Public Relations Case Study:

Campus Crest Group with a focus on The Groves Media and Community Relations.
Author: Brock C. Birden Jr.
Faculty Sponsor: Allison R. Peiritsch

Abstract:
This case study examines the community relations efforts of Campus Crest and how it
uses media and community relations. The project gives a background of how the company and
their community relations programs were developed. This case study also compares and
contrasts with Preiss Company and their University Village of Slippery Rock property. Finally
the project concludes with suggestions, and overview of the use of the PRSA codes of ethics
within Campus Crest.
There are multiple aspects that make Campus Crest an overall good corporate citizen.
Campus Crest is one of the leading companies with vision to change student housing as we know
it today.
However there are many strategies and tactics that Campus Crest can utilize more to make the
company better. If there were more news releases, press releases, and a campaign put in place
that would connect their properties in a way that without a doubt would set them out from the
rest. With their accomplishments and movement to start giving back to make the world better
there is no doubt in my mind that Campus will keep dominating the college housing industry.
Introduction
One of the biggest parts of a college career is off campus housing. Once college students
have spent a year or two on campus and they are ready to gain their independence, they look to
move off campus with the best friends that they have made for the past couple of years. In this
article I will take a deeper look into an off campus housing company and how they work in two
specific areas of public relations.
In 2004 Campus Crest developed student housing communities with the vision to create
vertically-integrated platforms that could develop the best student housing properties in the

world. Campus Crest focuses on building relationships, giving back, and living sustainably
through their two brands The Grove and Copper Beech. Founder and CEO Ted Rollins and Mike
Hartnett partnered and found Campus Crest Group in April of 2004. Five months later they broke
ground on their first property in Asheville, NC. (campuscrest.com)
When Ted Rollins and Mike Harnett found Campus Crest Group they each contributed
$7,000 each to kick start their vision. In September the first property opened, later that year
Campus Crest opened its first office in Asheville. In 2005 Campus Crest switch gears and
launched a real estate management company and focused on the unique lifestyle. A year later
Campus Crest moved the office to Charlotte, NC. Fast Forwarding a few years, after 24
properties in ten states, Campus Crest became publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange
(NYSE:CCG) with an initial public offering of $380 million. (campuscrest.com)
This article is structured into five sections. This article offers an understanding of
Campus Crest Group and how they use media and community relations. How they can be
compared to a Preiss Company student housing. How Campus Crest uses ethics along with
PRSA code of conduct and my campaign recommendation that will assist Campus Crest in
standing out from the rest.
This article will help us better understand media relations and community relations in
modern day student housing. This article should appeal to scholars, students, management of
student housing, future and current investors of student housing.
Media Relations
Campus Crest succeeds through their media relations and specifically with their corporate
office website and the branch sites for The Groves (gogrove.com). Focusing on the grove, some
of the social media platforms that they use include, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and some sites

have even ventured out to snapchat. Each grove location runs its very own social media
platforms.
According to mashables.com social media is the process of gaining website traffic and
attention through social media sites. All of these platforms are easily accessible on the grove
website, which helps build good connections with consumers. In a housing industry like this, its
a close battle with limited number of students each year, and accessibility could be the winning
factor when a student needs fast answers for a deciding factor.
Unlike the social media, the go grove website is corporate run and operated. This helps
with the brand itself. Meagan Reed, General Manager for The Grove Slippery Rock explains, I
believe that campus crest brands themselves very well, no matter where you are in the United
States you will recognize The Grove. I believe that Campus Crest succeeds in brand awareness.
Each Grove site is set on the same values and beliefs. They even look the same, how's that for
brand awareness?
Community Relations
Corporate social responsibility is a process with the aim to embrace responsibility for the
company's actions and encourage a positive impact through its activities on the environment,
consumers, employees, communities, stakeholders and all other members of the public sphere
who may also be considered stakeholders according to Wikipedia.
Campus Crest has dabbled into the CSR for their company in two different ways. One
event is targeted to the community and the other one is geared towards employees and other
insiders, with the help of the residents at Grove locations.
To start off the first community relations program is called Gobbler Giveaway. In 2014 it
has hit its tenth annual mark for the community relations practice. Campus Crest partners with

