University of Northern IowaPublic Relations Special Events Planning

Event PlanThe College Hill

Table of Contents

Event Objective…………………………………………………………….........1

Event Summary…………………………………………………………….........2

Event Program Timeline………………………………………………….......3-5

Master Event List........................................................................................6-7

SWOT Analysis……………………………………….…….......……...................8

IMC Strategy & Objective……………………………………….…….............9

Target Audience……………………………………….……..........................10

Corporate Identity……………………………………….…….......................11

Creative Brief……………………………………….……...........................12-13

Advertising Initiatives………………………………………............................14

Press Release...............................................................................................15

Radio Announcement...............................................................................16

Budget………………………………………...................................................17

Evaluation.……………………………………………………..........................18

Conclusion……………………………...........................................................19

Event Staff……………………………............................................................20

Appendix................................................................................................21-26

Event Objective

The goal of the University of Northern Iowa: Public Relations

Special Events class is to raise $5,000 for the American Heart

Association by the end of the 2015 Fall Semester. This will be

accomplished through a fundraising event that will start on

Monday, November 9 and go through Saturday, November 14.

This event will involve the business on College Hill in Cedar Falls,

Iowa to participate in either daily deals or week long specials for

contributors who purchased a red “Paint the Town Red”

wristband from The University of Northern Iowa Special Events

Class. The proceeds from the red wristbands were then donated

to The American Heart Association.

As the week of November 9 approached, social media and

marketing tactics were used to spread the word about the

upcoming event. Members of the class did pre-selling and

tabling in Maucker Union and Curris Business Building on the

Campus of UNI.

1

Event Summary

Event Name: Paint the Town Red

Date: November 9 - 14, 2015

Event Location: College Hill - Cedar Falls, Iowa

Expected Attendance: 500+

Wristband Selling Dates/Locations: October 29, 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. | Mauker Union November 2, 11:00 a.m. -1:00 p.m. | Curris Business Building November 4, 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. | Mauker Union

Agenda/Script: The University of Northern Iowa’s Public Relations: Special Events class, in cooperation with businesses of College Hill, Cedar Falls are hosting a week long fund raiser to support the American Heart Association.

Printed Items: The Special Events promotional team designed and printed various promotional materials and event logos. As students at the University of Northern Iowa, we were able to have access to free printing on campus.

Entertainment: Beck’s Sports Bar & Grill and The Library Eatery & Spirits will be providing karaoke on Thursday, Nov. 12 from 9;00 p.m. to 1:35 a.m.

Planning Committee: The planning committee consisted of the Public Relations: Special Events class, which met every Tuesday and Thursday from 11:00 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.

2

Event Program Timeline

Monday, November 9:- The OP: $3 off any 16” specialty pizza.- Chad’s: Free domestic pitcher or cheese bread sticks with purchase of jumbo specialty pizza. - Mohair Pear: 10% off $10 or more, 20% off $20 or more- Ginger’s: $6 select pitchers- Social House: $5 Heart Buckets ($2 Donation with each bucket)- Razor’s Edge: 10% off haircut- Balance Hot Yoga: $5 class- LaCalle: 10% off total purchase - Pepperjax: 10% off entire meal- University Book and Supply: 15% off entire purchase *Excluding textbooks, electronics and software

Tuesday, November 10:Insomnia Giveback | 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 a.m.- The OP: $3 off any 16” specialty pizza.- Chad’s: Free domestic pitcher or cheese bread sticks with purchase of jumbo specialty pizza. - Mohair Pear: 10% off $10 or more, 20% off $20 or more- Ginger’s: $6 select pitchers- Social House: $5 Heart Buckets ($2 Donation with each bucket)- Razor’s Edge: 10% off haircut- Balance Hot Yoga: $5 class- LaCalle: 10% off total purchase - Pepperjax: 10% off entire meal- University Book and Supply: 15% off entire purchase *Excluding textbooks, electronics and software

3

Event Program Timeline Cont.

