SEASONAL CAMPAIGN

REPORTSPRING 2012 CONTENT, ACTIVITY, ANALYSIS

INTRODUCTIONOnTheRocks and Absolut PR make up a student based public

relations agency led by Associate Professor Dr. Amiso George in association with The Schieffer School of Jounalism.

This group of 29 ambitious TCU strategic communication students continued the work of a previous team in fall 2011

to execute the VITALS PR Campaign. VITALS is based on the Proof Campaign presented at the 2009 American Advertising

Federation’s National Student Advertising Competition. Sponsored by a $50,000 grant from The Century Council,

VITALS is designed to create awareness about the symptoms of alcohol poisoning on Texas Christian University’s campus.

By designing strategic communication tools, organizing events and developing relationships with other university

organizations, OnTheRocks and Absolut PR’s goal is to educate the TCU student body, and by extension, the campus community, to recognize symptoms of alcohol poisoning and

get help.

One key objective is to reach 20 percent of the student body. By the end of the campaign in May 2012, nearly one half of

TCU students now know about VITALS.

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Katie McGeeCEO

OnTheRocks Absolut PR

Robyn Salter Senior VP

Albert Rayle CFO

Megan McCook Creative

Stephanie Saling Content

Blair Bookman Content

Matt Johnson Research

Jayson Haynes Social Media

Meghan Swisher Media Relations

Treasure Maddox Event Planning

Ginny Gould Media Relations

Mary Bell Media Relations

Liz Rayle Event Planning

Daniel Silverman Art Director

Meg Chamberlin Senior VP

Alyssa Posey Media Relations

Juliann WalkerEvent Planning

Natalie Look Research

Michaela Bradshaw Chief Content Developer

Elizabeth Muncey Creative

Courtney Chown Event Planning

Bailey Burgess Art Director

Brian Alexis Media Relations

Claire Christy Social Media

Not pictured: Allison Branca (CEO), Morgan Williams (Media Relations), Lauren Enyart (Content), Taylor Thorne (Research Director), Kristin Sherrill (Research), Amanda Garrison (Consultant)

TEAMS

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

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SITUATION ANALYSISTARGET AUDIENCEPRIMARY RESEARCH

08EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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CAMPAIGN OBJECTIVES 10

CA

MPA

IGN

FEEDBA

CK

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

PLANNINGInitial quantitative research for the campaign was done by the PROOF campaign, a student advertising team that competed in the 2009 National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC), sponsored by the American Advertising Federation. Research results revealed that alcohol allows students to be more likeable, explore their sexuality, explore physical limits, socially perform, and allows them to relax in social situations. Most students believed that they were responsible for their safety and the safety of their friends while drinking, but also admitted that alcohol may lead to dangerous, physical consequences. The number one consequence that students felt the next day was guilt about drinking and memory loss.

The 2011 VITALS Campaign team’s research of the TCU student body in 2011 found a high percentage of TCU students admitted to high-risk drinking. The 2012 team repeated the same survey from the previous year in order to compare the percentages of high-risk drinkers. The team also conducted a focus group to gather additional in depth information regarding on-campus high-risk drinking.

Additionally, the team produced a Public Service Announcement (PSA) with the goal to reinforce

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The goal of the 2012 Texas Christian University VITALS campaign is to increase recognition of the acronym, VITALS, and educate TCU students to recognize the symptoms of alcohol poisoning and get help. VITALS stands for Vomiting, Incoherence, Temperature, Absence of color, Low breathing and Seizures.

The VITALS campaign deals with a subject matter that is highly relevant to the TCU student body. Research indicates that while drinking is a rite of passage for some students, the majority does not recognize the symptoms of alcohol poisoning. Additionally, they do not always know what action to take in case of an emergency. We used creative ideas, collaborated with the TCU Office of Alcohol and Drug Education as well as the TCU Police Department, and executed successful events that generated media attention nationally and in the fifth largest media market in the country. Attendance at the events and the series of activities enabled us to position the VITALS campaign as the premier peer-to-peer campaign on high-risk drinking on the TCU campus. Most importantly, it enabled us to surpass the expectations of our campaign goal.

the message of discouraging students from engaging in high-risk drinking. The PSA was designed to gain attention and visually demonstrate a narrative of the negative aspects of over-drinking. We used a combination of scare tactics, extreme and exaggerated situations and humor. The high number of viewers (Numbers as of day of report) of the PSA and some of the comments initially indicate to us that the VITALS message is getting through to our target audience, the TCU community.

