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Nicole Birsner
COM422-001
Written Project: Media Event Plan
I.

Situation Analysis

There are both internal and external factors that affect the Stop Juvenile Obesity (SJO)
advocacy group. To examine these factors a SWOT analysis must be completed. The strengths of
SJO include diversity among members, knowledge among different members, and
passion/dedication from members. The weaknesses of SJO include low brand awareness, low
interest, and low member count. Opportunities include an open market, limited competition, and
a growing problem/concern among the general population. Threats include lack of healthy
options in the town of Cortland and low interest for people to change their childrens lives.
In terms of strengths, the diversity among members is a big one. This allows for different
viewpoints to add validity to the program. This connects to the knowledge among different
members. The parents, teachers, and physicians in the group can bring different sides to the same
problem of juvenile obesity. They know how to reach the children in different ways while also
knowing which areas to attack in their goal to decrease the incidence of obesity in area children
and adolescents. Also, the passion and dedication from the members is a huge strength. They are
concerned individuals who decided to create an entire new advocacy group, not just join a
previously existing group. This will allow the group to grow at a faster rate because of the
concern and passion from the people who have created the group.
Because this is a new advocacy group, low brand awareness is a weakness. To increase
effectiveness, information must be put out and distributed throughout the community. Because of
the low brand awareness there is also a lack of interest in the group. The interest in the group

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must increase in order to also address one of their other weaknesses, low member count. Low
member count decreases the efficiency of the group.
In terms of opportunities, the Cortland market is fairly open for advocacy groups trying to
combat juvenile obesity. They would have an open market to spread their ideas and create
awareness for juvenile obesity without having to worry about being hidden behind other, bigger
groups. This is done through limited competition, which is an additional opportunity for the
group. Another opportunity for SJO is the growing national attention surround juvenile obesity.
This allows for people to already be aware of the situation and therefore people would be more
open to listening to ideas to prevent juvenile obesity.
Lack of healthy options in the town of Cortland would be a threat to the message of SJO. If
people do not have healthy options when choosing to eat out like in some other more populous
towns (Ithaca, Binghamton) than keeping true to the message of SJO will be hard for community
members. Another threat to SJO is parents dedication to the cause. When children are young it is
ultimately up to the parents to decide what their children eat. If parents in the community are not
committed to the cause then it will fail.
II.

Research

Different types of research must be done in order to hold a successful event in Cortland. The
techniques of environmental monitoring and PR audits will be primarily used. Environmental
monitoring will be used to see if there are any events happening around the planned date to hurt
attendance. If so, a new date should be chosen. Consistent media coverage of SJO should also be
monitored to see how the reaction is along with the public opinion of the local community. PR
audits will be used to see how the publics perceive SJO, both internal and external. This will
involve looking at families and teachers/administrators.

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Both a survey and focus group would be beneficial to conduct. The survey will consist of
eight different questions, all open ended. 1) Are you a student or parent? 2) What is your age? 3)
Do you eat healthy on most days? 4) How often do you exercise? 5) Are you aware of the
increasing problem of juvenile obesity? 6) Have you heard of the new Cortland group, Stop
Juvenile Obesity (SJO)? 7) Would you be interested attending an event held by SJO to learn
more about juvenile obesity? 8) Would you be interested in joining SJO in the fight against
juvenile obesity in the community? These questions will help determine how to best approach
the publics.
A focus group consisting of students in different age ranges will be conducted. They will be
asked to answer and discuss six questions. 1) What do you think is the best way to fight juvenile
obesity? 2) How do we attract kids who are not interested in sports to be active? 3) What are
your favorite healthy foods? 4) How can we best teach kids about the growing obesity problem?
5) How big is the issue of bullying to obese kids at your respective schools? 6) How can we best
combat bullying?
The demographics chosen for this event would be families living in Cortland with children
under the age of 18. According to the United States Census, there are 23.1% people under the age
of 18 living in Cortland (2015). A secondary target market will also be the teachers and
administrators in the various school levels throughout the Cortland district.
III.

