Public Relations and Advertising Commons^™

The Effectiveness Of The University Of Southern Mississippi's Marketing And Branding Efforts Among Prospective Students, Amy Clevenger

Honors Theses

With enrollment rates expected to surge over the next decade, the competition

between institutions of higher learning will also increase. Because of this, marketing

material produced by all institutions will need to adjust to become more effective at

establishing brand identity to attract the attention of prospective students. Using Aaker’s

brand identity model as a framework to understand branding methods, this research aims

to identify marketing communication strategies that are more effective in a prospective

student’s decision-making process. The thesis also investigates prospective students’

recall and perception of marketing material produced by USM to determine its overall

effectiveness and differences …

Evolving Crisis Communication In Social Media Era: Analysis Of Tweets And News Stories Of The Manchester Arena Bombing, Allyson R. Staton

Honors Theses

The purpose of this research study was to better understand the evolving crisis communication methods used on traditional media and social media following organizational crises such as the Manchester Arena bombing. The research was primarily conducted by analyzing the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) online article archives and stakeholder Twitter accounts, including @ManchesterArena, @ManCityCouncil, @ArianaGrande and @GMPolice. Tweets under the hashtags #ManchesterBombing, #Manchester, #OneLoveManchester as well as the Manchester Bombing Twitter Moment were also analyzed for crisis communication responses to understand how traditional media and social media were used to communicate with the public following this crisis.

The results of this …

A Content Analysis Of The 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer Viewed As Public Relations Efforts Using The Social Change Model Of Leadership, Hannah J. Hill

Honors Theses

This research used content analysis to examine how significant events within the 1964 Mississippi Freedom Summer that were well documented in journals, news articles and other mediums can be viewed as public relations strategies and tactics using the Social Change Model of Leadership (SCM). This research answers how these events can be explained through the SCM as individual, group, and community values. The SCM has not been associated with public relations strategies and tactics before this research was conducted, however social change is commonly seen in public relations efforts as both SCM and public relations seek to influence publics to …

“No On 26” And @Ms4healthyfams: A Study Of Excellence Theory Public Relations In The Magnolia State, Karelia L. Schmitz

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study is to better understand how public relations campaigns that are designed to influence public policy can incorporate principles from James E. Grunig’s Excellence Theory to improve campaign effectiveness and relevance. In this case study of the Mississippians for Healthy Families campaign in opposition to Mississippi Proposition 26, social media distributed was viewed to analyze its content messages and practices. The study’s research question was designed to understand communication methods used by Mississippians for Healthy Families through the “No on 26” campaign, and the question was examined through a content analysis of materials collected from MS4HealthyFamilies …

Precious Lord, Take My Brand: Consumer Analysis Of Branding Effectiveness Of First Hattiesburg, Kelsey D. Walsh

Honors Theses

This study provides insight into consumer perception of First Hattiesburg’s image strategy, physical space/environment, and personnel/human factors and how they have enticed the community to attend and even become partners at First Hattiesburg. Furthermore, this study provides a unique look at integrated marketing communication (IMC) in a religious organization. Results of this study indicate that First Hattiesburg’s branding style, particularly the consistency of its IMC, contributes significantly to members/attendees’ positive view of the church. Because First Hattiesburg’s branding is so different from most southern Baptist churches and the church is currently experiencing a season of growth, it can be inferred …