The team executed weekly “Thirsty Thursday’s,” a series of informal sessions outside of the TCU library to promote VITALS. At these events, strategically timed to coincide with the lunchtime class changes, we educated students about the campaign and created hype for the upcoming promotional events. The themed events attracted a weekly audience of 150 students who passed through the location to or from class. We gave away promotional items such as brochures, pens, koozies, shirts, sunglasses, and key chains.

TCU VITALS extended its reach to the immediate community by co-hosting baseball tailgates, a concert at the Aardvark, a popular student hangout, the West Berry Block Party and TCU CommUNITY Week Block Party. The Block Party was our largest event and attracted well over 300 students and members of the TCU community. We promoted all the events through the TCU VITALS website, Twitter, Facebook, and through the TCU student newspaper, The Skiff. We used this multimedia approach to emphasize to the TCU student body that there is more than one way to learn about their VITALS.

EXECUTIONWe planned and executed a variety of special events to register our presence on the TCU campus and most importantly, to educate the campus community to recognize the symptoms of alcohol poisoning and get help. We began the semester with two key events to re-launch the campaign and make it clear that VITALS was back. Our first event, a baseball tailgate with a popular local food truck, Salsa Limon, was the perfect way to get students and TCU fans excited about VITALS and its message. Early in the semester we began the tradition of hosting “Thirsty Thursday’s” at the TCU Founders statue on campus. Each Thursday we passed out VITALS swag, informing passers-by of our message. We communicated this message to the local media and attracted media attention in the fifth largest media market in the country. Our Thirsty Thursday Spring Break special earned us a story in the nationally recognized Huffington Post online news website. Our presence at the TCU Health Expo was the perfect way to reinforce our message to a group of health-minded individuals while distributing our branded materials. Our first off-campus event of the year was the West Berry Block Party where we greeted attendees at the music festival with koozies stuffed with tips on how to be smart about high-risk drinking and the importance of knowing their VITALS signs. At our final wrap party event at the CommUNITY Week Block Party, we made a big splash with the VITALS message to 300 students in attendance. This event was heavily branded with VITALS signs and swag. Consistently hosting events throughout the semester helped strengthen the VITALS campaign among our target audience and resulted in successfully sharing our message with them.

RESULTS AND EVALUATIONOur weekly “Thirsty Thursday” events and our largest “wrap-up” event, the TCU CommUNITY Block Party had a successful impact on our target audience, by raising awareness of the VITALS Campaign through the participation of (give numbers—weekly and big event). Our post-event survey indicates that over 50% of TCU students have heard of the VITALS Campaign. Eighty-five percent said they were likely to share what they had learned about VITALS with family and friends.

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SITUATION ANALYSIS08

HISTORY OF VITALS The PROOF campaign, an original advertising campaign submitted to the 2009 American Advertising Federation’s National Student Advertising Competition (NSAC), by a TCU Schieffer School team, addressed the issue of binge drinking. VITALS is a component of the PROOF campaign TCU was asked to expand upon by the Century Council.

WHY THE VITALS CAMPAIGN IS IMPORTANT The VITALS campaign deals with a subject matter that is highly relevant to the TCU student body. As Horned Frogs, we are happy to be part of the solution to spread awareness about the dangers of high risk drinking, as well as help our fellow Horned Frogs to recognize the key signs of alcohol poisoning. The message behind this campaign has the power to make a difference and could even save lives.

PRIMARY AUDIENCE SECONDARY AUDIENCETCU StudentsUpper Middle ClassMale and FemaleAges 18-24Often involved in a Greek Organization, drinks socially, supports university athletics, and proudly wears TCU purple

Parents and surrounding communityFamily of current TCU studentsLocal community members, organizations, businesses and high schools

TARGET AUDIENCE

PRIMARY RESEARCH

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FOCUS GROUPOur focus group was made up of eight TCU students that included at least one participant from each grade level. We conducted the focus group in order to learn about the experiences of TCU students in social settings where alcohol was present and to inform them about VITALS.

1) Walk us through a typical night out with friends? a. Describe why you picked certain images.

We began the focus group by asking participants to create a collage of their typical night out. Then, we asked them to talk about why they chose each image. We found most of the participants had a pre-going out ritual such as pre-gaming at a friends house or having dinner and drinks with friends before proceeding to a bar or club.

2) When you do drink, why is it that you do?

We found that the participants’ motivation to drink is that drinking is a normal characteristic of social activities. The participants also mentioned that drinking is a way to relieve stress and is a reward for a hard week’s work.

3) In the times that you are drinking, is there a threshold when you start to feel buzzed?

The majority of participants acknowledged they had a threshold for when they started feeling tipsy or drunk but no one articulated a number of drinks. However they did note that different types of alcohol such as beer, liquor or different types of liquor affect their threshold differently.

c. What is your typical drink?• Do you usually get a mixed drink at a bar or do you make it yourself?• If you make it yourself, how do you measure the amount of alcohol you pour?

