Public Relations and Advertising Commons^™

Seaworld And The Blackfish: The Lack Of Two-Way Symmetrical Communication And Finding The Correct Message, Ashley Pierce

Journalism

This study explores how two-way symmetrical communication could help SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment rebuild their reputation and take back their brand after attacks from animal rights groups following the release of the documentary Blackfish. The study analyzes SeaWorld’s previous and current public relations campaigns, how effective they’ve been and if utilization of the two-way symmetrical communication model could benefit the company. In the past a documentary like Blackfish would have caused backlash towards SeaWorld only from the few who saw it in theatres, but today everything ends up on the internet and remains there, circulating outrage and criticism to new …

The Dove Real Beauty Campaign: How Does It Wash, Jessica Dieny

Journalism

This study analyzes the Dove Real Beauty Campaign including branding successes and failures, corporate responsibilities, and the evolution of the brand development and management through a two-way symmetrical model. It analyzes the DRBC from a marketing and public relations perspective as well as a women’s and gender studies perspective. Dove’s Real Beauty Campaign sprung from the idea that all women are beautiful and it sought to change the status quo by showing the natural physical variation embodied by all women and inspire a broader, healthier, more democratic view of beauty. As the power of the Dove Real Beauty initiative appears …

Public Relations In Town-Gown Communities: Improving And Creating A Beneficial Relationship Between The College And Its' Community, Taylor Crump

Journalism

This study demonstrates the importance and best practices associated with building two-way symmetrical communication and a democratic partnership between a university and its’ city and community. It analyzes the current relationship between Cal Coast College and Central Coast City. With the United States in constant competition with those around the globe in regards to innovation and technology, it has become increasingly important to that universities and their communities work together to not only build mutually beneficial relationships in their communities, but ones that will prepare its’ students to be leaders and influential community members. This study investigates the current strains, …

The Strategies And Tactics Used To Create A Successful Personal Brand: The Implications For Career Development In Public Relations, Jane Redmond

Journalism

With the technology and access to information that is available in today’s day and age, people are learning to become more cautious in how they are presenting themselves. In a professional sense, it is important that people are aware of the image they portray and that they are doing so in a consistent manner. Professionals can do this by defining their own personal brand in order to benefit their career and demonstrate who they are as an individual in a consistent manner. This project will study how one can be effective in creating their own personal brand and what strategies …

Social Media And Celebrities: The Benefits Of A Social Media Presence, Kristin Wright

Journalism

This study analyzes celebrities and their social media presence and how they can benefit from using different social platforms. The rise of social media has caused people to rely on it for news, viewing content, and making connections with others. Celebrities no longer have to relay messages or content through their managers and publicists before releasing it. The way people interact through social media has allowed celebrities to engage their fans, enhance their career, and ultimately increase their stardom. This study investigates how social media impacts a celebrity’s career and what the best practices are for receiving positive benefits.

Late Night Comedy And Its Effect On The Public’S Political Opinion, Emily Kucera

Journalism

This study investigates the relationship between late night humor and the public’s political opinion. This study looks closely at how humor affects audience learning, how late night humor affects the public’s political awareness, whether or not late night humor is ethical, how late night humor is protected, how late night humor has evolved in regards to its political focus, and if late night humor has created political change.

Late night humor is increasingly focusing on politics. Many people turn to late night humor as a source of news, although late night humor is not considered a news source. This study …

The Use Of Experiential Marketing In The Wine Industry Of Paso Robles Wine Country To Build Brand And Educate Wine Buyers, Caitlin Moore

Journalism

The Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance hosted a buyer’s retreat November 2-4, 2014. The buyer’s retreat consisted of business/restaurant owners coming to Paso Robles for three days of seminars, tastings, tours, etc. about the wine industry in Paso Robles. The hope from this retreat was that the guests would end up buying Paso Robles wine, ultimately helping to brand the wine industry of Paso Robles.

