Public Relations and Advertising Commons^™

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 …

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 …

Parasocial Relationship Via Reality Tv And Social Media: Its Implications For Celebrity Endorsement, Siyoung Chung, Hichang Cho

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

The purpose of this study was to explore the ways in which audiences build parasocial relationships with media characters via reality TV and social media, and its implications for celebrity endorsement and purchase intentions. Using an online survey, this study collected 401 responses from the Korean Wave fans in Singapore. The results showed that reality TV viewing and SNS use to interact with media characters were positively associated with parasocial relationships between media characters and viewers. Parasocial relationships, in turn, were positively associated with the viewers’ perception of endorser and brand credibility, and purchase intention of the brand endorsed by …

School District Bond Campaigns: Strategies That Ensure Successful Outcomes, Linda L. Florence

Dissertations and Theses

When the polls close and the ballots are counted, the best sound is the roar of ecstatic cheering from delighted but exhausted campaign committee members. A bond campaign takes an inordinate amount of work, but the results are worth the effort when the campaign is managed in a systematic way. Districts can be successful bond recipients when they effectively market their schools to gain the support of their constituents.

Public schools across the U.S. are in dire need of major repairs, remodeling, and rebuilding to meet the educational needs of students. Unfortunately, passing a school bond election is entrusted to …

Using Facebook As A Public Relations Tactic: A Look At How Hospitals Are Engaging With Fans, Lauren Alesha Farabough

Theses and Dissertations

Hospitals are recognizing the need to use social media with Facebook specifically being the most popular medium. This research examines how hospitals are using Facebook as a public relation tactic by looking at 12 hospitals' Facebook pages over four weeks. The research looks at the levels of engagement (likes, comments and shares) on Facebook posts and what types of post are getting the best engagement. This study also looks at posts made by others on the hospitals' Facebook timelines to see what people most posted about and how hospitals responded. All 12 hospitals had different approaches to how they used …

Tensions And Metaphors In Higher Education Fundraising Profession, Jessica Martin Carver

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This research examined the language used by higher education development professionals, specifically similar and dissimilar tropes and how they shape the perception of those development professionals. By studying these linguistic devices, insight is provided into this particular occupation and the effects these devices have on perceptions and interpretation. The findings in this study could help to produce more skilled communicators in the field and could be used as a framework to study other professional positions. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to gather data from twelve participants, and the data was then analyzed through thematic analysis. Findings revealed the types of metaphors …

A Sinking Ship: An Extensive Crisis Communications Case Study Of Carnival Cruise Lines, Amanda Ryann Michelson

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This paper examines the problem that Carnival Cruise Lines (Carnival), a famous cruise ship line for vacationing, continues to endure crisis situations yet fails to take the appropriate actions for rectification.

It is common knowledge within the public relations field that a crisis can make or break the sustainability of a successful organization. It is for this reason that it is necessary for professionals to analyze past events within a company’s history in order to improve its relationships with its stakeholders to keep the business afloat.

This study focuses on three major incidents. The first one involves a fire in …

Find It In Football: An International Marketing Plan For Young Women, Melanie Michelle Holohan

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

What follows are multiple components of a creative advertising project. While this work relies heavily on research, it was a very creative process. The premise of this work is an integrated marketing campaign that utilizes my two majors: international relations and advertising, combined with my love for sports. Using primary and secondary research, I found that the benefits that sports have on child development are huge (Humphrey, 2003). I narrowed my sport choice down to soccer and my target down to young women. I wanted to focus on Islamic states because, at least by American standards, Muslim women are often …

Syracuse University Trust Barometer: A Study Of Su Students’ Media Consumption Habits And Trust In News, Jessica Hajjar

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

In order to communicate effectively with a target audience, public relations professionals must understand the news media their intended public consumes and trusts. In recent years, media polls and surveys have shown the trust Americans place in the news media is declining. The purpose of this study is to examine the news media habits of Syracuse University students and the trust students place in news information.

This study is based off responses from 254 Syracuse University students who agreed to participate in a voluntary response survey. The seventeen question survey was designed to examine students’ daily news consumption patterns and …

Public Relations And Promotion In Film: How It’S Done And Why It’S Important, Timothy Cheng

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Films have been huge revenue drivers in the entertainment industry. However, not all films succeed with high profit margins. Success can be contributed to aspects such as the writing, the production quality, or the acting within a film. These aspects contribute to how audiences, critics and media receive a movie. Unfortunately, these aspects typically overshadow one of the most important functions contributing to a film’s success: promotion and public relations.

For my capstone, I researched how films are promoted, branded, and distributed through public relations functions. Research largely relied on secondary research, with primary research added for deeper concepts. After …

Researching Campaign Materials For Ellie Mia Boutique, Mariann Yip

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Before you spend thousands of dollars on a public relations campaign, it is important to test the campaign materials to a sample population to see what their thoughts and opinions are. Using their feedback, you are then able to tailor the information in a more effective way, thus, creating and launching a successful campaign that accomplishes all of your goals and objectives.

