Homecoming 2011

Our lovely flier that I designed from my knowledge learned in PR Pubs on Photoshop! I think for PR it is so important to have a good knowledge of programs like Photoshop, Indesign, etc.

It is such a competitive business world, you want to have every edge possible to make yourself standout. I have had a tough time remembering what all the different tools do, but I am a quick learner and I am so glad I now have this knowledge under my belt. It greatly helped me out with this flier and in other projects too!

First, I made the decision to use colors that weren't our school colors so that our flier would stand out against the others. Then I made our names the focal point and largest writing on the page so that it would stick in the voter's minds. One good decision I made, was adding the site where students could vote. Most of the other candidates did not do this and many people had no idea how to vote. I made the complimentary writing a different color to, again, make our names stick out and to compliment the background color.

Even though we didn't win, I got many compliments on our flier and I think that it greatly helped out our campaign.

Homecoming Crowns

Ok so believe it or not I am running for Homecoming Queen this year at ETSU with Hunter Smith. I have found that there is nothing but PR when it comes to campaigns. I have tried to think of many different ways to make Hunter and I stand out from the rest. I found a really awesome website called xtranormal.com where I was able to make a video for the campaign. I was able to write the script, pick the characters, pick the setting, and pick their gestures. I thought this was just a really cool opportunity and people love videos.

Katie Garren & Hunter Smith Homecoming King & Queen
by: zkkhg2

Also, facebook is a huge benefit for a campaign You can create as many status changes, pages, groups, etc. and send it to anyone. I created a page for Hunter and I and an event as well. For our event page, have invited everyone from ETSU and we plan on sending a link out to vote.http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=262933387077765#!/event.php?=eid262933387077765

For our group we decided to invite everyone at ETSU, friends, and family as more of a support page. This is where we have posted out bios, pictures, and other campaign materials.http://www.facebook.com/pages/Katie-Garren-and-Hunter-Smith-ETSU-Homecoming-King-and-Queen/289920947703750?notif_t=page-new-likes

I designed our flier on photoshop using the knowledge I have gained from my PR Pubs class. I used fall tones to showcase the time of year and made our name very bold and noticable!

You can vot for us, Katie Garren and Hunter Smith for Homecoming King and Queen by going to the ETSU website. We would really appreciate it!

Good PR For A Scare

Ok so I know that I already wrote about the Fender's Farm maze in my last blog post, but I found a really great PR tool that they are using that I had not noticed before. They took really scary video footage of their maze and uploaded it on Youtube. Youtube is such an awesome tool because it is free and it is seen by people all over the world. The video they made is really creepy and it continually promotes their website and contact information. I think this is so much more effective than a flier because it gives people a visual of what to look forward to and I think it instills excitment.
You can view the Fender's Farm promo video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iqTBszS1C4k

Free Taco To Every American

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/1231447.stm This is a link to the story which I am referring to in this post.

So as a broke college kid, I have made many journeys to the popular fast food chain Taco Bell. A few years ago when the Mir space station was coming back into the Earth's atmosphere, Taco Bell put a huge target in the middle of the ocean and announced that if Mir hit their target, every person in the United Stated would receive a free taco.

I think that this was an absolutely brilliant PR strategy. They put their logo in the middle of the ocean! They received attention from people not just in the U.S., but also in several other countries as well. Also, people love free food, so people would come in for that free taco if it were to happen. However, it would end up making Taco Bell a lot of money because I would say that most people would get their taco and then order other food as well because it usually takes more than one of their tacos to fill a person up. I think this was such a creative idea and it probably wasn't very expensive to do It really got their name and their logo out there to be recognixed by people all over the entire world! Kudos to Taco Bell for "thinking outside the box"!

Picture found at...

http://www2.ljworld.com/photos/2011/mar/22/11708/

Field of Screams Brings Hope

Every year I look forward to going to the Fender's Farm corn maize. They always offer a normal maize and then a haunted maize as well. Every year the owners of Fenders Farm cut a different pattern into the maize. This year, the maize design showcases the Relay for Life American Cancer Society as you can see below. I think this is such a unique and creative PR tool. This is ultimately a giant advertisement that benefits all parties.
Relay for Life is bringing alot of business to the folks at Fender's Farm. They have asked all participants in the 2012 Relay for Life in Johnson City to volunteer their time at the Maize and for donors to come out and support the cause. The maize is benefitting Relay for Life because their name and logo is plowed into a huge field and the cause is getting a percentage of proceeds. The maize also showcases the WQUT 101.5 FM radio station as well. I feel like this is such a creative thing for Fender's Farm to have come up with. It's not something you see everyday. It's festive and it's fun! Visit their website to learn more about what they are doing at www.fendersmaze.com

Photo found at
http://www.fendersmaze.com/

Paperless PR for Homecoming

I am really a big fan of the new sustainability trend that is seems to be growing bigger and bigger. The Student Government Association is trying to promote the green efforts on the ETSU campus by having a "no paper" senate and events. Meaning everything is online so that they can lessen their impact and save paper. The homecoming committee has really tried to be a model in this effort by making all homecoming sign ups and information online.
http://www.etsu.edu/sga/homecoming.aspx
In the past, all of the sign up booklet information has been in a paper booklet form, but I really like the fact that they are complying with this new initiative. I think it so important for the SGA to use events like homecoming for pr and setting an example for the rest of the student body.