Group Project Creative Brief

8/3/2019 Group Project Creative Brief

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Nicole Ellis, Laura Guikema, Annie Jones, Kristine Peterson, and Lillian Wilson

APR 309

Creative Brief for EPIC

Client: Dorie Shelby, Professor of Communications at Spring Arbor University

Product/Service: EPIC

Product and Market Background:

EPIC was founded at Spring Arbor University in 1997. Dorie Shelby, the current faculty

advisor, has been involved in the program since the beginning. EPIC is a sketch comedy

television show with a mix of in studio and field pieces. It is, for lack of a better word, epic. EPIC

has been offered as a class for video/film students each semester. It is also offered as an extra

curricular opportunity, available to any Spring Arbor University student who would like to

participate.

Currently, episodes are produced by a group of twenty or so students. The first episode

was finished the week of November 1, 2011, and the second episode of the year is currently in

production. Episodes are released first to the class, and are subsequently released to a You

Tube channel.

The current market of EPIC includes Spring Arbor University students.

According to our groups preliminary research, most of the current audience is unaware

of EPIC, especially new students. EPIC does not have a large presence on campus. The audience

is unaware of the uniqueness and talent of the people involved in EPIC and the vast amount of

work put into each episode, all by students.


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Competition:

EPICs main competition is other events on campus. A multitude of other extra curricular

events are offered on campus, so EPIC needs to compete against these events to have

involvement.

EPIC meets on Wednesday nights, so it competes against other programs and classes

that meet at the same time.

Also, EPICs audience competition includes those who are distrac ted by a variety of

similar options offered on the Internet. There are many similar You Tube accounts. Audience

members also may be distracted by the variety of other things to watch online or on Facebook.

Business/Advertising Objective:

The main goal of this campaign is to increase awareness of EPIC. We would like to

expand the market and base of Spring Arbor University students who know about and watch

EPIC. We would like to increase trial by non-users. This is more of a branding campaign than a

campaign with a unique selling proposition. We have a logical argument, and we would like to

create a mission statement or some other way for EPIC to further define its audience.

Media:

Media included in this campaign include a current Facebook account, a new Twitter

account, and updating EPICs You Tube account. EPICs Facebook page does not send a cle ar

message about the program. The students who run it do a fair job, but the message could pack


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a greater punch and the message could also sound more professional in grammar and tone.

Similarly, a Twitter account for EPIC was recently set up. We would like to have a professional,

friendly message that will include up-to-date episode facts and information, behind-the-scenes

moments, and real-time updates. EPIC is also in the process of uploading episodes from the

early years of EPIC to its You Tube channel.

This campaign will also include ambient advertisements. We would like to recommend

the purchase of a stamp that has EPICs text logo, which we will crea te, on it. That way, EPIC

members can stamp their friends hands in order to remind them to watch the latest episode.

We also would like to create T-shirts for EPIC, pending budget approval by the Communications

department at Spring Arbor University.

We will create a logo in order to further the brand of EPIC.

Target Market/Group/Audience:

The target market for this campaign is Spring Arbor University students. We would like

to encourage students who have never watched EPIC to watch for the first time. We would like

to encourage the students to continue to follow episode arcs and entertain them with the

storylines of the episodes.

Proposition/Promise/Benefit:

Simply, the benefit of EPIC is to entertain.

The promise of our campaign is to clearly communicate and raise awareness of the

brand and benefit of EPIC to the audience, Spring Arbor University students.


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Tone of Voice:

The tone of our campaign is professional. All areas of the campaign will be professional,

from Facebook posts to Twitter posts to email and advertisement content. However, the

content will also be friendly and inviting. This is a balance that is important to the success of our

campaign.

Mandatories:

We have multiple mandatory items to include in our campaign. First, we must include

EPICs name on all products. It must be clear that the campaign is for EPIC. Second, we must

have a clearly defined and clearly tracked budget. Our client, Dorie Shelby, would also like us to

find a way for her to contact old members of the class who were in previous episodes in order

to inform them of how the episodes are now being uploaded to You Tube (though we cannot

create a separate account for EPIC because of content restrictions by Spring Arbor University).

She also wants us to include a t-shirt design, with costs and numbers clearly outlined in our

budget. Similarly, Dorie also really enjoyed the idea for an EPIC stamp. We must research and

give her multiple ideas for this.

Overall, our goal is to increase awareness of EPIC. We must do this through the media

listed above: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and ambient. We would like to increa se EPICs

Facebook following, currently at 109 people, to 150. We would like to gain fifty followers on

Twitter. We will brainstorm and flesh out as many ideas for Dorie as possible, giving her a


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framework for the future years of EPIC and allowing EPIC to be an established brand across

campus.

Goals:

Increase awareness among Spring Arbor University students

We will do this through:

o Facebook: current number of Facebook fans: 109, goal number of Facebook fans:

150

o Twitter: Set up Twitter account by December 1, 2011. Goal number of non-spam

followers: 50

o YouTube: Set up a clear page for videos to be uploaded. If Dorie approves, make

sure old EPIC episodes are uploaded. Goal number of subscribers: 25

o Plan for T-shirts/stamps

o Logo design

o History/contacting EPIC alumni, including clear email template

Give Dorie a clear plan for future advertising and promotion of EPIC

o Clearly defined plan for the Low-Down promotion

o Clear outline for clear messages through all media forms

o Suggest that she create a student position in EPIC for a photographer and a

position for a student advertiser/marketer.

o Brainstormed ideas for an open house including viewing of an episode,

coffee/refreshments, and gift bags with small EPIC-related items

Documents

Group Project Creative Brief