Wednesday, November 11:Beck’s On the Hill Karaoke Night | 9:00 p.m. - 1:35 a.m.Red Bracelets get you in for free (everyone else has $5 cover) and specialty shot with 50% proceeds going to AHA.

- The OP: $3 off any 16” specialty pizza.- Chad’s: Free domestic pitcher or cheese bread sticks with purchase of jumbo specialty pizza. - Mohair Pear: 10% off $10 or more, 20% off $20 or more- Ginger’s: $6 select pitchers- Social House: $5 Heart Buckets ($2 Donation with each bucket)- Razor’s Edge: 10% off haircut- Balance Hot Yoga: $5 class- LaCalle: 10% off total purchase - Pepperjax: 10% off entire meal- University Book and Supply: 15% off entire purchase *Excluding textbooks, electronics and software

Thursday, November 12:The Library Karaoke Night | 9:00 p.m. - 1:35 a.m. If you have a red bracelet and sing a karaoke song, you get a free drink.

- The OP: $3 off any 16” specialty pizza.- Chad’s: Free domestic pitcher or cheese bread sticks with purchase of jumbo specialty pizza. - Mohair Pear: 10% off $10 or more, 20% off $20 or more- Razor’s Edge: 10% off haircut- Balance Hot Yoga: $5 class- LaCalle: 10% off total purchase - Pepperjax: 10% off entire meal- University Book and Supply: 15% off entire purchase *Excluding textbooks, electronics and software

4

Event Program Timeline Cont.

Friday, November 13:- The OP: $3 off any 16” specialty pizza.- Chad’s: Free domestic pitcher or cheese bread sticks with purchase of jumbo specialty pizza. - Mohair Pear: 10% off $10 or more, 20% off $20 or more- Razor’s Edge: 10% off haircut- Balance Hot Yoga: $5 class- LaCalle: 10% off total purchase - Pepperjax: 10% off entire meal- University Book and Supply: 15% off entire purchase *Excluding textbooks, electronics and software

Saturday, November 14:- The OP: $3 off any 16” specialty pizza.- Chad’s: Free domestic pitcher or cheese bread sticks with purchase of jumbo specialty pizza. - Mohair Pear: 10% off $10 or more, 20% off $20 or more- Razor’s Edge: 10% off haircut- Balance Hot Yoga: $5 class- LaCalle: 10% off total purchase - Pepperjax: 10% off entire meal- University Book and Supply: 15% off entire purchase *Excluding textbooks, electronics and software

5

Task Assignment Task Deadline Event Task Completed

Meet with Katherine, who is in charge of the National Heart Association. Learn background information on the organization. Class collaborates ideas for the event fundraiser. Figure out who your target market will be.Set a goal for the event – to raise $5,000.

Narrow ideas down for the fundraiser.

Get University of Northern Iowa approval for the class project.

Decided & finalize on fundraiser.

Collect ideas to get bracelets donated or how to come up with the funds to purchase.Bracelets get ordered by donation. Place tentative date on calendar that they will arrive.Collaborate with class about business that will partake.

Make contracts and flyer’s to hand to business when asking them to partake.

Assign task to class members (who’s taking Chad’s, Beck’s, IPPA…etc.)

Class members go to business to get a general idea what the business are thinking (i.e. one day or multiple/ drink special or a percentage off).

Master Event List

6

Master Event List

Class gets together and puts a rough draft excel document on business that are partaking and what they are donating.

Decide on a deadline for the contracts to be signed and finalized.

Once all signed contracts are in; update the excel spreadsheet.

Assign special groups the class. (Public Relations, Social Media, Promotions team…etc.)Teams start on their assigned jobs. Get the Facebook/Twitter pages up. Reserving tables in the Union, and keeping contact with the businesses.Once Social Media up to date – All classmates are to share the link on their own personal accounts.Class signs up for time slots when they can help table and promote the event to classrooms.Two weeks prior to the event double check and confirm with businesses about the event. Give them an instruction sheet of the fundraiser that they can share with their employees.Make a sign up sheet for the class to work the event.