Ocbf Fundraising Handbook, Clare Devlin

Communication Studies

This project was created to help the Orange County Bar Foundation, a non-profit organization, enhance its communication with its stakeholders. Task messages in a handbook give instructions stipulating how the Foundation staff could be more persuasive at the Foundation's annual golf tournament, and get more golfers to enter their sweepstake. The handbook is informed by persuasion theories such as the door-in-the-face theory, reciprocity theory, and supply and demand theory.

Social Media Marketing For The Medical Industry: Best Practices To Avoid Legal And Ethical Issues, Jessica Padilla

Journalism

This study analyzes the best social media practices for medical industry professionals and the proper and ideal uses for social media. It analyzes the public relations functions of social media—relationship building, reputation management, and crisis communication. With the constant rise of social media as a widely-used medium for marketing comes increased potential for damage to a medical business’ reputation, loss of medical licensing, or lawsuits if practitioners do not act within the lines of legal and ethical standards. Medical offices must have an online presence to remain relevant and build and keep relationships with new and current patients. This study …

Cal Poly Open House: An Application Of Communication Principles, Jillian Syftestad

Communication Studies

No abstract provided.

How Can An Outdoor Company’S Public Relations Campaign Be Taken From The Local To National Level?, Devon Swanson

Journalism

The following study researches the most effective way for the outdoor startup company, Summit Outdoor Supply (S.O.S.), to take an already established local public relations campaign to the national level. This study will investigate what factors have helped other campaigns succeed for outdoor companies and what changes should be made to see S.O.S. reach that success. My goal for this project is to educate outdoor companies on how to use the most effective communication channels to reach their target audiences. The data, to support these recommendations, will come from my own experience working with a startup company paired with the …

How Not To Get Lost In The Shuffle: Producing The Most Effective And Eye-Catching Press Release, Erica Derrico

Journalism

The following study investigates how to produce the most effective and eye-catching press release on a national level for Summit Outdoor Supply (S.O.S). Winter quarter of 2014, my partner and I worked on a local campaign for S.O.S., using traditional text-based press releases to get media coverage. Although we did see some success with the traditional press release, there were often times our releases would get lost in the shuffle of the many releases that media outlets received each day. My goal with this project is to learn how to produce a press release that will get noticed out of …

Blogging In The Fashion Industry: A Descriptive Study Of The Use Of The Two-Step Flow Communications Theory By Professional And Citizen Bloggers To Become Opinion Leaders, Mia Alexandra Mendola

Journalism

This study analyzes the differences between professional and citizen bloggers in the fashion industry, and their use of the two-step flow communications theory and certain tactics to become opinion leaders in the industry. With the rise of blogging as a popular medium for consumption of fashion news, thousands of bloggers have begun blogs hoping to become part of the fashion industry. With this rise comes bloggers with different levels of expertise and experience. With this comes a blurring of lines between a professional blogger with credible knowledge of the fashion industry, and a citizen blogger with no formal training or …

A Study Of The Effect Of Product Placement In Television Shows And Its Influence On Consumer Behavior, Danielle Patton

Communication Studies

This study investigated the use of product placement in television shows as a catalyst for product purchasing behavior. It was hypothesized that television viewers would be more likely to purchase a product seen through a product placement in a television show than in a commercial advertisement. Furthermore, it was also hypothesized that viewers would be more influenced to buy a product if they saw a favored television character interacting or promoting the product. These hypotheses were tested by running a bivariate correlation to determine the correlation between television viewing and purchasing habits, a paired sample t-test to determine whether there …

The Changing Format For Delivering An Effective Message Using Video And Multimedia In Education, Instruction, And Various Forms Of Communications: A Descriptive Analysis Using Public Relations Theory, Rachael Leigh Burnham

Journalism

ABSTRACT

Given the evolving nature of the forms of mass media in communication, it is imperative to stay up-to-date with the changes that occur in developing platforms of technology, as well as how these advancements are effecting new generations of learners and communicators. Generation Y students have developed a spectrum of learning styles and preferences due to their deep rooted connection to technology that has caused a conflict in learning with traditional, written instruction and communication. No longer do students just want to either read or listen, and video or multimedia platforms can provide them with the resources they may …