Ellie Mia is a fashion boutique located on Marshall Street in Syracuse, N.Y. This capstone project explores the PR branding methods of the store to increase awareness of its existence, to augment store traffic and business and to …

Beaver Professional Public Relations Research Case Study, Francheska Munoz

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

This research study combines public relations and marketing to examine how women think about buying hair products. Using Beaver Professional, a hair care company, as the client, this study incorporates different methods of research to understand what factors affect which products women buy and where they go to buy them. This study also examines how salons think about selling hair products to their customers and where they go to shop or find the products for their salons.

Capstoned: Advertising Research, Account Planning, And The Development Of A Marketing Plan For Recreational Marijuana In Denver, Co, Erica Clapp

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

One of the hottest current issues in the United States among politicians and many other groups of citizens is the legalization of recreational marijuana. This issue has a long history, and it has constantly resurfaced in the media for years. However, the recent attention being given to recreational marijuana legalization is not going to die down anytime soon, for landmark progress has been made in this area. On November 6, 2012, Colorado Amendment 64 was passed, implementing a statewide drug policy for cannabis. Consequently, Colorado has taken a revolutionary step that marks the first electoral decision to legalize marijuana in …

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 …

“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 …

What’S Gender Got To Do With It? How Client Gender Influences Public Relations Practices And Crisis Management Strategies, Tiana Rojas

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Media leads gender stereotyping. Consumers of media internalize messages of gender put forth by the media, thus shaping their attitudes and expectations of gender. This paper focuses on gender and how it influences public relations (PR) practices and crisis management strategies, specifically in entertainment PR. This is a subject that has yet to be explored. Utilizing primary, secondary and quantitative research methods, I hope to answer my research question: how does client gender influence PR strategy? To test my research question, I designed an online survey composed of four common PR crises seen in the entertainment industry among celebrities. The …

Advertising In The Super Bowl: Worth The Cost?, Avi Steinbach

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

The Super Bowl has long been considered an unofficial American holiday. Advertisers look at this day as their Christmas – a day when the audience looks forward to commercials. Because of the immense value that a Super Bowl spot holds, there is an equally high price tag to pay for a spot.

The original question posed in this thesis was: Is a Super Bowl advertisement worth the cost? After diving into countless articles arguing both sides and looking at companies’ successes and failures, it became clear that the wrong question was being asked. Rather than thinking about all companies, the …

Get Schooled: A Visual Social Semiotic Analysis Of Target's Branding Using Instagram, Chelsea Bevins

Masters Theses

With new technology arising, brands must be able to adapt to them. This thesis will break down brand management, using David Aaker's framework, of the Target Corporation to see if they are using modern resource, Instagram effectively. This thesis will also look at how the theory of visual social semiotics, applied to communications, is used to decipher intended meaning. Brand management embodies a company and people are driven by what a brand portrays. People are driven by values, emotions and quality within a brand. People associate products with memories, celebrities, attributes and symbols. Brands are more than just a name. …

Media, Publicity, And Fashion: The Michelle Obama Effect A Content Analysis Of News Around The World, Temitope M. Fancy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study is a content analysis of media content in a 12-month time period in the lives of Jason Wu and Thom Browne, who were the designers of Michelle Obama’s outfit to the second presidential inauguration. In order to discover the increase in awareness and media coverage of these designers due to Michelle Obama’s fashion selection during the second inauguration, which brought about publicity, the researcher compared mentions, tone of stories, and framing of stories concerning these designers 6 months before and after the inauguration. Results indeed gave support to the hypothesis that mentions of these designers increased significantly after …

Identification And The 2013 Hyundai Team Super Bowl Commercial, Jack M. Ghizoni

Celebrating Scholarship & Creativity Day (2011-2017)

The Hyundai-Team commercial was released during the 2013 Super Bowl on February 3^rd, 2013. The theme of this commercial is very team orientated in that, being a part of a team is more than just competing against others but includes the reliability, loyalty, and stability that you get from your teammates. In this commercial, the Hyundai Santa Fe is indeed a part of the team that is insuring these qualities to its owners. Clearly, Hyundai is trying to gather up a team of its own and give the audience a chance to be a part of this magnificent, …

Reflections Magazine - A Promotional Magazine For Reflections Adoption Ministry, Kamryn Reynolds

Senior Honors Theses

For my senior honors thesis I have received permission to present a project along with its scholarly apparatus. I will be displaying ways to apply communications to ministry. The project will be a promotional magazine and informational materials. For the thesis I will include the magazine and a press release. I will be approaching some marketing techniques for a non-profit organization and assessing potential ways to reach the public. Many organizations are doing incredible work to fight social injustice and oftentimes few people understand the issues. I want to show how communication can revitalize ministry and get the word out …