over 13 charities and faith based organizations to give over 2,000 turkeys away to families in
need during the holiday season. In 2011 Campus Crest gave away 600 turkeys and by 2012 they
gave away 1,900 turkeys, they also decided to enlist in the help of three different businesses to
help with the success of this event. The companies include Fortegra Financial Corporation, Onyx
Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Brandywine Realty Trust. Campus Crest has steadily ramped up its
efforts to grow the initiative, resulting in the donation of approximately 4,000 turkeys to
residents in communities where the company owns and operates student housing properties.
(businesswire.com)
Ted Rollins stated in business wire article, As we continue to grow, our focus remains
on implementing new and existing initiatives that allow us to give back to the residents that have
welcomed us into their communities. Our annual Gobbler Giveaway continues to be one of our
most successful community events and we are pleased to have respected companies join us in
our efforts to feed families in need this holiday season. (businesswire.com)
The second and largest community relations effort by Campus Crest is their NEXT
initiative. This initiative is Campus Crest bold commitment to a business philosophy that
balances economic success with social and environmental stewardship. This one is a little
different because its not a specific event but its a lifestyle initiative to better the company and
the world. There are four different parts to the NEXT initiative including balanced living, operate
responsibly, serving communities, and building innovation.
Balanced Living
Balanced living for Campus Crest means taking care of our bodies, minds and spirits
while taking care of the planet too. Campus Crest focuses this on educating their employees and
residents to lead a healthy and sustainable life. Included in The Grove communities are on-site

fitness centers with a swimming pool that can be used for intense or moderate exercise. using
green products for cleaning purposes, or even winning the recyclpalooza. Recyclpalooza is the
companies benefit to reduce waste in landfills, teach residents about proper electronic disposal
methods, and the knowledge that recycling saves energy and conserves virgin materials.
Operate Responsibly
Operate responsibly focuses on making the wise choice to purchase and maintain
products that reduce waste and toxins. This is an effort for The Grove locations where they track
consumption through a baseline tracking system of energy and water across their portfolio. This
provides them with data to better monitor our environmental footprints. Campus Crest works to
ensure that all properties are pretty, fun, full, profitable, and sustainable. Campus Crest decided
that they wanted to take part in this initiative by giving away eco-friendly products to their
residents including 15,321 reusable bags and 15,420 tumblers.
Serving Communities
Through Campus Crest serving communities they believe that they have to do more than
just increase their environmental impact but becoming good social stewards. They want to
impact protect the environment where their properties exist. Giving back is an important piece of
doing well by doing well. Campus Crest works in partnership and supports multiple charities
including, American Red Cross, Make A Wish, Habitat for Humanity, Special Olympics, and
Relay for Life, to name a few of the bigger ones. They also branch out and help local charities in
the communities where their locations are including Carter Blood Drive, St, Mary's Food Bank,
Godtel, and Jump for Jude.
Building Innovation

Sustainability is built from the ground up at Campus Crest properties. They are
committed to improving the design of their properties moving forward. They have a vision to
make their properties to be built for optimal health, comfort, efficiency and safety. Campus Crest
has installed solar panels at select properties, and they have a vision to add more into their
properties as the years progress.
All of Campus Crest community relations efforts demonstrate the definition of the
following proven maxims, Degree of clarity, simplicity, and symbolism has a direct and
measurable effect on message acceptance (Pearson education). The programs have clear and
simple messages listed on Campus Crest website and their own individual Grove websites. There
is one section specifically on the website where it shows the NEXT initiative when you click on
and it gives you a brief description as to why they perform the initiative and how they expect
their properties and the company as a whole to benefit from it. Campus Crest also succeeds in
this proven maxim because under each of the initiatives they have a pdf printable version that list
everything that helps each initiative succeed, the pictures they have with diagrams helps make it
simple and easy to read and understand.
Comparison
I chose to compare Campus Crest to Preiss Company. The main reason why I chose
Priess is because they recently bought a property in Slippery Rock, Pa called University Village
in Slippery Rock. The University Village was one of the hottest places to live in Slippery Rock
until The Grove moved into the town.
Preiss Company was founded in 1987 by Donna Preiss, The Preiss Company is an
industry leader in the sales and development of investment properties. They are proud to be the
fourth largest privately-held provider of off-campus housing in the nation and the largest