New Media Business Models, Where Content And Commerce Collide: Strategies And Ethical Considerations For Success In A New Media World, Aryn Bea Sanderson

Journalism

Media practitioners are finding themselves at a crossroads. Due to increasing digitalization and decreasing funding for so-called traditional outlets, “new media” forms have emerged and, with those, new economic models to generate revenue. New media platforms diverge from old media archetypes in the way they utilize the interaction of content and commerce. The collision of content and commerce is both a novel idea for media sustainability and treacherous water for its credibility. This study analyzes a few key new media economic platforms - sponsored content in a digital-first publication, crowd funding stories and a ranked, e-commerce model - in hopes …

Promotion And Visibility For The Online Rebirth Of Moebius, Amanda Gonzalez

Communication Studies

An application-based senior project involving the promotion and visibility of Moebius, the College of Liberal Arts' online scholarly journal. The purpose of this project was to effectively plan and execute a public relations campaign to raise awareness of Moebius to the Cal Poly community, as well as to promote the launch of its website, aiding in the successful transition from print to web.

The Promotion & Visibility team consisted of Communication Studies Seniors Amanda Gonzalez and Lily Gonzalez (both of which using the campaign as a senior project), and Corrina Powell, sophomore Graphic Communication major.

The entire Cal Poly …

A Quantitative Survey: Are Twitter Advertisements Effective For College Students?, Christia J. Brockman

Communication Studies

Social Media websites are rapidly being overrun by advertisements, but is this blitz of advertising destroying the social media experience? Twitter, one of today’s most popular social media sites, increased its revenues from $45,000,000 in 2010 to $259 million in 2013. This exponential growth is surprising given the large portion of Twitter users who are between the ages of 18 to 25 with lower annual incomes. In analyzing whether advertising on Twitter is effective on college students, statistical results from a survey conducted among college students at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, reveal that Tweeters in this sample …

From "Say Yes To The Dress," To Pinterest: How Agenda Setting Is Used In The Wedding Industry, Katie Schultz

Journalism

This study investigates how agenda setting is used in the wedding industry with social media and entertainment. While social media is relatively still new, the wedding industry has been changed drastically due to social networking. With sites like Pinterest, trends have become more apparent and brides are following them. Agenda setting has been used in both social media and in entertainment television shows such as, “Say Yes to the Dress,” “Bridezilla,” etc. The following study looks at current literature as well as interviews of experts in the wedding industry. ii

Agricultural Communication Lesson Plans For The Agricultural Leadership Class At Elk Grove High School, Chelsea Molina

Agricultural Education and Communication

The purpose of this project was to develop agricultural communication lesson plans for Elk Grove High School’s Agricultural Leadership class. The lesson plans were created after the research of the existing California Agricultural Education and Agricultural Leadership Curriculum standards. The lesson plans were then based off of the FFA Agricultural Communications Career Development Event (CDE) guidelines in order to grasp many of the important details of the CDE. The CDE is offered at the national level but not yet at the state level in California. Providing lesson plans that coincide with the requirements of the CDE will help California FFA …

The Best Social Media Practices For An Individual Franchisee In The Restaurant Industry, Stephanie Francesca Ronca

Journalism

No abstract provided.

Building Collaboration Within The Quarter Horse Community: The Obstacles And Hurdles, Allison Grayson

Journalism

The following study investigates how to increase collaboration within the Quarter Horse community through Twitter. Twitter is increasingly one of the top social media tools for many organizations, including organizations within the Quarter Horse community. Twitter is an important tool in creating a dialogue between community members, and the organizations to which they are members. Research shows, “Users believe that using Twitter can improve their performance or their ability to achieve specific goals and, thus, they are more extrinsically motivated to continue to use it” (Agrifoglio, Black, Ferrara & Metallo, 2012, p. 38). That being said, it is important that …