A Qualitative Study Of The Effectiveness Of The University Of Nebraska–Lincoln's Journalism Program For Preparing Students For The Workplace, Sarah Anne Carter Rosenbaum

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Theses

Journalism is changing at a rapid pace with every new technology and tool being released. Within the past year, Twitter’s Vine, Instagram video, and Google Glass are examples of technology that has emerged and journalists have incorporated them into their news coverage. Journalism education is faced with the task of figuring out how to best educate journalists so they are prepared for the current workplace. The balance is sought between teaching traditional journalism skills and knowledge and teaching the ability to use the latest technology. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s College of Journalism and Mass Communications (UNL CoJMC) has made changes …

Adoption Of Social Media Marketing Among Professionals, Liana Moran

Honors College Theses

Social media marketing is the professional use of social media websites such as Facebook for marketing purposes. This thesis project examines the adoption patterns and factors behind the decision to use social media marketing among professionals. The researcher conducted in-depth interviews with business professionals from the real estate rental industry in Statesboro, Georgia, and analyzed the results and implications using thematic analysis. Everett Rogers’ diffusion of innovations theory provides the theoretical framework for the research with social media marketing being the innovation. The participants identified that observability, relative advantage and complexity/simplicity were major factors for adopting social media marketing. The …

Ua51/1 Collections & Connections, Jennifer Wilson

Collections & Connections

Collections & Connections is a bi-annual publication of the Western Kentucky University Libraries featuring the Libraries' events with a view of reaching out to the Libraries supporters in the community. This issue highlights the Kentucky Book Fest, Brian Coutss ALA award winner, Faraway Flix inaugural year.

The Relationship Between Media Consumption And Public Opinion, Using The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act As A Case Study, Taylor Burdick

Political Science Theses and Capstones

In October of 2013, the federal government went into a partial shutdown. The cause of this shutdown was the polarized debate over the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), or Obamacare. The polarization of this policy did not stop at the elite level; the public has been by-and-large divided on the law as well. This division of the public may have been created by the large and diverse coverage over the policy. There are multiple approaches to determine how the media impacts public opinion. I attempt to find what has been the primary influence on the public attitude toward …

News Goes Native: An Examination Of Online Media's Disclosure Practices For Sponsored Content, Joseph Dean Moore

College of Journalism and Mass Communications: Theses

Online news publishers are increasingly using sponsored content that assumes the format of the host site's editorial content. This has led to concern among some in the journalism industry that readers will be unable to distinguish advertising from news editorial. A content analysis and an experiment examined how publishers are formatting sponsored content and how readers are processing disclosure information for sponsored content. The results suggest that current labeling and disclosure practices may be inadequate in alerting readers to the commercial nature of sponsored content.

Adviser: Ming Wang

Selling Life To Abortion-Seekers: A Content Analysis Of Passive And Active Persuasion In Crisis Pregnancy Center Marketing, Alexander Kocman

Masters Theses

For supporters of the pro-life cause, crisis pregnancy centers (or CPC's) have become the "darlings of the movement," according to the New York Times (Belluck, 2013), offering women with unplanned pregnancies free advice, information, classes, childcare, and needed supplies. For abortion advocates, such establishments are intended to seduce vulnerable abortion-seekers into a situation where they will be counseled out of an abortion and possibly even proselytized. Yet for as much controversy as exists in the news media, medical community, and legal realm about CPC's, there is an unsettling lack of understanding of how--and why--CPC's market themselves the way they do. …

Like, Retweet, Repeat: Social Media's Impact On Real Estate Marketing, Emily Kendall

Masters Theses

With the advent of Facebook and Twitter, people from all walks of life in all parts of the world have the ability to connect electronically, impersonally, and constantly. Small businesses are just beginning to unlock the power of social media marketing, specifically real estate professionals. Shelly Chaiken created the Heuristic Systematic Model of persuasion, the descendant of the Elaboration Likelihood Model. This study applies the tenets of Chaiken's HSM to the methods of persuasion employed by real estate agents via Facebook and Twitter. Fifty participants were surveyed by the researcher in order to gauge their activity, interest level, and motivation …

Canadian Patriotism And The Timbit: A Rhetorical Analysis Of Tim Horton's Inc.'S Canadian Connection Through The Application Of Semiotics, Shelanne Jennings

Masters Theses

This study examines the content of Tim Horton's television advertisements from 1980 to 2014 from a communication perspective. Using Peirce's semiotic theory, this study examines the significations of Canadian culture as they appear within each advertisement for the purpose of establishing the time and extent to which Canadian culture was used over the course of Tim Horton's advertising history. This study finds that Tim Horton's advertisements did not purposefully use Canadian significations during the 1980s to create a connection between their brand and Canadian patriotism. However, after discovering Canadians' natural affinity to the Tim Horton's brand through focus group research …