UNL students create Prairie Fire marketing campaigns

By Stacy James

What is a capstone course anyway?

Every semester in the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s (UNL) College of Journalism and Mass Communication’s advertising sequence, senior ad majors face the much-anticipated and sometimes-dreaded capstone course called “Advertis­ing and Public Relations Campaigns.” A capstone course, by definition, is the learning experience in which students put it all together and work with a “real” client with real-world marketing and advertising challenges. They’re clients who need a strategically researched, conceived and executed promotional program, but don’t have the hundreds of thousands of dollars for a big-time ad agency effort.

Over the years, this course has become legendary, primarily because, by design, it’s the toughest course senior ad majors will take in the four-plus years of their time at UNL.

At the beginning of the semester, the class is divided into several teams of six to seven students who assume the role of a mini-advertising agency. The teams give themselves an agency name and then choose the individual role they want to play: account executive, account coordinator, research, media, public relations, copywriter or art director. The ultimate goal for the teams is to develop an integrated marketing communications campaign for the designated client. At the end of the semester, each team “pitches” their plan to the client in a competitive effort to “win” the client’s business. Just like in the real world.

Prairie Fire was the ideal client

This semester, the real-world client we chose was Prairie Fire Newspaper. We at the College of Journalism and Mass Communications like newspapers. We think Prairie Fire is a very good publication. It’s an example of what I call “an oasis in a desert of mediocrity.” Prairie Fire is a different kind of newspaper than those who see their page sizes and ad revenues shrinking. Prairie Fire is a niche publication that features very important and topical information in articles with insights. It’s unlike any other publication in the Midwest, which made it a great client for our students to worth with.

At the beginning of the semester, Prairie Fire publisher Don Nelson and staff laid out their desires and concerns for the short- and long-term success of the newspaper. They explained that they want to grow awareness, which in turn translates into increased readership, circulation, distribution and, ultimately, increased advertising revenues.

The story within this story

The reason why I’m writing this cover story for Prairie Fire is two-fold: to provide the readers with an insight into our students’ outstanding work. Beyond that, we think it’s a story that you, the reader, can play with. I’ll share some of the interesting key findings about Prairie Fire the students discovered and some of the key creative pieces each team developed.

It may turn out that you, the reader, can give us your opinion on which team’s work you think would best achieve the aforementioned goals: increased awareness, readership, circulation and ad revenues.

What we learned

Most people think that ads are instantly created on the computer screens in ad agency cubicles. That’s partially true. But good ads always start with background information and research. It was important for the teams to conduct secondary and primary research that yielded relevant data about what readers liked and what potential readers might want from Prairie Fire, such as:

*Prairie Fire readers are primarily Baby Boomers over the age of 45.

*Prairie Fire readers are well educated, smart, community involved, and arts-oriented.

*Prairie Fire readers like the in-depth, well-researched articles.

*Prairie Fire readers like to hold the paper in their hands and read at their leisure.

*Prairie Fire readers are willing to pay more attention to Prairie Fire advertisers and to support them as part of supporting the paper.

*Many Prairie Fire readers and nonreaders were not aware of the Prairie Fire Web site.

*Prairie Fire is sometimes hard to find at certain distribution sites.

*Prairie Fire readers don’t consider a “free” newspaper to be a negative.

*Prairie Fire, like any good medium, is driven by good content. Readers like the Prairie Fire page design, too.

*There are still many people in the primary distribution areas who have yet to know about or read Prairie Fire.

Based upon these key findings, plus an in-depth working knowledge of the publication, the three teams began their planning to develop their own team’s plan. They worked independently and competitively. Each team’s final creative concepts were different, of course, but all included recommendations on a campaign “theme,” how to advertise, where to advertise, what the ads should look like, and how to integrate the ads and the theme into other forms of publicity and promotion, such as new Web 2.0 technologies (i.e., Twitter and Facebook). All of these details are written and reported in a 40- to 50-page document plan called a plansbook. Should the client desire, there’s a blueprint to implement the chosen campaign.

Three teams, three plans,three different approaches

Argyle

Bridget Kennedy, Justin Jelkin, Alex Damm, Jaci Benson, Jacqueline Svoboda, Marc Chedel, Tara Gill

Campaign Theme: “Where’s there’s smoke, there’s Prairie Fire.”

Big Idea: Print ads that visually highlight the “grassroots” importance of the Midwest and the prairie metaphor. Print ads that “tease” key stories that have run in previous Prairie Fire issues. Headlines that always set up the “where’s there’s X, there’s Y” theme, such as “Where’s there’s ________, there’s ________.”

Media Recommendations: Print, out-of-home bus and Ross Theatre slides, NET radio and television

Public Relations and Distri­bution: Coffee sleeves and coasters; vintage “paper boy and girls” who distribute paper downtown on key days, such as football Saturdays; new wooden distribution stands in key distribution areas.

Thought Tank

Derek Hester, Will Buller, Weng Hock Tan, Richelle Hoffmeister, Cara Smith, Claire Abelbeck

Campaign Theme: “Join the conversation.”

Big Idea: Print ads that visually highlight, simply and elegantly, provocative headlines and key topics that can be found in Prairie Fire. Ads are designed to be minimalist and easy to remember and to drive readers to www.prairiefire.com and a new micro­site, www.pfconversation.org. [sites are not active]

Media Recommendations: Print media such as Country Club Neighborhood Association News­letter, Downtown Lincoln Neigh­borhood Association Newsletter, L Magazine, outdoor, Ross Theatre slides and NET radio.

Public Relations: Provide branded giveaways, such as a canvas bag, magnet with logo.

Verge

Courtney Hejny, Lindsey Smith, Allison Leapley, Chi Kalu, Greg Simon, Abby Green, Kelly Thunn

Campaign Theme: “The need to know.”

Big Idea: Predicated on the notion that smart people know they’re better off when they know more, the print ads highlight key arts, political, media and social sites and put Prairie Fire strategically in the picture. Each ad’s headline highlights a different piece of the Prairie Fire story mix, from politics to the arts, and pay off on the notion that Prairie Fire is part of the bigger picture in the lives of the readers.

Media Recommendations: Print, out-of-home, Lied Center Program, Omaha Symphony Program, Ross Theatre slides, Web banners, Web 2.0, NET radio and television.

Public Relations and Distri­bution: Banners, bookmarks, posters, distribution displays.

At the end of the semester, Don and the Prairie Fire staff heard from each team as they formally presented the rationale behind their ideas and recommendations. At the end of each team’s 30-minute presentation, students breathed a serious sigh of relief. It’s the moment in the semester each student waits for. It’s also the moment in their college career they’ll never forget for all the right reasons: hundreds of hours of hard work, researching, brainstorming, late nights, disagreements, tears, laughs and negotiations. This semester I calculated that, between the three teams, there were about 3,000 student and faculty hours spent on behalf of Prairie Fire Newspaper. Every minute was worth it. Do you think I should send Don a bill?

And you, Prairie Fire readers, please let us know what you think about these great ideas by commenting on each team’s campaign.

 

View Campaign Materials

Argyle Team

Thought Tank Team

Verge Team