Execute event. Make sure to take photos and document progress at event for the following year.Send thank you notes to all participating businesses.

Master Event List Continued

7

SWOT AnalysisStrengths-Proximity: The target market for Paint the Town Red: College Hill was college students attending the University of Northern Iowa, therefore; the proximity of campus to College St. was our primary strength for our campaign. -Team Experience: Another strength our campaign had was the experience behind the team working on our event. As college students we knew the best route to take in order to get the attention of our target market. Many of the leadership roles were also held by students who have a background working on similar campaigns.

Weaknesses -Awareness: One of the weaknesses that our campaign faced was the lack of awareness for the event. Never having thrown this event before, we do not have loyal customers/participants on whom we can rely.-Budget: The largest weakness we had was the lack of a budget. Without a budget all of the promotional, advertising, marketing materials, etc. was required to be free.

Opportunities-Location: An opportunity that we choose to focus on during our campaign is the location of several establishments on College St. These businesses were the most beneficial route to for our campaign to take.

Threats-Competition: A major threat that we faced was the competition between our event and others with similar goals and deals. For example, many sororities and fraternities on campus hold similar philanthropic events that hold deals and specials on College Street-Time Constraint: Out campaign faced a major time constraint due to scheduling conflicts for our partner event, Paint the Town Red: Mainstreet. Main Street in downtown Cedar Falls was only available during a specific week, therefore; we had a smaller window to plan than we had originally outlined.

8

The Overall IMC strategy for ‘Paint the Town Red’ - College Hill is to raise money and awareness for the American Heart Association. The American Heart Association is dedicated to helping individuals and communities build a culture of health so all people can live life to the fullest with healthy hearts and brains. Our ‘Paint the Town Red’ event pro-vides us with the opportunity to educate college-aged students on why the American Heart Association is such an important organization that needs our support.

Paint the Town Red’ is just one of many events put on throughout the Ce-dar Valley to support the American Heart Association. Because the funds we raise are directly benefiting the American Heart Association, we find it very important to follow the mission of the American Heart Association. In addition, we found it important to use the colors and logos that the Ameri-can Heart Association uses for all of our promotional materials.

We hope to develop a strong brand image for ‘Paint the Town Red,’ in hopes the event can become an annual event on the College Hill every year. This event will build an even stronger reputation for the American Heart Association throughout the Cedar Valley.

After analyzation and discussion of opportunities for ‘Paint the Town Red,’ we have developed the following objectives to support our event strate-gy.

1. Raise $2,500 for the American Heart Association. 2. Sell 500 bracelets good for special College Hill deals the week of Nov. 9 - Nov. 14. 3. Increase basic awareness of the American Heart Association amongst UNI students. 4. Obtain 15 College Hill business to partake in our event.

9

IMC Strategy & Objectives

Target Audience

The target audience that the event ‘Paint the Town Red’, the ‘Hill Group’ seeked to target was college students. ‘The Hill’ attracts many UNI students because of the convenience of the location close by student housing. The deals the wristbands offered were pertaining to bars and restaurants. Due to the demographics of our target audience helped us decide on many factors such as price, offers and business to partake.

10

Corporate IdentityNearly all organizations can strengthen their image and brand recognition with a strong identity. A logo was developed and consistently used in all of the promotional materials to represent ‘Paint the Town Red,’ on the College Hill.

Logo:

11

Creative Brief‘Paint the Town Red’ developed a Creative Brief to ensure that all of our promotion and communication pieces were targeted to the appropriate audience we are aiming to target.

Why are we advertising? ‘Paint the Town Red’ hopes to promote the selling of our wristbands as the best way to support heart health while enjoying exclusive, special deals at College Hill businesses.

To whom are we talking? We are talking to all college students who spend time at College Hill businesses and individuals who have been personally impacted by heart issues that have a passion to give back.

What do they currently think?The American Heart Association is a good cause that supports people with heart issues.

