Twenty Reynolds School of Journalism students traveled to Dallas during the Super Bowl to launch an integrated marketing communications campaign created for the Air National Guard. The students in the Public Relations Problems class also represented the University of ÁùºÏ±¦µä, Reno, while launching the campaign at a high school in Dallas and working at assigned tasks during Super Bowl Sunday.
"We were thrilled with the campaign by University students to highlight the often overlooked work Air Guard members do in their communities across the United States," said Sgt. Lorenzo Parnell, an Air Guard public affairs officer in Washington, D.C. "We're happy to join the students as they present the idea to an even larger group of people, launch it and share an experience of a lifetime at the Super Bowl."
The campaign encourages high school students to create and upload short videos and ask the public to choose a winner. The video with the most votes will be featured between February and the 2012 Super Bowl in Indianapolis.
The "On Air" communications campaign uses Facebook and other social media to highlight many community activities performed by Air Guard members in communities across the nation while targeting high-school students.
Military officials chose to implement the campaign after traveling to Reno in mid December. The students created the campaign as their last course in the public relations sequence requiring a strategic approach at overcoming communication problems.
The campaign recommends the use of Facebook and other social media to highlight specific work done by members of the Air Guard in communities across the nation. It encourages school-aged students to create short videos and upload them. The campaign also uses traditional forms of communications, including events at high schools in six key cities across America along with incentives including college scholarships. The video with the most votes will be featured before the 2012 Super Bowl in Indianapolis.
"Social media is enabling college students to effectively create campaigns for a national audience," said Todd Felts, assistant professor of public relations and course instructor. "The Air Guard's decision to implement the campaign is proof our students can execute complicated strategies and take the experience into the workforce."
Brandcraft, a Reno marketing and web development company, helped the class design and program a special Facebook tab where videos may be uploaded and votes cast.
