Blood Donations

Situation:

The blood mobile operated by Blood Centers of the Pacific comes to campus several times a year. A few weeks prior to its arrival the school nurse emails a flyer to all students. She also mentions it in her monthly newsletter. If there’s time she posts some flyers around campus. Typically no more than 20 or 30 students volunteer to donate blood and usually only 15 – 20 pints are collected.

The Blood Center would like to get at least 15 percent (about 120) of NDNU day students to become regular blood donors.

 

Research shows:

Only one out of 20 NDNU students has ever given blood during the blood drives each semester

Reasons:

I don’t have time

It takes too long

I didn’t know about it

They always reject me because I don’t have enough iron

I’m afraid of needles

It hurts

I’m an athlete and I need my strength to practice/play

 

Assignment:

Using the eight step method, create a public relations plan to help reach the Blood Center’s objective.  Assume you have a budget of $1,000 and an entire semester to implement the plan. Your plan should have specific communications objectives, strategies, target audiences (more than one) and key messages. You should have some tactics to go with your strategies, but do not have to go into detail. You must explain how you will evaluate the success of the plan.

 

 

 

 

Example below

 

 

 

 

Example:

 

Situation: People drink coffee on a daily basis, but are unaware of the fair trade practices that go behind particular brands

 

Objectives: Make college students aware of the many environmental practices that go into producing coffee beans and garner more attention towards coffee houses that serve fair trade coffee

 

Audience: College students, professors, and faculty in college towns

 

Strategy: Educate those unaware of the meaning of fair trade coffee while simultaneously attracting more customers

 

Tactics: When customers are ordering their drink, employees will ask a series of short questions.  If they answer at least half of them right, they will get a small discount on their order.  If they get them all right, they will get their drink for free.  In addition, Fair Trade Mojo will communicate with student leadership at the local colleges to hold parties on campus that will serve coffee and coffee-themed beverages.  This will not only raise hype for the parties, but also bring more publicity and customers to Fair Trade Mojo.

 

Calendar: Fair Trade Mojo will begin its campaign at the start of the academic year, starting with a big bash to get everyone interested.  Once midterms come closer, FTM will hold another bash after exams to help the students relieve stress and get ready for the rest of semester.  From there, once finals have ended, FTM will host a final end of the semester party to get ready for the holidays.  This process will repeat for the spring semester, with the final party being an end of the year/graduation party.  Finally, FTM will host a summer party to keep things hyped for the student body.

 

Budget: While Fair Trade Mojo cannot afford active advertising on television and radio, the company will set aside a minor amount of funds for fliers around the college campuses.  The rest will be put towards hosting the parties and supplying the beverages.

 

Evaluation: At the end of summer, Fair Trade Mojo will assess the pro and cons of the events and determine the necessary steps to improve the quality and success of the coffee houses while ultimately finding new and innovative ways to draw more of the student population to their locations.