What is the most persuasive idea we can convey?In addition getting exclusive College Hill deals by purchasing your ‘Paint the Town Red’ bracelet, you also are making a difference by supporting heart and stroke research, as well as additional programs the American Heart Association funds.

12

Creative Brief Continued

Why should they believe it?Death rates for cardiovascular diseases, including stroke, have dropped over 30% in the past 15 years due to better emergency care, laws creating healthier environments, scientific research and increased awareness about healthy living, all of which fall into the mission of the American Heart Association.

Are there any creative guidelines or mandatories?We will use our ‘Paint the Town Red’ logo, as well as the stan-dard American Heart association logos.

Tone of voice? We will be genuine and respectful, while also persuasive while selling our bracelets.

13

Advertising Initiatives

We used many outlets to advertise for our event ‘Paint the Town Red.’ Our main advertising tool was social media and word of mouth. The wrist-bands were sold by each member of our group individually, on campus during tabling sessions, at a local ‘Go Red for Women’ event and at a local bar, Social House.

Various members of our group volunteered to sell at one of our four tabling selling times on campus to sell our wristbands. We held two tabling days in the Maucker Union and two tabling days in the Curris Busi-ness Building. This was a good way to market our event to students who were walking by. We also handed out flyer’s if students did not have money but wanted to buy a bracelet in the future.

Selling at the ‘Go Red for Women’ event was a success for our event. We were able to sell to a group of people who were not getting exposure to our event on campus. At the event we sold around 17 bracelets.

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Press Release

15

10/23/2015

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:

Gayle Pohl, associate professor, communication studies, 319-273-6308, gayle.pohl@uni.edu

Lindsay Cunningham, Office of University Relations, 319-273-2761, lindsay.cunningham@uni.edu

UNI students plan event to ‘Paint the Town Red’

CEDAR FALLS, Iowa -- The University of Northern Iowa Public Relations: Special Events class is planning two events to “Paint the Town Red” during the week of Nov. 9 to 14. The students have partnered with College Hill and Community Main Street businesses to raise money for the American Heart Association.

Individuals can purchase $5 bracelets, which will give them access to special deals throughout the week at many College Hill businesses. Businesses participating in the deals include: Balance Hot Yoga, Becks, Chads Pizza and Restaurant, Gingers, Insom-nia Cookies, LaCalle, The Library, Mohair Pear, The Other Place, Pepperjacks, Razor’s Edge, Social House, and University Book and Supply.

Individuals can also purchase a punch card giving them access to special deals from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 12, at many Community Main Street businesses. A $25 punch card will give you access to any 15 deals, whereas a $35 punch card will give you access to deals from all 31 participating businesses. Community Main Street businesses that are participating include: Basket of Dasies, Here’s What’s Poppin, Main Street Sweets, Peekaboo, Shampoo the Salon, Whiskey Road and many more.

There will also be live music from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Main Street.

For more information about “Paint the Town Red” or how to order your College Hill bracelet or Community Main Street punch card, contact Gayle Pohl, public relations professor, at 319-273-6308 or gayle.pohl@uni.edu.

- END -

30 Second Radio

16

A group of UNI public relations students is teaming up with Cedar Falls Community Main Street and The College Hill to ‘Paint The Town Red’ and raise funds for the American Heart Association. Purchase a wristband to receive exclusive deals at participating businesses on the College Hill the week of November 9th - 14th or purchase a punch card to receive specials deals at businesses on Main Street on Thursday, Nov. 12th. All money raised will be donated directly to the American Heart Association. Contact Gayle Pohl at 319-273-6308 for more information and to purchase your ticket today!

###

30 Second Radio Budget and ROI

Budget:

ROI:

Business / Event ProfitSocial House $66.00Go Red for Women $123.00Insomnia Cookies $33.72Bracelet Sales $1,852.00IPPA $20.00TOTAL $2,094.72

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Item Price/Unit # of Units Total

Bracelets $0.00 500 $0.00

Evaluation

This event was very successful. We found it best to break our Hill Committee down into sub-committees that way the work was being evenly distributed, and no one was doing more than others. Our sub-committees were: promotional materials, social media and advertising, campus relations, finances, and community relations. Each committee had a different task, and each got their jobs done well.

