December 9

STAC
Agency 2015
Plan Book for
Mitchel Anderson, Ellen Colville, Mickey Sundermann, Morgan Iowa State
Thompson
Recreation
Services
Table of Contents
Stating the Challenge 2

Secondary Research 3-6

Consumer Analysis 7

Key Message 8

SWOT 9

Primary Research 10-11

Conclusions 12

Strategies for Implementation 13-14

Evaluation 15

Advertising and Public Relations Components 16

Client Summary 17

Appendix 18

1
Stating the Challenge
Iowa State Recreation Services uncovered statistics that led them to
believe 33% of students here are not going to the gym, State or Lied, even
one time throughout the semester. Our challenge was to find a way to get
students to go to the gym by implementing research and strategic
advertising and PR tactics.

2
 Secondary Research
We conducted quite a bit of secondary research in order to understand
our audience a little bit better. We focused primarily on exercise habits in
relation to college campuses and the effects that working out has on stress.
We felt that the information from these two topics was the most relevant to
our target audience. We also conducted a little bit of research on exercise
habits of female CEOs in order to see how successful women incorporate
exercise into their daily life. We thought this was relevant because we were
trying to focus on underclass, females who were more focuses on school and
doing well in their classes. We also added in a little information about stress
and depression in order to really understand the effects of stress, so we
could emphasize why relieving stress was important. The last little bit of
information we researched was reasons why people dont workout. We felt
that each of these topics was relevant and important to our overall goal of
getting the stressful, busy college student to attend the gym.

Here our research is organized into categories with short summary of each
source:

College Campuses and Exercising

1. A study at Purdue University released in 2013 showed a correlation between
working out and higher GPAs. The study showed the students who went to the gym
15 times or more during the month receive an average of 3.10 or higher.
http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2013/Q2/college-students-working-out-
at-campus-gyms-get-better-grades.html

2. Once getting to college, fitness steadily declines throughout adulthood. The top
indicator to get students to increase physical activity is the facility and the
equipment located at college universities.
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2012/01/03/fitness-often-not-priority-for-college-
students/

3. Livestrong indicated the top three problems student come to face when they quit
exercising in college. The three were gaining wait, missing out on socializing, and
getting lower grades. http://www.livestrong.com/article/154524-problems-college-
students-face-when-they-dont-exercise/

4. This article had a lot to say about student initiative. It stated how the facilities
create a really big draw to lure students in. However, students also get to have
3
 accountability and pride in the facilities since they help run it.
http://www.collegeview.com/articles/article/rec-center-wars-colleges-use-state-of-
the-art-facilities-to-woo-students

5. This article talks about the transformation of the lack of exercise and college
students. It goes through the progression of high school to the freshman fifteen. It
will provide background to understand our audience, especially freshman. Official
Research Journal of the American Society of Exercise Physiologists (ASEP) ISSN 1097-9751

Stress and Exercise

6. College students face a multitude of challenges every day. Stress is a huge part of
their lives and many of them dont deal with it in the best possible ways. This article
was about an experiment that was conducted to find out if exercise helped college
students relieve some of their stress. The results of the study were of course that
exercising is extremely beneficial in helping students deal with stress.
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.iastate.edu/ehost/detail/detail?
vid=7&sid=0f0bb3f6-acbc-4b6b-b006-04cbd077e97d
%40sessionmgr4001&hid=4111&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d
%3d#AN=100358653&db=aph

7. This article was about how freshman coming into college are faced with new
challenges. Nutrition and exercise is a couple of those challenges. This study is
about what percentage of college freshman gain the freshman 15 by measuring
weight and percentage of body fat.
http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.iastate.edu/ehost/detail/detail?
vid=6&sid=f0be2085-15b4-471a-88d7-e0bd081120ef
%40sessionmgr110&hid=108&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d
%3d#AN=21558777&db=aph

8. This was a study about the stress, physical activity, mental health, and socializing
among 4-year-college students. The results found that students who had more
physical activity were less likely to report about poor mental health. They concluded
that students should add more physical activity in their lifestyles to improve their
mental well-being.
http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.iastate.edu/ehost/detail/detail?
vid=15&sid=f0be2085-15b4-471a-88d7-e0bd081120ef
%40sessionmgr110&hid=108&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d
%3d#AN=90174281&db=aph

