaknesses, identify key messages we hoped to present to our target audiences and establish goals and predictions for our campaign.
We reviewed research provided by HomeMatters, which revealed important considerations for our research and campaign:
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More than half a million people in the U.S. do not have a home, a quarter of whom are children.
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More than 50 percent of Americans are making detrimental sacrifices to pay rent or their mortgage.
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The traditional American Dream has changed to a new American Dream that is broader and “reflects new and changing American values.” It is a “societal commitment to improve and balance quality of life and that home is our nation’s common denominator.”
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People need more from home as it is the foundation for everything else that affect our lives, particularly health, education, public safety, economy and success.
We also researched HomeMatters’ pillars of home
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Health: How home affects health and over-all well-being. People with low household incomes, the elderly, people with disabilities, and minority populations are least likely to have access to safe, healthy, affordable, and accessible homes.
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Education: How the high cost of housing has a negative impact on students and teachers. Children in families behind on rent are 52 percent more likely to be at risk for developmental delays.
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Success: How home is the foundation for the future. Children who live in homes owned by their parents versus rental units score 9 percent higher in math and 7 percent higher in reading. They also have 1-3 percent fewer behavioral problems.
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Economy: How home affordability affects the economy. High-density and affordable housing developments offer greater efficiency in use of public services and infrastructures.
SURVEYING THE LAND
PRIMARY FINDINGS
The CSULB Bateman team conducted nine in-depth interviews, as well as focus groups with communications professionals and college students. Furthermore, we surveyed 222 students, professors, parents and other members of the community. Our primary research helped focus and direct our RETHiNK HOME campaign.
In-depth Interviews
Conducting nine in-depth interviews with college students, affordable housing experts and individuals who have been directly and severely affected by affordable housing gave our team insight on the role of home and how the affordable housing crisis has affected people’s view of the American Dream. Affordable housing is an issue people clearly understand, but they are unaware of short- and long-term solutions to the problem.
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Each region is segmented differently based on different issues regarding affordable housing.
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Homeless youth and children are not a priority for those in local government.
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Housing is essential for the success of under-served youth.
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Buying a home used to be an individual’s ticket to the middle class, but this is no longer the case as homes become more expensive and, in many cases, even unaffordable.
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In Long Beach, 60 percent of residents are renters. § There is a need to distinguish Section 8 and government-funded housing from affordable housing
Communications Professionals Focus Group
Conducting a focus group with four communications professionals enabled us to leverage their years of experience to test our campaign ideas. Their suggestions included:
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Build relationships with CSULB Departments (not just local groups) concerned with affordable housing.
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Promote the HomeMatters movement as a pledge to support and engage in the affordable housing.
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Use research information as an opportunity to educate target audiences via infographics.
Student Focus Group
Conducting a focus group of 14 CSULB students helped guide our campaign in regards to key messages, social media choices and incentives through their perceptions of home, affordable housing and the American Dream. The focus group also allowed us to test our campaign theme, logo and tactics.
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Perceptions:
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Students were in consensus that there is no single definition of the American Dream. They preferred the idea of an American Dream versus the American Dream.
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None of the students believed that the traditional idea of the American Dream (family and a home with a white picket fence) was relevant to millennials.
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All but one student said they would like to own a home but were not sure if it would be possible.
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Social Media Use: Facebook and Instagram are the most used, with Twitter secondary.
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Theme/Logo: Students thought RETHiNK HOME was clean, simple and easy to understand.
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Campaign Incentives: Students preferred incentives with a monetary exchange value such as scholarships, tickets to Disneyland and other amusement parks, restaurant gift certificates and sporting event tickets.
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Tactics: Students expressed commentary toward many of our original ideas:
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Pie in the Face Challenge: Students said they would participate to pie a friend, but would not participate in being pied in the face themselves.
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Panel/Discussion Event: More than half of students were inclined to attend a panel event only if offered an incentive such as extra credit for a course.
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Essay Contest: Five students said they would participate with a hefty incentive.
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Survey
Surveying 222 people informed us of our target audiences’ perceptions of the American Dream, affordable housing and the role of home. Our survey collected both quantitative and qualitative data to help guide our RETHiNK HOME Campaign.
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When asked if the American Dream was achievable, 71 percent agreed or strongly agreed; only 11 percent believed it was not achievable.
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When asked to rank what qualities were most important to their American Dream, we found that quality of health was most important while owning a home the least.
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When asked to provide a personal definition of the American Dream, there was no general consensus for a definition – it is based solely on each individual.