At the start of planning the event, we were nervous about the amount of businesses that would participate. Looking back at the businesses that did participate, some of the specials were more successful than others. The Social House buckets were much more popular than the pitchers at Ginger’s. We were hoping for more of a donation from the businesses that participated, but overall we were very happy with the money raised at these businesses. The amount raised at each can be found in the ROI section of the plan.

When it came to advertising our event, we chose to do a couple things. We created a Facebook event, tabled in Maucker Union, and went to student organizations. We found that tabling really helped us get the word out about the event, and it gave us a chance to be in the faces of our peers to better explain our event and our cause. The student organization meetings were not as successful as we had hoped, there was another student organization selling bracelets at the same time for a lower price.

For bracelet sales, we all put in our share of the work. Some tactics worked better than others, but we did sell the majority of the bracelets. We were able to sell them at Social House the weekend leading up to our event week, we sold to our friends on the weekends and during the week, and we sold them in the union at a table.

Overall, the event was a success. While we did not reach our fundraising goal, we did raise over $4,000 for the American Heart Association, and for a college class planning a full throttle event from start to finish in under 6 months, that’s impressive. We sold the vast majority of our bracelets, as well as receiving various donations from members of the community. Each student had their strength, be it with getting businesses to sign a contract, being effective with tabling in the union and selling bracelets then, selling bracelets on their own time, or running our social media.

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Conclusion

Our class planned and executed this event from beginning to end in four months. Starting out with a combined class goal of $5,000, we ended up raising over $4,000 consecutively with $2,094.72 raised by the College Hill Group for the American Heart Association. We sold the majority of our bracelets, received numerous donations, and had great support from the community in reaching our goal. We had a satisfactory number of businesses sign on to partake, though more are always welcome. The students that purchased our bracelets seemed happy with the deals they were receiving, as well as feeling good about donating to help a good cause.

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Event StaffPromotional Team

Lexi Moore Katie Knudsen Ally SweeneyPublic Relations Public Relations Graphic Design319-821-0353 712-210-4306 309-292-0011moorelak@uni.edu knudskaf@uni.edu sweenaab@uni.edu

Social Media Team

Rachel Thrune Rachel BroghammerPublic Relations Public Relations319-431-7428 319-30-8748thruner@uni.edu broghamr@uni.edu

Financial Team

Alyssa Meeker Stephanie Boardman Mckenzie WiskusInteractive Digital Studies Public Relations Youth & Human Services563-543-8343 515-419-1492 319-325-8846meekera@uni.edu boardmas@uni.edu wiskusm@uni.ed

Community Relations Team

Tessa Bratrud Paige Plaskitt Theadora HydeMarketing Public Relations English641-430-6607 515-633-7933 319-551-0407bratrudt@uni.edu plaskitp@uni.edu hydet@uni.edu

Campus Relations Team

Kelli Alexander Megan BurkePublic Relations Public Relations319-573-4928 515-570-8430 alexakac@uni.edu burkemae@uni.edu

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APPENDICES

Business Contacts

Name Business Phone Email AddressKera Yahn Balance Hot

Yoga563.212.3261 karcy85@gmail.com 2202 Oxford

LaneAndrew Richard Beck’s on the

Hill563.590.5847 andrew.richard@barmuda.