9. Lack of physical activity is a huge problem in college students. This article is about
understanding the motivation in these students. The authors compare sport
participation versus exercise. They found that sports participation was more focused
on the challenge and enjoyment rather than exercise which was more focused on
body image and weight.
http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.iastate.edu/ehost/detail/detail?
vid=18&sid=f0be2085-15b4-471a-88d7-e0bd081120ef

4
 %40sessionmgr110&hid=108&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d
%3d#AN=18387044&db=aph

10. This study focused on the differing ways of stress management could alter stress
levels in males and females during the course of a semester. They focused on
different stress coping mechanisms, physical activity being one of them. For both
male and female, the students who focused more on physical activity had less
stress throughout the semester than those who coped in a different way.
http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.iastate.edu/ehost/detail/detail?
vid=19&sid=f0be2085-15b4-471a-88d7-e0bd081120ef
%40sessionmgr110&hid=108&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d
%3d#db=aph&AN=95864028

11. This study focused on the lack of physical activity being a problem in college
students. Between women and men there were different motivational factors in
what gets them to exercise. In conclusion, the study suggests looking at gender
when having a physical activity intervention for students.
http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.iastate.edu/ehost/detail/detail?
vid=21&sid=f0be2085-15b4-471a-88d7-e0bd081120ef
%40sessionmgr110&hid=108&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d
%3d#AN=92757384&db=aph

12. This article discussed the attitudes and behaviors of the millennial generation in a
variety of topics including career aspirations and job promotions. The articles talks
about how this generation is all about themselves and they are very selfish.
http://eds.b.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.iastate.edu/ehost/detail/detail?
vid=29&sid=f0be2085-15b4-471a-88d7-e0bd081120ef
%40sessionmgr110&hid=108&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d
%3d#AN=87626384&db=aph

13. Mayo Clinic staff explain the relationship between exercise and stress relief and
provides tips to sticking with an exercise plan. The info page also links to expert tips
on things like stress and weight gain, chronic stress, and adjustment disorder.
http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/stress-management/in-
depth/exercise-and-stress/art-20044469

14. This article is about the college students time management and its correlation with
academic performance and stress. This could help one understand how a student
can manage their need to succeed academically and still have time for
http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Robert_Dipboye/publication/209836182_College
_students_time_management_Correlations_with_academic_performance_and_stress/
links/09e4150fac5cf4799e000000.pdf

Female CEOs and Exercising

5
15. These articles are about the morning routines of successful women and female
CEOs. All of these women who were interviewed said they woke up and one of the
first things they did was exercise. This emphasizes how important working out is. If
Darla wants to be a CEO or a success then incorporating working out into her
routine will help her in life.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/samanthaettus/2014/11/17/morning-routines/
http://www.businessinsider.com/workout-routines-of-highly-successful-people-
2013-11

Stress and Depression

16. This article explains how exercise can improve physical and mental health for
people with depression, which can provide insight to exercises proactive abilities
http://eds.a.ebscohost.com.proxy.lib.iastate.edu/ehost/detail/detail?
sid=d163789a-62b5-4900-b010-
ee1a84363bc3%40sessionmgr4003&crlhashurl=login.aspx%253fdirect
%253dtrue%2526hid%253d4203%2526AN%253d103530990%2526db
%253daph%2526site%253dehost-
live&hid=4203&vid=0&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d
%3d#AN=103530990&db=aph

Reasons Why People Dont Work Out

17. This article talks about the 6 reasons why people dont exercise. The article states
that time, tired, busy, boring, lazy and tried before are the 6 reasons why people
dont work out.
http://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/guide/the-top-6-exercise-excuses-
and-how-to-beat-them

6
Consumer Analysis
For this project we wanted to target someone who we thought might
not go to the gym very often, for various reasons. Through MRI+ we found
that 10.8 percent of women ages 18-24 engage in an exercise program. We
thought that was a fairly low percentage considering its most college-aged
women. This is what led us to choosing our target consumer for this project.

