Expressions, Fall 2009

Fall Quarter 2009

Letter from the assistant director Hello, This year, ImPRessions is serving nine clients, each of which have kept their accounts plenty busy with great opportunities for PR R. Devin Hughes experience this fall quarter. As Assistant Director, I have had the privilege of attending various account meetings and events and seeing all of the wonderful work our members have done. However, being that we have extremely hardworking students, I find that each member tends to immerse himself or herself in his or her client, and thus does not get the opportunity to take note of what other accounts are doing. Being

that I get to oversee each account, I know firsthand that each has generated great ideas and done impressive work over the quarter that deserves to be shared. Thus is the beauty of ExPRessions. In this issue, you will find updates on what each account has been doing Fall Quarter. Coming into this year, one goal I had was to increase the sense of firm unity. ExPRessions goes a long way in doing just that. We can all learn from each other, and we should all support each other. If you read something in this issue that intrigues you, or prompts you to come up with an idea for another account, I absolutely encourage you to contact that executive and talk about it. I have been extremely impressed with the dedication of our executives so far

Up ‘til Dawn gets up and moving With their biggest event just around the corner, the Up ‘til Dawn ImPRessions account is hard at work planning fundraisers and promoting community involvement to help end childhood cancer. Up ‘til Dawn is a program of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital whose goal is to help raise awareness about childhood cancer by bringing together students, faculty, and campuses across the nation. “What this account does is really important to thousands of terminally ill kids,” said Grace Naugle, account coexecutive. “St. Jude’s doesn’t deny any child in need, so it is important to help this organization raise awareness as well as money in order to fund the research and the most up-to-date technology.” The theme of the annual letter writing party will be Through the Decades and will be held on November 15 in Baker Ballroom from 4-11 p.m. All students are invited and encouraged to start their own teams. During the party, teams write letters asking for donations for St. Jude, and any guest who provides 35 addresses

R. Devin Hughes this year and am very proud to have them representing ImPRessions. I can vouch for the approachability and helpfulness of each one. The more we work together, the more we can achieve. And, as you will see in the following articles, we have already achieved a lot this year. To the members reading this: ExPRessions serves as a testament to the hard work you do every quarter. Let me be the first to thank you. If you ever need assistance or would like to discuss your experience with ImPRessions, please do not hesitate to email me.

Lindsay Castle

can register to win a Nintendo Wii gamFor more information about Up ‘til ing system among several other prizes. Dawn, visit myuptildawn.org, stjude.org Food and beverages will be provided and or email [email protected]. You local bands will entertain the crowd. Up can also join the Ohio University group ‘til Dawn has set a goal of having 100 let- on Facebook and Twitter. ter-writing-teams this year and raising $50,000 - up from the $25,000 raised last year. In preparation for the main event, Naugle and Adria Courtot, account executives, and the rest of the Up ‘til Dawn team have been and will continue to promote the event by painting the wall on Richland Avenue, chalking around campus, handing out fliers and using Alyssa Albertone, left, and Brooke Carpenter sell baked goods for Up ‘til Dawn, a fundraiser for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital media kits.

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Fall Quarter 2009

Backdrop rocks into a new school year The Backdrop ImPRessions account is working with Backdrop Magazine, a full-color quarterly publication available to students and the Athens community for free. Backdrop Magazine is completely student-run and has been active at OU since 2007. It was originally an assignment for an upper level magazine journalism seminar class and grew from there. Backdrop Magazine’s target audience is college students and features stories ranging from music and entertainment to politics and health. Backdrop is a unique ImPRessions account; it is the only one with an actual budget. The Backdrop account applied for and received Student Activities Commission (SAC) funding to use for advertising and promotional purposes during fall and winter quarters. The account will reapply for spring quarter funding during winter quarter. The Backdrop account is utilizing the funding to become more visible on campus and to utilize new public relations tactics that were not available to the account prior to this year. Backdrop is a quarterly magazine that “drops” at Ohio University once every quarter. The “dropping” of the magazine is commemorated with a launch party that is planned and executed by the Backdrop magazine staff and supported by the ImPRessions team. This quarter’s launch party took place on Thursday, Oct. 22 at Jackie O’s with an “I love the 90s” theme.