Planning
PROSPECTIVE HOME BUYERS
TARGET AUDIENCES
Primary Audience: Millennials
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Local High School Students
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CSULB Students
Secondary Audiences
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CSULB Staff and Faculty
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Long Beach Residents
KEY FEATURES
KEY MESSAGES
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The American Dream has progressed from white picket fences to encompass numerous interpretations of success.
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Home is more than a physical structure.
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The lack of affordable housing affects everyone.
Foundation
GOALS
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Educate target audiences about affordable housing and the social issues that arise from the lack of safe and affordable homes.
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Encourage target audiences to rethink the meaning of the American Dream and importance of home.
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Encourage target audiences to join to the HomeMatters movement.
Implementation
FRAME, UTILITIES, AND NUTS AND BOLTS
OBJECTIVES, STRATEGIES AND TACTICS
Objective 1: To expose 100,000 members of our target audiences to RETHiNK HOME, HomeMatters and affordable housing issues during the month of February.
Strategy 1: Develop a cohesive and engaging campaign.
Rationale: Focus group participants stressed the uniqueness of millennial individualism, thus resulting in a need for an all-inclusive campaign in which individuals may create their own definitions of home and the American Dream.
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Tactics:
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Create a relevant campaign theme. Our research revealed that although home may not be the ideal symbol of success, its role in everyone’s lives has become the foundation for achieving one’s personal American Dream. The RETHiNK HOME campaign aimed to reinforce these findings, encourage others to rethink the importance of home and rally support for affordable housing.
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Create a tagline. The most well-known brands and campaigns are best remembered by their taglines. “Take the dream further” was our team’s way of expanding on our campaign theme in an encouraging, motivational and empowering way.
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Create a campaign logo. Our logo was used in every RETHiNK HOME event, social media platform and informational material.
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Create a campaign hashtag. Our team needed a tracking method that would identify our campaign’s effects and influences, while separating our campaign from all other Bateman campaigns. Our #RETHiNKHOME was clear, concise and easy to use and remember.
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Strategy 2: Produce original RETHiNK HOME content.
Rationale: Creative content highlighting RETHiNK HOME, HomeMatters and campaign messages will engage target audiences with visual and easy-to-understand information.
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Tactics:
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Create a RETHiNK HOME theme song: HomeMatters provided us with the difficult task of educating our audiences about the importance of home and the impacts of limited affordable housing. Using The Village People’s “YMCA” for inspiration, our team wrote, recorded and produced “HOME” as a way to present our key messages in a fun and catchy manner. Our theme song was played during all of our events and activities, as well as served as the musical backing to our #HomeTeamChallenge.
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Create infographics. Research revealed a lack of knowledge about affordable housing and its effects in our lives and economy among our target audiences. Our team created four infographics that would be visually appealing and educative for our audiences.
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Myth buster: dispel myths of affordable housing in relation to the five HomeMatters pillars
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Economy: relationship between housing and the economy
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Education: relationship between housing and students and teachers in K-12
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College: relationship between housing and higher education These infographics were posted and shared on our social media platforms.
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Create informational video reels. Our team wanted to integrate multimedia material into our campaign. In doing so, we created short videos that provided information about RETHiNK HOME, HomeMatters and affordable housing, as well as our campaign efforts (page 5).
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The CSULB Dance Team video officially kicked off our campaign. It illustrated how to participate in the #HomeTeamChallenge by spelling out the word “home” to our campaign theme song.
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The Backgrounder video served as an educational aid and was played on loop during our events. It opened with five attention-grabbing statistics about affordable housing, then listed ways to get involved and ended with the CSULB Dance Team’s Feb. 7 basketball halftime performance.
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Create and distribute informational handouts that provided information about RETHiNK HOME, HomeMatters and our campaign activities. We created and printed fliers in various sizes that were distributed at events and tables for our target audiences that included information about how to get involved with our RETHiNK HOME campaign.
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Strategy 3: Provide millennials with educational forums to learn about affordable housing.
Rationale: In our effort to educate our audiences about the affordable housing issue, we hoped to provide them with opportunities to learn and ask questions about affordable housing.
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Tactics:
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Organize and host panel event with affordable housing experts. Our in-depth interviews with affordable housing experts illustrated the need for an open and honest discussion about affordable housing with members of our target audience. We recruited representatives from Housing Long Beach, LINC Housing and the CSULB School of Social Work to join a panel discussion about affordable housing at CSULB, where attendees had the opportunity to ask our panelists questions and raise concerns.
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Table in high-traffic areas on campus. Setting up tables throughout campus and a basketball game provided us with an opportunity to connect with students and encourage RETHiNK HOME engagement. We enticed students and faculty to stop at our table and learn about our campaign, HomeMatters and affordable housing by offering incentives and contest opportunities.