Objectives

Output and impact objectives must be determined next. With output objectives being shortterm, the distribution of controlled and uncontrolled media will be the focus point. Sending one
news release to each of the communitys major media outlets a month before the event would be
required to get the word out. This includes Cortlands radio, SUNY Cortlands radio, the

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Cortland Standard, SUNY Cortlands newspaper, and the Cortland local television station. This
news release would also be given to SUNY Cortlands athletic department to start generating
interest through varsity sports and their commitment to the event.
Impact objectives include long-term goals, which are broken up into three different
categories. Those three categories include informational objectives, attitudinal objectives, and
behavioral objectives. For this event, the informational objective would be to raise awareness of
SJO by 20% among all segments of the community after the event. Another informational
objective would be to raise awareness of juvenile obesity by 10% among all segments of the
community after the event. Attitudinal objectives would include creating favorable public
attitudes towards SJO among 20% of families living in Cortland. Behavioral objectives would
include encouraging 30% more of healthy eating habits and athletic activities among juveniles by
the end of the year. It would also include increasing membership and involvement in SJO by
10% by the end of the year throughout the Cortland community.
IV.

Programming

The media event chosen will be called Blaze & Friends. This will be an event held in late
April/early May in the 281 fields at SUNY Cortland. The spokesperson, SUNY Cortlands
mascot Blaze, will be helping families and children learn about juvenile obesity in a fun way.
Members of the varsity athletic teams will also be in attendance to interact with the kids as they
try to go through various obstacle courses and learn about fitness/healthy eating habits. This
event will include mini-clinics that varsity sports hold throughout the year to kids of all ages
interested in sport. Kids will be able to go around and be supervised by varsity athletes as they
compete in different activities depending on their age. Pictures with Blaze will also be available.
For the adults, booths will be set up with information on how to prevent juvenile obesity with the

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option to talk to physicians involved in SJO to create a plan for their child. Information on how
to deal with bullying will be available. There will also be information on how they can get
involved in SJO and the option to be put on a mailing list. Food will be homemade healthy
snacks from various SJO members along with some healthy options donated from local
businesses.
Blaze was chosen as the spokesperson for this event because he represents the entirety of
SUNY Cortland athletics. He has face and name recognition that individual athletes on SUNY
Cortland varsity athletics do not. Along with name and brand recognition, children have a
generally positive reception to mascots. Since Blaze represents SUNY Cortland athletics, this
event can inspire children to want to become college athletes, encouraging them to keep active
and eat healthy.
The SUNY Cortland 281 fields were chosen because it is believed to be the best location to
hold an event like this. SUNY Cortlands campus brings safety from the University Police
Department. It also has adequate parking and most people know where the SUNY Cortland
campus is located in the community. This also allows for easy access for varsity athletes to attend
because many of them do not have cars to travel away from campus. The 281 fields allow for
adequate space to conduct any events being held by SJO.
The theme for this event will be Fly into shape with Blaze! The key messages will be that
Blaze can help you get into shape and also that SJO is a helpful tool to help any family or school
to combat juvenile obesity.
A Facebook page will be created for the SJO advocacy group. This will be used to spread
awareness for the event being held at SUNY Cortland. Brochures and posters will be handed out
to the elementary, middle, and high schools in Cortland to give to parents and kids to learn about

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what SJO. On top of this, spokespersons from SJO will go to these schools to talk directly to the
students to discuss what their group is about along with marketing Blaze & Friends directly to
students.
V.

Evaluation

Success of this event will be determined by various factors. It must be determined by

message exposure, comprehension, retention, if attitudes changed, and if behaviors changed.
How many people showed up to Blaze & Friends? Was the general consensus of the event
positive? This can be determined by conducting another survey. The survey will be given to both
attendants and families of juveniles. This will be used to determine if behaviors, attitudes, and
exposure has changed within the community.
VI.

Stewardship

As stewardship is the most important part of the ROPES model, this part must be executed
correctly to keep the goals and message of SJO in tact. Asking people how the event was
executed while also asking them about what can be improved upon can be beneficial. Sending
out thank you letters to all in attendance along with all sponsors will help keep relationships
between all parties. Making the community feel like their opinion is heard and matters is
important in keeping those positive feelings created at the Blaze & Friends event. Sending out biweekly or monthly newsletters to both families and schools about new ways to combat juvenile
obesity and the bullying that goes along with it would also be a good way to keep community
members involved. Starting support groups for families with children who are obese will also
give a sense of community within SJO, allowing for there to be a strong core of values.

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References
Quickfacts: Cortland City, New York. (2015, July 1). Retrieved April 25, 2016, from
http://www.census.gov/quickfacts/table/PST045215/3618388,00