com2210 College Street

Alex Funke Chad’s Pizza 563.543.4935 chadspizzacf@gmail.com 909 W 23rd Street

De’Andre Vandervender

Ginger’s 319.651.6858 gingerscf@gmail.com 925 W 22nd Street

Rachel Weiss Insomnia Cookie

484.432.5447 marketing@insomniacook-ies.com

2202 College Street

Richard Ly IPPA 319.266.5811 N/A 925 W 22nd Street

Redgie Blanco La Calle 319.242.7845 lacallefood@gmail.com 2223 B College Street

Jeff Lantz The Library 319.222.3962 N/A 2222 College Street

Barb Schilf Mohair Pear 319.266.6077 barb.mohairpear@gmail.com

2205 College Street

Jon Krogman The Other Place

319.277.9720 triscut06@gmail.com 2214 College Street

Holly Weaver Pepperjax Grill 319.266.6180 cedarfalls20@pepperjax.com

6719 University Avenue

Kristi Fettkether Razor’s Edge 319.268.1682 N/A 2211 College Street

Agreement Contract

Paint the Town Red - College HillSpecial Event Planning

University of Northern Iowa

Company/Organization Name: ____________________________________

Contact Name: _______________ Telephone Number: _______________ Email Address: ______________________ Best form of Contact:________ Mailing Address: ___________________________________________________

Monetary Donation/Special Offered: _______________________________

Length of Special: _________________________________________________

By signing below, you and your business are agreeing to the special or donation stated above. This event will be running from November 9, 2015 through November 14, 2015. We appreciate any and all specials/donations.

Signature of Company Contact: ____________________ Date: _________

Signature of Class Contact: ________________________ Date: __________

Map of Businesses

Map Key 1. Ginger’s Irish Pub 2. Insomnia Cookie 3. Social House 4. Beck’s on the Hill 5. The Other Place (OP) 6. The Library 7. Mohair Pear 8. Razor’s Edge 9. Balance Hot Yoga 10. La Calle 11. Chad’s Pizza 12. University Book and Supply

Map of Businesses Deal Cards

Paint the Town Red | November 9 - 14

10% off entire meal

15% off entire purchase

*Excluding textbooks, electronics and software

10% off total purchase

*Excluding Daily

Special

$5 class

10% off haircut

Buy one Jumbo Specialty get a Pitcher of Domestic Beer OR Cheese Bread sticks free

10% off $10 or more

20% off $20 or more

$3 off any 16” specialty pizza

Mon. - Wed. $5 Buckets

Mon. - Wed.: $6 select pitchers

Wednesday:Free cover

To receive the discount, be wearing the red wristband OR present this card.

Thursday:Free drink

with karaoke song

UNI  Public  Relations:  Special  Events  Class      

Monday,  Nov.  9th  –  Saturday,  Nov.  14th.      

Paint  the  Town  Red  is  an  event  put  on  by  Dr.  Pohl’s  Public  Relations:  Special  Events  class  at  UNI.  We  are  selling  bracelets  which  will  make  you  eligible  for  

special  deals  at  businesses  on  the  Hill  during  the  week  of    Monday,  Nov.  9th  –  Saturday,  Nov.  14th.  

 All  of  the  money  raised  throughout  the  week  will  be  donated  to  the  American  Heart  Association  (AHA).  Our  goal  is  to  raise  a  total  of  $5,000  and  we  need  

your  help!      

Examples  of  ways  your  business  can  help  us  out:    -­‐ Charge  a  cover  one  night  of  the  week  &  donate  the  money  to  AHA  

-­‐ Buy  one  get  one  drink/food  specials  -­‐ A  specific  $  amount  off  a  specialty  drink/pizza  

-­‐ Sell  paper  hearts  at  your  business  for  $1  (we  provide  the  hearts)  -­‐ Make  a  monetary  donation  to  the  AHA  

-­‐ Free  ‘something’  with  the  purchase  of  something  else  

*Your  business  may  participate  for  one  day/night  or  the  entire  week  

 

What’s  in  it  for  you?    

Not  only  are  you  giving  back  to  a  great  organization,  but  with  every  bracelet  we  sell  that  will  bring  in  customers  to  your  business.    

 

 

 

On November 11, 2015 , a portion of all in store and online purchases from ourCedar Falls American Heart Association. location will be donated to

Stop into the store at 2202 College St., Cedar Falls, IA 50613or order online or by phone to show your support!