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Hold informational class seminars. We visited classes during the month of February, playing our campaign theme song and walking through a presentation about RETHiNK HOME and ways to get involved. We also encouraged students to attend our panel event and enter in our contests during the seminars.
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Objective 2: To drive 1,000 members of our target audiences to follow our campaign on social media by February 28, 2015
Strategy 1: Utilize social media to encourage two-way conversation about RETHiNK HOME, HomeMatters and the impacts of affordable housing.
Rationale: Primary and secondary research show that millennials use and discover news-worthy events and issues through social media on a daily basis.
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Tactics:
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Create and maintain a Facebook, Twitter and Instagram account that links to HomeMatters website. We utilized our accounts to promote our campaign messages and efforts, and engage in communication between RETHiNK HOME, HomeMatters and our target audiences. In addition, we utilized our social media accounts as a tracking source for our campaign support and impact.
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Create a YouTube channel and SoundCloud account. Our team required a method for sharing our original multimedia content. We utilized our YouTube account to post and share our informational videos and our SoundCloud to share our campaign theme song. (See objective 1, strategy 2).
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Strategy 2: Incorporate educational elements into social media content to educate our target audiences about affordable housing, the importance of home and the American Dream.
Rationale: In-depth interviews with affordable housing experts and secondary research reveal a need to dispel myths and preexisting notions of affordable housing and the American Dream.
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Tactics:
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Create infographics. (See objective 1, strategy 2)
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Create informational video reels. (See objective 1, strategy 2)
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Post motivational quotes and memes onto social media. Our team wanted to continue to promote the premise of our campaign. Throughout the month of February, we posted quotes and memes pertaining to home and housing that encouraged our audiences to rethink the definition of the American Dream and the important role of home, such as, “It’s not how big the house is, it’s how happy the home is.”
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Objective 3: To engage 1,000 members of our target audience in activities that promote RETHiNK HOME, LINC Housing, Housing Long Beach and HomeMatters’ missions by February 28, 2015.
Strategy 1: Host events and contests that garner attention from CSULB and the Long Beach community in order to educate and encourage them to participate in RETHiNK HOME campaign efforts.
Rationale: Our primary and secondary research showed that millennials are highly active online and are more likely to be involved in issues that are trending on social media.
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Tactic:
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Create #HomeTeamChallenge social media challenge. Our team wanted to leverage the idea of home as more than a physical structure and created the #HomeTeamChallenge to encourage our target audiences to rethink the role and definition of home and show their support by spelling out the word “H-O-M-E” to our RETHiNK HOME campaign theme song. Those who participated were entered for a chance to win an autographed basketball from Nick Young of the Los Angeles Lakers.
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Objective 4: To garner one on-campus and one off-campus media placement mentioning HomeMatters.
Strategy 1: Create awareness of “RETHiNK HOME” and HomeMatters through local media.
Rationale: To spread awareness of “RETHiNK HOME” to our target audiences by reaching existing news media audiences.
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Tactics:
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Distribute pitch letter to local media. Our team drafted and distributed a pitch letter with information about our campaign messages and efforts as a way to boost audience awareness of RETHiNK HOME and HomeMatters.
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Distribute media advisory to local media. Our team drafted and distributed a media advisory with information about our panel event as a way to recruit attendees and media coverage.
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Submit bylined article and opinion editorials to local media. Our team wrote and submitted a bylined article and Op-Ed about individuals who have been directly affected by the limited or lack of affordable housing and local housing issues to encourage discussion about affordable housing and promote RETHiNK HOME and HomeMatters.
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Objective 5: To enlist 100 millennials to join the HomeMatters movement by February 28, 2015.
Strategy 1: Provide an opportunity for millennials to easily join the HomeMatters movement.
Rationale: CSULB is a commuter campus with 94 percent of its population traveling to campus for class and school-related activities. We needed to provide an easily accessible avenue for our target audiences to be exposed to our campaign and join the HomeMatters movement.
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Tactics:
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Design “pledge” sheets. Our team created “pledge” sign-up sheets for our tabling events where our audiences could leave their information for our team to join the movement on their behalf. These “pledge” sheets also allowed for us to track the number of individuals and housing advocates who joined the movement as a result of our campaign.
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Provide incentives to join the movement. Our team hosted a raffle as an incentive for our audiences to join the movement. Those who signed the “pledge” sheets were entered in a raffle to win prizes such as gift cards and coupons to local restaurants and retailers.