woman-owned owner and operator of private student housing. Their comprehensive portfolio
comprises over 16,000 beds in ten states and 14 markets. (tpco.com)
The University Village was known for their annual block party, their tier system, along
with the events that they put on for their residents. The property offers two-bedroom, twobathroom and four-bedroom, four-bathroom units. All units are equipped with stainless steel
appliances, brushed nickel fixtures, leather furniture, and hardwood cabinetry. (tpco.com)
It wasn't until The Grove came into Slippery Rock that University Village decided to
become pet friendly, change and upgrade the layout of their club house and also install a heated
pool. I think this shows that The Grove is really leading the student housing industry.
However when it comes down to comparing the companies, Campus Crest and The
Grove properties surpassed Preiss Company success. For specifics I compared Campus Crest and
the Groves Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to Priess and the University Village Facebook,
Twitter, and Instagram. Priess has been around since 1897 and has 453 likes on Facebook and
432 tweets, following 296 accounts and 193 followers. Campus Crest starting in 2004 has 204
likes on Facebook and 140 tweets, following 21 accounts, and 230 followers. I thought this was
surprising because since Campus Crest is a new company in comparison to Preiss, Campus Crest
seems to be keeping up to almost surpassing the numbers in social platforms. When looking at
The Grove and University Village Slippery Rock it was a little more realistic to me because these
two properties market to the same students at Slippery Rock University. University Village has
been in Slippery Rock for two and a half years and has 418 likes on Facebook, 1868 tweets,
following 1858 accounts, and 1442 followers, with Instagram they have 114 photos posted, 368
followers, and they are following 481 accounts. The Grove has been in Slippery Rock for 7
month and is in their pre-leasing stages (this means that they are not operational and are still in

the process of being built). They have 481 likes on Facebook, 901 tweets, and following 1051
accounts with 696 accounts following them. On Instagram they have 220 posted photos,
following 304 accounts with 263 accounts following them.
PRSA Code of Ethics
The PRSA website strives and focuses on six main codes of ethics to make their practices
and everything do ethically appropriate (prsa.org/codeofethics). These six codes are advocacy,
honesty, expertise, independence, loyalty and fairness. Campus Crest practices specifically with
their NEXT initiative and community relations programs incorporating the expertise, loyalty and
fairness ethics over the other three.
Through Campus Crest community relations programs the main purpose for all of the
programs is to build relationships and strive for more while showing credible details to all of the
rules and regulations of each program. By doing this Campus Crest succeeds in the expertise
code of ethics.
Campus Crest also succeeds in incorporating the loyalty code of ethic by serving the
public and community with trustworthy information on why they give back in the seasonal
Gobble Giveaway. They also show loyalty with their serving communities to make sure that they
are striving to serve the communities that their properties are in, by using and educating on ecofriendly products.
The last code of ethic Campus Crest incorporates in their practices is fairness. In their
efforts to brand themselves each property is the same, and offer the same amenities and products
for each resident no matter the location, this helps build credibility in their company and brand.
Suggestions

Overall I am very impressed with Campus Crest. I have heard about the company in the
past for their glory days during the time of move in, during my college career but I never fully
understood the company and how they could be different than any other company. By doing this
project it has helped me understand the importance of this company as a whole. Their
community relations program they have is incredible with the vivid focus on NEXT initiative. I
personally think they execute the proven maxim, Subsequent events that reinforce the original
stimulus for opinion or behavior change will tend to increase the degree and durability of the
change (Pearson education). The reason why I think this is because everything that happens
with all of their properties has a specific purpose.
The biggest suggestion I have for Campus Crest is to provide more press and news
releases. Campus Crest has multiple releases but they do not really focus on the charities that
they support, under their serving communities they list the charities that they support but there is
not any more information on how they have supported these charities.
The second and last suggestion I have for Campus Crest is to look into a buddy campus
system, if you are a resident at a Grove location and want to travel for spring break or just get
away for the weekend; campus crest will make that transition a little bit easier. They want to
stand out from the rest and this will help them because all college students wants to travel and if
Campus Crest has an operational location that is not at a 100% occupancy, students can go and
visit that location for a small fee and be closer to the town where they want to be at a NFL
football game or just catch some sun rays and get out of the cold. This is could be the last selling
feature that would make a student choose The Grove when every college campus has multiple
competitors.
Conclusion

This article has offered the understanding of Campus Crest Group and how they use
media relations for branding and community relations in efforts to make the environment a more
sustainable place to live starting with each of their properties. How they can be compared to a
Preiss Company student housing through social media platforms. How Campus Crest uses ethics
along with PRSA code of conduct and my recommendation that will assist Campus Crest in
standing out from the rest.
This article has help us better understand media relations and community relations in modern day
student housing.

Bibliography:

Pearson Education Inc. The Purposes of Public Relations. Upper Saddle River, NJ. 4 May
2014.
Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Member Code of Ethics. PRSA. 2013. Web. 4 May,
2014.
"About." Campus Crest. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 May 2014.
"Campus Crest Communities Announces Seventh Consecutive Turkey Giveaway." Campus Crest.
N.p., n.d. Web. 04 May 2014.
"Fully Loaded College Living." The Grove Slippery Rock Home Comments. N.p., n.d. Web.
04 May 2014.
"Preiss Company Student Housing Experts." Preiss Company Student Housing Experts. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 04 May 2014.
"Social Media Marketing." Mashable. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 May 2014.