The typical drinks of the participants varied quite a bit and the amount of alcohol in each drinks varied as well. The female participants associated wine with a relaxing night in. All of the participants associated liquor with more intense partying and beer with drinking over a long period of time. The majority of the participants had a tactic to control their alcohol intake such as consuming a hardy meal prior to drinking and ordering a water with a lime in order to give the impression of drinking.

4) In the past, have there been times when you drank when you didn’t want to?

All of the participants acknowledged that there had been times when each of them partook in some form of drinking when they did not want to due to unwarranted pressure from friends. One of the participants mentioned that he would go out to drink with friends when he did not want to because he knew that his friends would come home later and wake him up anyways.

5) On a typical week, how often do your friends/roommates drink alcohol?

The participants said that their friends and roommates usually drink alcohol during the later parts of the week.

6) Has someone close to you ever expressed the signs of having too much to drink?

a. What did that look like?

One of the participants said that someone close to him/her experienced a glazed and excessive mumbling, but did not directly say that that individual was experiencing incoherence. Several participants stated that their friends pass out more often than they vomit.

7) What would you say the signs of alcohol poisoning are?

One of the participants essentially named the majority of the signs of alcohol poisoning, but did not know the terms associated with each sign. We told them what VITALS stood for and all of the participants learned what VITALS meant.

The focus group was a success because we were able to teach the participants about the VITALS signs of alcohol poisoning and gain insight into the drinking habits of TCU Students.

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CAMPAIGN OBJECTIVES

Objective

To educate 30% of TCU students about the hazards of high-risk drinking, so students know what actions to take when they recognize the VITALS symptoms.

To expose 30% of TCU students to the acronym VITALS and educate on the symptoms of alcohol poisoning during the spring 2012 semester.

2Objective

• Strategy 1: Teach students what the acronym VITALS stands for and the signs of alcohol poisoning through promotional events and advertisement.o Tactic: Hand out fliers and swag during our Thirsty Thursday events outside the Library, directing students to our website and social media.o Rationale: High volumes of students frequently pass the library going to and from classes, making this an ideal location to place our information table. By catching the attention of students on Thursdays, a typical night for college students to binge drink, we can increase the recall of the VITALS acronym.• Strategy 2: Distribute different promotional items with the VITALS acronym printed on them to increase awareness of the VITALS campaign.Tactic: Hand out fliers, bracelets, koozies, sunglasses, key chains and other swag to students walking to classes in front of the library, as well as during all events.o Rationale: TCU students are eager to obtain free items such as koozies and colored sunglasses. By including our logo and website on these items they will be constantly reminded of VITALS.

• Strategy: Having the TCU VITALS team participate in the TCU Health Expo by passing out swag, flyers and having posters to inform students what to do when they recognize the VITALS symptoms.o Rationale: Having a presence at the TCU Health Expo will reach a large number of students in different organizations, and will also incorporate with other health benefits.

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To reach 30% of TCU students to interact with the VITALS campaign during the spring semester 2012.

To plan and implement multiple events throughout the spring and further educate students about VITALS.

3Objective

4Objective

• Strategy 1: To invite students to like TCU VITALS on Facebook and to follow us on Twitter o Tactic: We used fun and exciting activities like root beer pong and flip cup, linking those activities to clues about VITALS on our social media profiles.o Rationale: Our target audience uses social media websites frequently. These online networks allow students to interact with our campaign and communicate easier. • Strategy 2: To encourage students to leave feedback about the campaign on the TCU VITALS website and the TCU VITALS Facebook page. o Tactic: We provided laptops at every event and encouraged students to input their names, email addresses and leave a comment about the event. o Rationale: Feedback is vital to reach our audience more effectively. The comments and opinions left by our peers, students, and the community will allow us to implement our strategy. • Strategy 3: To offer incentives to students who come to our events and “like” VITALS on Facebook.o Tactic: We gave away special promotional items in exchange for attending our events, “liking” us and commenting on our Facebook page. o Rationale: Incentives draw attention to our target audience to come and be supportive of our campaign. It will also bring more awareness, communication, feedback, and remind them often about VITALS.

