For my campaign evaluation, I chose to explore the partnership of Penn State and RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) in light of the recent scandal with Jerry Sandusky. I felt this campaign was relevant and inspiring, and so far they have done a tremendous amount of work to put an end to child sexual abuse. The duo originally had a goal of raising $500,000, and surpassed that amount in less than a month's time. This is an incredible feat. They now have their sights set on $1,000,000 and I feel confident based on their current success that they will definitely be able to pull it off. In my evaluation, I looked at the social media efforts of the collaboration and overall, I was impressed. Both parties (RAINN's Facebook/Twitter pages and the pages for Proud Penn Stater) do an excellent job of posting relevant, interesting topics. They are also not obnoxiously posting dry facts and statistics like many nonprofits do. This is something I can really appreciate as a social media patron. We have learned from our textbooks that collaborations are usually excellent opportunities for cross-promotion of names and this evaluation serves as a prime example. Through the use of social media tactics, merchandise (t-shirts), and being active in the community, this partnership has really taken off and accomplished a lot in a little amount of time.
One main criticism that I had was the lack of engagement on YouTube. As we know, YouTube is the second largest search engine after Google as of recent years. RAINN has a YouTube channel, but it really only features a few public service announcements from years ago with outdated celebrity endorsers. I would encourage the organization to get out in the Penn State community and capture raw footage of students, faculty, alumni, and other Penn State supporters working for the duo's efforts. Since the organization also has experience with public service announcements, it might also be nice to issue a new television campaign with prominent Penn State figures or a new set of celebrity endorsers relevant to the cause. Online presence is great, but we need to remember that there are still those individuals out there whose main means of obtaining information does not involve the internet or social media.
More information about RAINN and its efforts with Penn State can be found here.
Overall, I really enjoyed taking COMM 456. It was great to be involved in class projects that allowed me to be actively engaged in public relations, the career I wish to pursue. I think that I learned a wealth of information from Claiborne and the class projects and discussions that will aid me in my endeavors after college. I will be taking Stakeholder COMM in the Spring which is another PR class taught by Claiborne and I am excited to see what tasks are in store!
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