Adam Jackson

1-21-16
COMM 335

I-COMM/Soapbox PR Plan
Executive Summary
I-COMM and Soapbox are already well established programs here on campus. The departments of
study that the most closely align with have improved greatly at promoting them and their benefits to
the students already enrolled in the Communications major. What I feel could use some work is the
outreach they perform to all other students on campus who may not yet know what major they wish
to pursue. During the first three years of my schooling here all I thought the Scroll was just a student
newspaper, and I had never heard of Soapbox. My teachers, and fellow students, from other majors I
studied in would joke that Communications as a whole was a pseudo major and wouldnt provide
well enough for a fulfilling life. The purpose of this campaign is to show the truth. The real benefits
of these programs and the study as a whole.

Background
I-COMM and Soapbox are school sanctioned programs that provide real world application for
principles learned in the classroom. Between the two you can find access to print news media (Scroll)
and TV media (Scroll TV). Soapbox functions as an Ad Agency as well as PR firm. They have both
paid employee and student evolvement to better accommodate differing levels of experience.

Situation Analysis
Many students are unsure about what they want to do for their future careers. They hear all kinds of
ideas and suggestions from other students and teachers about what they can or should pursue for a
living. Many students dont all of the many benefits that I-COMM and Soapbox have to offer besides
the Scroll. More students need to know at the start of their time here at BYU-Idaho that these
opportunities exist. There is also a perception that Communications, a major heavily involved in
both of these entities is for less capable students and is a less-than-lucrative career path.
Strengths
Provides hands-on experience for a variety of career paths
Students have the ability to not only be taught, but apply learning through paid positions that
qualify for experience on their resume
Lead by passionate faculty that have many years of experience in their respective fields
Can provide real client interactions for some students making it all the more beneficial
Can be the gateway to employment right after graduation
Weaknesses
Limited position availability (Soapbox)
Students may feel a lack of experience would prohibit them indefinitely from employment
Opportunities
Communications students can be better informed about what these two entities will give them and
encourage more comm. majors to apply or enroll.
Provide greater demand for opportunities to be a part of these organizations which may justify
expansion of each entity
Threats

 Student perception of how financially sound these careers are

Objectives
The main goal is to show students that I-COMM/Soapbox are in fact gateways to meaningful and
sustaining careers
There are two specific goals set to accomplish this:
Increase applications to Soapbox by 15%
Increase I-COMM student enrollment by 25%
Improve public opinion of the communications major as a whole

Audience
The main audience for this campaign will be students that attend school on campus, or students that
are looking to study here. Specifically there are subsets within this generalization with who we will
attempt to communicate specialized messages.
Those subsets are:
New students/freshmen: Many students arrive at school either without a fixed plan to pursue,
or a few tentative ideas. We will inform them not only of a possible major choice, but that
there are a number entities (Soapbox/I-COMM) that more fully prepare them for employment
rather than just classroom teaching.
Students that are looking to change majors. As is common during college years, many
students discover that they are not wanting to continue their initial career choice. Properly
informing of the training and prep that I-COMM and Soapbox can provide may help
undecided students feel that uniting themselves with these organizations will better shape
their future.
Students transferring to BYU-Idaho from other schools. Having a name for these
organizations that other students from other schools would be able to get to know would also
help them in making their decision about whether transferring here would be beneficial.

Strategies
The strategy of this campaign will be to utilize campus resources to deliver two messages:
(1) I-COMM and Soapbox are available for student experience, (2) The potential career paths
available through them and their benefits.
Our three main means of communicating these messages will be the following:
University-student communication systems
Student-student communication systems
Instructor-student communications systems

Tactics
Emails to each new student at the start of the semester containing concise information about the
benefits of I-COMM and Soapbox.
Produce videos that share the experiences of students that used I-COMM/Soapbox to launch
themselves into new career. Success stories can accomplish a great deal of change in the mindset of
students.
Posters and signs could also be placed around campus that have QR codes that when scanned take
the student to a place where they can see the aforementioned video
Specifically tooled emails leading up to midterms and finals. These emails would portray a message
of learning through application and practice rather than cramming for tests and exams.

 Soapbox members could wear #askmeaboutsoapbox t-shirts for the starting two weeks of the
semester. They would become advocates for soapbox. The hashtag would be the way the students
who were interested could find out more information.
I-COMM could have a member of their staff dress up as an old-style news boy passing out the first
edition of the Scroll newspaper, but it would be a special issue that talked more about what Scroll is
and why people should look into it.

Calendar
The timeline for this campaign will be a repeatable schedule per each semester you would choose to
use it.
Two weeks leading up to the start of the semester we focus on reaching out to incoming
freshmen, new transfer students and all others that are about to register for classes and
organizations they want to be a part of. Focusing of informing them of the unique benefits of
each organization.
Midterms/Finals: Students at these key times will often find out just how strong their passion
for their classes really is. Properly timed outreach at these moments can be great times to
show the student body the unique style of learning these entities provide.
First two weeks of the semester: Here we will execute the planned tactics to spread the
message that the career paths that these organizations can open up to students are in fact
meaningful and supportive. There is a sentiment that Communications is the lazy students
choice. We will attack this idea right from the start of the semester.

Budget
To be determined fully later:
Shirts
Posters
Publishing costs of the special edition of the Scroll

Evaluation
A simple random-sample survey would be used to assess students awareness of both entities
and students perception of the communications major as a valid and viable career path.
Measure the increase in student applications to Soapbox
Measure the increase in student enrollment in all other I-COMM programs