• Strategy 1: To use local media channels to promote the events and reach a wider audience o Rationale: We reached secondary audiences through VITALS stories and advertisements in CBS-Dallas, Telemundo-Dallas, and the TCU Skiff. This reach increased awareness and expanded knowledge about VITALS.• Strategy 2: To use non-traditional media channels to advertise our events. o Tactic: We advertised our events on Twitter, Facebook, VITALS Website, fliers and posters.o Rationale: The use of non-traditional media will invite students and the community to our upcoming events and remind them about the dates and times as well as any incentives involved. • Strategy 3: To host multiple events throughout the spring. o Tactic: We executed events such as a baseball tailgate, a concert, the TCU CommUNITY Week Block Party, and “Thirsty Thursday” events using decorations, promotional items, and incentives to attract the public. o Rationale: A party environment with incentives attracts our target audience. Free food, prizes, and raffles increased our chances to reach our target audience.

EVENTS

Thirsty Thursdays occurred every other week and was located outside the east

side of the library. The goal of this event was to reach large numbers of students

during class changes. We had music, root beer pong, root beer flip cup, and

VITALS students dancing in red solo cups. We encouraged students passing by to

participate and had a very large number join in the fun, reaching over 150 students each Thursday event. We passed out many

promotional items as well as fliers with VITALS information. These events were quite successful and we raised awareness for the VITALS campaign by targeting students in a

fun and innovative way.

THIRSTY THURSDAYSEVERY OTHER THURSDAY

For this event we targeted the multitude of students going to TCU baseball games. We had a Salsa Limon food truck give out free tacos and handed out promotional products, reaching 50 students as well as 75 community members. We gathered email addresses to send students a brief survey on the VITALS campaign.

SALSA LIMON BASEBALL TAILGATE 2/19/2012

The VITALS team was at a local TCU bar, the Aardvark, passing out fliers, koozies, and other promotional items. At this event the VITALS team talked to students, informing them of the importance of the VITALS campaign. Over 200 people were reached at this event.

ROB CAVENDAR AT THE AARDVARK 3/1/2012

At the Health Expo VITALS had a table with a large display. We handed out many promotional items to generate attention as well as a large tri-fold with fun facts about the VITALS campaign. We

reached over 200 students over the course of the afternoon.

TCU HEALTH EXPO 4/12/2012

VITALS teamed up with West Berry

Block Party to reach over 400 students to increase awareness

and knowledge of the VITALS campaign. We

were able to talk to hundreds of students

and inform them about our campaign. Nearly

every person at the event had a VITALS

koozie.

WEST BERRY BLOCK PARTY

4/14/2012

This was our closing or “wrap” event. We had a concert, a mock margarita machine, a photo booth, and much more. We passed out many promotional items as well as our new VITALS tank tops. The students enjoyed food, music, and fun that VITALS offered at this event. There were a variety of student performers as well as the school mascot present at the event. It was very successful and everyone, including the VITALS team members, enjoyed themselves and had a great and informative time. We were able to reach over 300 students who lived on campus at the event. A representative from VITALS was able to speak to the audience, informing attendees of the purpose of the campaign. Since the event was in conjunction with the Office of Inclusiveness and Intercultural Services, VITALS reached the most diverse audience with this event.

COMMUNITY WEEK BLOCK PARTY 4/12/2012

The VITALS Team was invited to participate in a poster presentation during the TCU Honors Week. We set up in the lobby of Moudy

South, which houses the College of Communication, and used the opportunity to target Strategic Communication students at TCU. We reached approximately 50 students, passed out promotional items

and most importantly, educated them about VITALS.

HONORS WEEK PRESENTATION 4/20/2012

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CAMPAIGN FEEDBACK

“This is a great program! Makes me proud to send my daughter to a school that cares so much about student health and well-being. Kudos to you all!”

-TCU MOM

“We just wanted to let you know how proud we are of the VITALS campaign—especially the kick-off event. You and your students did a fantastic job putting the event together. Programming for students is challenging, and we recognize your hard work at getting-out the VITALS message”

-Sparkle Greenhaw Director, Office of Alcohol & Drug Education

“At first, I did not understand what the VITALS campaign was about and ‘which’ vitals were being identified (blood pressure, heart rate, etc.). After reading through the website, I am so grateful and very impressed that the issue of binge drinking is being addressed. It really scares me sometimes when I see how much our students are drinking with no consideration of the potentially great cost of losing their own life.”

-Dorenda Kelser-Assistant to the Dean, College of

Communication, TCU

“VITALS has come back to campus with a swell of energy and enthusiasm for our cause: to educate TCU students about the signs of alcohol poisoning and know when to get help. We have had two successful events to spread the word again and can’t wait for more. Hopefully you will be touched by our efforts in one way or another and we cannot wait to see where the semester leads!”

-Katie McGeeSpring CEO of VITALS

“TCU VITALS is such a great way to promote responsible drinking. The acronym is a clever way to remember the symptoms of alcohol poisoning. The VITALS team did a great job this semester of creating awareness on the TCU campus.”

-Allie NantzTCU Nursing Major

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