It was a huge success! The magazine also hosted its first music fest to celebrate the launch of the magazine, which took place on Saturday, Oct. 24 at The Union. The PR team is currently keeping busy by surveying students across campus. The surveys ask general questions about Backdrop Magazine and will be useful for understanding the general student body opinion about the publication. The team is also hoping to find out how aware Ohio University students are about Backdrop magazine. The surveys were created through www.surveymonkey.com and distributed through Facebook, Twitter and email. The Backdrop ImPRessions account is led by account executive, Ashley Showen, a junior public relations major. To keep the account organized and structured, each member has been assigned a position ranging from secretary to event coordinator. The Backdrop ImPRessions team is very excited about the year and looking forward to working with the Backdrop Top: The Backdrop release party located at Jackie O’s Annex. Bottom: Students dance while at the release party. Magazine staff.

Empower sprints into action The Empower Campaign is a nonprofit organization at Ohio University dedicated to educating Africa’s orphans and vulnerable children in both private and public schools. This year’s ImPRessios account for Empower consists of nine members headed by Jenn Habel, who have many goals to obtain this year, such as having a fundraiser each quarter. This task was kicked off with its biggest event of the year: 5K Run to Empower. Last year, the 5K con-

Meghan Tinker

Jena Green and Andrea Teggart

sisted of more than 20 organizations, and 500 runners. This year, the event brought in 512 runners. The money raised at the event, held Saturday, Oct. 10 at Ping recreation center was used to build another classroom in the Bigodi Nursery & Primary school, which was devastated by a storm in 2008. With 25 million orphans in Africa, there is an overwhelming need to build and promote education. The Empower campaign has its hands full to gain as

much support as it possibly can and the ImPRessions account promotes it as best as it can. Empower’s main focus is to provide a structural environment with the opportunity for children to grow as individuals and to learn about AIDS and HIV. The Empower Campaign that originated in Athens will be working this year to raise more money and continue the support they have given for years. Look forward to many opportunities to “Empower” this year. 2

Fall Quarter 2009

ImPRessions welcomes its newest client The newest addition to ImPRessions is the Athens County Big Brothers Big Sisters account. Because this account is new and in the process of building firm to client contact, the team of students working on the account have just begun the process of planning out the goals and needs of the client. Athens County Big Brothers Big Sisters aims to provide healthy role models for children of all different ages. These children have different needs, ranging from simply having another friend, to getting involved in healthy activities and planned events, or even to relieving their parents of the many responsibilities that come with parenting. Big Brothers Big Sisters coordinates community events that teams of brothers and sisters can attend. With campus groups such as Ohio University Programming Council, Greek

Life and Campus Crusade for Christ getting involved with the organization, information on Big Brothers Big Sisters is being passed along a broad spectrum of campus activities. In the past year, Athens County Big Brothers Big Sisters lost the majority of its funding and is struggling to keep support within the community. Due to the lack of funding, it has been difficult for the organization to keep up with their Web site and events over the past year. A lot of great opportunities exist for this account and for the firm. Although it will certainly be a challenge, account executives Morgan Lyles and Sarah Alrichs are working together to bring the face of Athens County Big Brother Big Sisters back into the community. The Big Brothers Big Sisters account has already begun preparations for

College Book Store’s homecoming The College Book Store ImPRessions account is planning to help not only the bookstore uptown, but also the Athens community tremendously this year. Each quarter, the ImPRessions team will work with College Book Store on Court Street to raise funds for different charity organizations. ImPRessions will help to promote a T-shirt sale at College Book Store that has a theme linked to the organization that will receive the proceeds. Homecoming weekend is a perfect time for students and alumni alike to show their pride in being a Bobcat. The College Book Store ImPRessions account worked hard all weekend helping College Book Store spread this pride through its T-shirt sale. This quarter’s theme for the sale was “Homecoming for the Homeless.” The T-shirts were sold for $10 throughout Homecoming Weekend and $2 from each T-shirt sale went to the local charity Good Works. Good Works supports the homeless in Athens County, and ImPRessions is doing everything it can this year to help College Book Store help those people in the community who are less fortunate than we are.

Sara Rice

a fundraising campaign called “Bowl for Kids’ Sake.” This fundraiser begins on Dec. 1 and lasts until Feb. 28. Teams of five can sign up and spend three months collecting donations on behalf of Big Brothers Big Sisters. Each team has a goal of raising $1000 and at the end of the three months, there is a “Bowl for Kid’s Sake” event held at Rollerbowl Lanes on Palmer Street. The account has been recruiting many student organizations and teams to participate. With widespread support around campus, the account has high hopes for this event’s success. With effective public relations, the ImPRessions team will be able to regenerate interest in the nationwide organization and to facilitate an engaging Web site. It will be exciting to see where ImPRessions can take Big Brothers Big Sisters in the upcoming year.