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Evaluation
FINISHING TOUCHES
OBJECTIVE OUTCOMES
Objective 1: To expose 100,000 members of our target audiences to RETHiNK HOME, HomeMatters and affordable housing issues during the month of February
ACCOMPLISHED ✔
Our educational forums attracted 83 attendees to our panel event, 132 attendees to our class seminars and more than 500 visitors to our tables. In addition, we exposed another 206,410 individuals to RETHiNK HOME through our media placements, 140,278 from our social media reach, 3,834 attendees at the basketball game who watched the CSULB Dance Team halftime performance to our campaign theme song, 58 RETHiNK HOME Contest participants and 23 #HomeTeamChallenge participants. The total number of key publics exposed to our campaign was 374,914, more than tripling our objective
Objective 2: To drive 1,000 members of our target audiences to follow our campaign on social media by February 28, 2015
ACCOMPLISHED ✔
We garnered a total of 1,013 followers on our social media or a total reach of 140,278 people. In addition, our infographics were shared by several housing advocacy and non-profit groups, such as Affordable Housing Advocates, LifeSTEPS, LINC Housing and Housing California. Furthermore, our local partners have requested the files to our infographics and have indicated they will use them in the future in their continued efforts to bring more affordable housing to the area.
Objective #3: To engage 1,000 members of our target audience in activities that promote RETHiNK HOME, LINC Housing, Housing Long Beach and HomeMatters’ missions by February 28, 2015.
PARTIALLY ACCOMPLISHED
A total of 774 members of our target audience engaged in RETHiNK HOME campaign activities. After promoting our activities through various promotional fliers and social media posts, 83 people attended our panel event, more than 500 people stopped at our booth during tabling events, 132 people attended our class seminars, 58 people entered our RETHiNK HOME Contest and 23 people participated in the #HomeTeam Challenge. In addition, we were able to recruit CSULB President Jane Close Conoley to participate in the #HomeTeamChallenge, and her video was posted on the CSULB Facebook page, exposing our campaign to its 44,723 followers. Another #HomeTeamChallenge participant’s video was shared by her dance studio, Dance Precisions, exposing another 10,100 people to the RETHiNK HOME campaign. Each of our panelists also sent us letters of appreciation expressing their gratitude for creating an avenue for conversation between affordable housing experts and our audiences. Furthermore, HomeMatters reposted a poetry submission from our RETHiNK HOME Contest on its Facebook page on March 17, 2015.
Objective 4: To garner one on-campus and one off-campus media placement mentioning HomeMatters.
ACCOMPLISHED ✔
Our team garnered one on-campus placement and 23,618 media impressions with the Daily 49er. In addition, we have a pending off-campus placement with the Grunion Gazette for another 206,410 media impressions. Our media placements will garner a total of 206,410 media impressions.
Objective 5: To enlist 100 millennials to join the HomeMatters movement by February 28, 2015.
ACCOMPLISHED ✔
A total of 478 members of our target audiences signed their information on the pledge sheets and joined the HomeMatters movement, more than quadrupling our objective. In addition, we recruited our local housing advocate group Housing Long Beach to become a HomeMatters supporter and become a RETHiNK HOME campaign partner.
RED TAPE
CAMPAIGN HURDLES
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CSULB is a large campus with a population of nearly 40,000 students. Our university is also a commuter school and, therefore, students rarely spend time on campus unless to attend class and other school-related events. In fact, only 6 percent of the student population live on campus. Our team had to find ways to get students who were not fully engaged in college activities to stop and participate in our campaign, like tabling in high-traffic areas and participating in events that already had a built-in audience.
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Tracking our campaign impact was difficult. HomeMatters did not have a tracking mechanism that would indicate which campaigns drove specific page visits, click-throughs and Join the Movement registrations as their tracking source can only geotrack. Our team created a campaign that had the potential to generate national attention, which would garner impressions beyond the Long Beach geographical area. During our campaign, we created a hashtag specific to our campaign and tagged HomeMatters in order to illustrate our partnership.
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Although Long Beach is the seventh largest city in California with a population of 465,000, our local media is very limited given that we are part of the Los Angeles DMA. We only have one daily newspaper with a very limited staff; all television crews are based in Los Angeles. It takes major news to get them to travel the 35+ miles to get to CSULB.
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HomeMatters presented an extensive list of objectives. It became clear very early in the research stages that there were many differing objectives to present to our target audience and our team became wary of information overload. Ultimately, our team had to create strategies and tactics that met broader goals, such as to educate and encourage our audiences to RETHiNK HOME and join the HomeMatters movement.
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There was a campus-wide fee referendum campaign during the month of our campaign. This created tremendous competition for educational opportunities and on-campus media coverage as the fee referendum was a more localized issue that directly affected the campus population.