Misconceptions In Agriculture: The Role Of Public Relations To Communicate With And Educate The Public, Kimberly Taylor

Journalism

The following study aims to investigate the misconceptions in agricultural communications, why they exist, and what communicators can be doing to further the development, management and assessment of agricultural communication messaging. Agricultural issues are a source of media attention, from policy changes like Proposition 2 or Proposition 37 in California, to commercials such as the Dodge RAM Super Bowl spot in 2013. By studying what professionals are currently doing in the fields of public relations, marketing, and agricultural communications to reach and educate the consumers, it becomes clear the strategies that should be taken when presenting key messaging. This study …

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Campaign 2012 And Beyond: Awareness And Participation For Behavioral Change, Ebony Chetto

Journalism

The following study investigates how to develop and maintain a health outreach program in order to make a behavior change in participating in the breast cancer movement. The number of women becoming affected by breast cancer is increasingly growing, and the students who developed the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Campaign saw the need to raise awareness of this disease on campus and in the community. The campaign’s focus was to create and publicize an outreach event called Rock the Tatas, a fundraising concert to support the fight against breast cancer. With scholarly research, the design of the campaign attempts …

The Value Of Public Relations: Measuring The Success Of Facebook, Twitter, And Youtube In Corporate Companies, Justine Gananian

Journalism

This paper is a combination of research and data from three experts who were interviewed about the value of social in a corporate company, specifically Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Social media’s presence has increased at an exponential pace in the past five years, and consumers are constantly looking to access new information. It has become a useful tool for both internal and external communication within a company. As research shows, “[companies] are revamping and modernizing their print publications, starting radio and video shows, using social media to foster two-way communication, using the new multimedia tools to reach new audiences, telling …

Friends Of Hearst Castle: Creating A Social Media Plan Using Public Relations Strategies For A Nonprofit, Amy Jean Checho

Journalism

Nonprofits, like Friends of Hearst Castle, understand the importance of social media use such as Facebook. However, many times Facebook messages are inconsistent and the multiple channels of social media are overwhelming. A Social Media Strategy or Plan can help nonprofits communicate their goals effectively and efficiently, with more success than before. This project discusses the best ways nonprofits can maximize their Facebook usage. Facebook is an easy way for nonprofits to communicate with their target audiences and have consistent communication. Friends of Hearst Castle was the nonprofit I worked with to help create and implement a Social Media Plan. …

Flavor Of Slo 2012: An Application Of Communication Principles In Event Planning, Allison Sasscer

Communication Studies

Flavor of SLO is a fundraising event put on by Cal Poly students to raises thousands of dollars to benefit the local non-profit United Way. In the almost year long process of planning and implementing the event, the basics of small group, persuasion, and organizational communication played a part of the shaping and execution of the event. This paper recounts how various aspects of the communication discipline played a part in making the event successful and how it contributed to achieving the goals of improving education, income and health for San Luis Obispo County.

Flavor Of Slo 2012: Applying Concepts From The Communication Discipline To The Marketing And Execution Of A Local Event, Courtney Keiko Ai Hua Wen

Communication Studies

No abstract provided.

Getting On The Bus: Marketing San Luis Obispo's Regional Transit Authority, Jenna Higgins

Master's Theses

A new trend is emerging, seeking to recognize the benefits of and encourage the use of public transportation. In the past, public transit agencies have not directed much energy or focus at marketing, seeking to use limited funds elsewhere. “The common perception is that money spent on marketing would be better spent on transit systems themselves…over time, a sustained investment in marketing increases the number of people who use transit. Increased ridership leads to increased revenue, and ideally, an increase in service to match the new demand” (Arpi, 2009).

Even as marketing gains importance in the public transit world, questions …

'Moebius': Groundwork For Promotion & Visibility, Kanika Laroia

Communication Studies

A record of the planning process for the transition of Moebius, the College of Liberal Arts literary journal, from a publication to an online website. Includes materials for future public relations and outreach efforts by the Moebius team.