TJ Carolin

The account members passed out other two major T-shirt promotions that fliers at the beginning of Homecoming the ImPRessions team will work on this week at various locations in the com- school year. Account executives Bartlett munity, at Baker and at the local market. and Nicole Bersani with their account They were also able to keep the Home- already have many great ideas for these coming momentum alive throughout weekends and have pitched them to their Homecoming weekend at the volleyball client. ImPRessions will continue to work and football games. closely with College Book Store on other “Our client, Assistant General Man- promotions throughout the year and conager Andrew Stout, was impressed with tinue to enhance its image. 19 local restaurants, bars and hotels where we distributed over 100 tables tents and 20 posters,” said account executive Sam Bartlett. The account members hope to help College Book Store raise more money and sell many more T-shirts to the Athens community during the next two T-shirt promotions this year. They will be creating a PR plan to know where they need to improve after this quarter to find the most successful promotion tactics. Sibs Weekend and Moms Weekend in winter and spring Jake Roberts, Katie Lang and Annie White pass out quarter, respectively, will be the fliers during “Homecoming for the Homeless.” 3

Fall Quarter 2009

The Gathering Place walks for awareness The Gathering Place is a community-based support organization that assists and encourages persons who are struggling with mental illness in Athens. Its ImPRessions account works alongside it to increase awareness of its cause. Emily Feldman is the executive of the account, while nine members have specific account positions. On Friday, Oct. 9, the account volunteered at The Gathering Place for the first time this year and provided a survey for the members to fill out.

The Gathering Place is located on North Congress Street in Athens. Membership is open to anyone with a mental illness who has a sincere interest in working toward recovery. One can stop by any day from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. According to its Web site, The Gathering Place always welcomes company and takes pleasure in showing visitors around the house and in answering questions. Participants of the organization receive help and support from the staff and

volunteers so that they can deal with everyday life while also loaning support to fellow members. ImPRessions will be working on many projects for The Gathering Place, including an Awareness Walk that took place on Saturday, Nov. 7 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Profits from the walk supported the mentally ill and The Gathering Place itself. A Spring Gala will take place May 15, 2010, and the ImPRessions team is already hard at work brainstorming ideas.

The Humane Society works to save puppies The Humane Society account is off to a tremendous start this year. With many events planned, they hope to raise both funds and awareness for the Athens County Humane Society. The Athens County Humane Society works tirelessly to save animals and to find them permanent homes, and account members worked just as hard to raise awareness for this organization. The group began with a bake sale that occurred on Oct. 24 at Baker Center with the hopes of raising funds for the Humane Society. Account members also kicked off Puppy Mill Awareness Week, which began on Oct. 25, with several events to raise general awareness. On Oct. 26 and 27, individuals met at college gate and handed out snack bags that included information about puppy mills and what

Tracie Sandefur

people can do to stop the abuse. The week Society account plans to hold several othculminated in an event held at the Donkey er events throughout the quarter, as well Coffee and Espresso, featuring open mic as throughout the rest of the year. night performances and short speeches given by account members to raise awareness for the cause. Throughout the evening, donations were encouraged, and the money raised went to the Athens County Humane Society. Many individuals are unaware of the tragedies that occur at puppy mills, and this account worked diligently to raise awareness for A dog from the Athens County Humane Society smiles at the this cause. The Humane camera while ImPRessions distributes fliers at College Gate.

Bob Evans plans to explore new tactics Fall quarter was filled with plenty of planning for the Bob Evans account. The account members are gearing up for a busy winter quarter filled with events and promotions. The national client, who first started working with ImPRessions last year, wishes to gain insight into a younger target demographic: college students. “Last year’s account focused on Bob Evans using social media, in particular getting on Facebook and Twitter,” said Senior Amanda Leeman, account executive for Bob Evans for both this year and

Nina Bressau

last year. “This year we’re exploring new tactics to reach a younger audience.” The Bob Evans account is looking forward to the many rewarding experiences working with a national client can offer while exploring new tactics to reach a college demographic. “By working with ImPRessions, Bob Evans marketing can gain insight into this demographic and take our successful initiatives restaurant wide,” said Leeman. One of the tactics that they have been working on so far includes creating

Samantha Browning a Youtube video contest for this winter. College students will be able to develop their own commercials for new Bob Evans items, post them on Youtube and have the opportunity of winning a scholarship. The account also wishes to improve the Friends, Family and Fundraising nights that were created last year. “Working with the staff of the Bob Evans marketing department has been an incredible experience,” said Leeman. “Bob Evans has been extremely welcoming and open to our ideas.”

This edition of ExPRessions has been edited by Samantha Browning, Andrea Teggart and Meghan Tinker 4