KEY TO THE HOME
CONCLUSION
One month does not provide sufficient time to create a swell of support. The affordable housing crisis is a subject matter that is far too complex to explain and generate change in such a short amount of time. Despite time constraints, we informed and educated our audiences about the affordable housing issue and encouraged them to engage in HomeMatters’ efforts to change the status quo. The CSULB Bateman team used the RETHiNK HOME campaign to introduce HomeMatters to our community and spark the conversation about affordable housing and the importance of Home.
At the start of our campaign, HomeMatters and its mission were unheard of among CSULB students. While most students admitted to having problems with housing and finances, even more admitted that they were unaware that the affordable housing issue reaches far beyond their own problems to anyone and everyone in the national community. As one student commented, “I shouldn’t have to choose between having a home and having a life.” Unfortunately, this is now a common with the current affordable housing issue. The CSULB Bateman team sparked the much needed conversation about the affordable housing issue and the role of home in Long Beach and beyond.
Our RETHiNK HOME campaign garnered 140,278 media impressions, reached 374,914 unique individuals, secured one housing advocacy group as a HomeMatters partner, gained 478 individual supporters and created 140,278 social media impressions. Our total production value was $132,850 for a total ROI of 144. In addition, we created relationships among key players concerned with affordable housing that will continue to grow in the years to come.
HomeMatters highlighted the importance and impact of home in our lives. We built a campaign that utilized that premise in reaching and appealing to the interests of our target audiences, starting with our campus audience and venturing out into Long Beach and nearby cities. Our educational forums and materials, fun activities, contests and raffles led to the ignition of a much needed conversation about affordable housing. Although our campaign has come to an end, the community has been educated and inspired to fuel the conversation and keep efforts alive.
Results
SCORING
A. Four-step process
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Research 10/15
Thoughtful analysis of the situation; primary and secondary research; fact-finding to determine statistics, trends and attitudes in marketplace in relation to not-for-profit; peer research (e.g focus groups, surveys, etc.); use of information to determine tactics.
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Planning 13/15
Development of public relations plan, including statement of goal, objectives and strategies, key messages, target audiences description of tactics, timeline and evaluation. Should include rationale for design of plan.
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Implementation/Execution 15/15
Outline of implemented the tactics; detailed and documented in activities.
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Evaluation 12/15
Methods of evaluation used to measure the campaign results. Did the methods support the campaign objectives? Were intended results achieved? This will be important in determining points for "Effectiveness," below.
B. Effectiveness 15/20
Understanding of the situation. Application of a viable public relations and communications plan. Did the program meet set objectives? Did its messages reach the target audiences? Was there evidence of an increase in awareness, learning, and engagement within communities?
C. Creativity 20/20
Creativity, resourcefulness, and judgment in planning and development. Were any creative strategies and tactics pursued? If so, did they positively affect the results? To what extent were goals met? Were innovative ideas and approaches executed?
OVERALL SCORE 85/100
JUDGES' COMMENTS
Research
"Appreciate the diversity of the research and the multiple steps to applying throughout the campaign; transparency of what worked and restrictions added to effort/complexity - creatively leveraging the research to make campaign effective; would like to have seen stronger research instrument, but choice of interviewees/categories was excellent"
Planning
"The planning was done very well and the measurable objectives followed the research' one consideration is that most of the objectives were an awareness-only result. Some confusion on what your overall communication goal was for the campaign, although the work was effective."
Implementation/Execution
"The number of activities from panels to student engagement to campus activities were comprehensive. The creative was outstanding from the logo to the song to the creative entries. The hashtag for tacking was effective. Would like to have seen the infographics and logo to be used to measure the action of those engaging in the campaign by asking people to post infographic for a day or change profile pic to logo for a day to enter. More measurable and actual call to action that requires more than email. Calendar/media list and other material was excellent and extensive."
Evaluation
"Did a good job of documenting social media and placements, but the key message distribution in the media coverage could have been stronger. The messaging of the client was buried within the story, which is always difficult to manage within what is the "news" item. The campaign became the story more than the issue. Great job in engaging partners - big result for the campaign."
Effectiveness
"Very effective understanding and application. Good job in reaching the audience. High traffic areas for engagement was good. While the high school audience was mentioned, it is not clear how they were exposed to the messages and what the strategy for that audience. It may have been the definition of millenials that should have been revised.
Creativity
"This is some of the most outstanding work in the campaign. It provided a platform that was consistent, engaging, catchy, relevant and cohesive."
MEDIA COVERAGE
LONG BEACH PRESS TELEGRAM
Cal State Long Beach students earn public relations honor