Our target consumer is Dead Week Darla. Darla is a 19-year old female
from Illinois. Shes middle class, attends Iowa State and lives in MWL. Darla is
a hardworking student with a straining and time-consuming major. She
doesnt work out during the regular school year because she thinks she
needs to be studying and doing homework during that time.

We believed she is a little up tight. Constantly worrying about her

future and not living in the present, Darla struggles to stay healthy. She is
always getting annoyed with people who are obsessed with working out. She
thinks they only care about their appearance and believes there are more
important things to life than being skinny, for example, getting good grades.
Darla feels it is important to be fit and stay healthy, but finds it hard to be
dedicated to both working out and doing well in school. Her biggest worry is
that once she starts exercising, she will not be as serious about school and
her grades will slip.

In the beginning we thought our target audience was Dead Week

Darla. Towards the end, we realized our target audience is this demographic.
The only difference is that she works out very seldom due of other
commitments. The new Darla doesnt limit her workouts to just dead week,
but to whenever she feels like or has the time to.

7
Key Message
We figured out who our target market was and realized what the
Darlas at ISU wanted. Then we found the problems ISU Rec Services has
with targeting this type of person. With this information, we molded our
message to promote ISU Rec Services in a light that Darla would be
interested in. We wanted to express that going to the gym would not only be
good for your physical health, but it is also exceptionally good for your
mental health, as well. Additionally, there are many resources available
through ISU Recreation Services that Darla would be interested in. Not
limiting it to just exercising at the two gyms. There are intramurals,
equipment rentals, weekend/extended trips, etc. Advertising these amenities
are the key to attracting Darlas to ISU Recreation Services.

8
 SWOT Analysis
In the beginning of our project we wanted to figure out the strengths,
weaknesses, opportunities, and threats to each of the gyms. Doing a SWOT
analysis can help us set a foundation for what problems students might see
and why they dont attend the gyms.

Strengths:
o parking at Lied gym
o Easily accessible for students on campus
o Not much competition from other gyms in Ames
o Provide lots of amenities for students and staff

Weaknesses:
o Can get busy
o Location for students who live off-campus
o Parking at State gym
o Students who dont know how to exercise
o Can cut away from study time

Opportunities:
o Intramural
o Health is becoming a national trend

Threats:
o Rude/too intense gym-goers
o Students could have busy schedules
o Weather isnt always ideal to get to the gym

9
Primary Research
During the course of the semester we implemented a few research
tactics to help guide us. We conducted a focus group, one-on-one interviews,
ethnographies, and sent out an online survey.

Here is a detailed report of our findings for each of these research tactics:

Focus Group
The participants in the focus group overall concluded that stress wasnt
a primary motivation to working out, but this did redirect our focus to time
availability issues. We noticed the heavy time management that most of the
participants engaged in, so we directed more questions to things in their
schedules that influence when they do or dont use Rec Services. We noticed
that doing almost any activity with their friends was important for most of
the subjects, but once it came to doing specific workouts, they were mostly
individual.
Through a visual exercise we conducted, pictures with food and group
exercise were rated higher by the participants, while studying was lower.
Partying and running outside were both very spread out among the
participants.

Below is a graph that indicates how many times each of our participants
worked out per month.

10
 (Figure 1)

One-On-One Interviews
With the questioning part of the ethnography, we learned, or even
confirmed, that convenience played a major role in students choice of
workout venue. We also had more support to the idea that a lot of freshman
and sophomore females want to work out or do other things with friends.
Once again we found that, for the most part, the subjects did not workout
solely to relieve stress.

Ethnography
With the observation part of the ethnography, the one thing we noticed
the most was the time constraint that a lot of gym-goers might have. Most
workouts were cardio-heavy and seemed quick and to the point, indicating
that they might have other things to do and places to be. Evening gym-goers
were more likely to be doing reading or studying, indicating that morning
gym-goers might have more heavily prioritized working out than the evening
gym-goers.

Survey
For the survey portion of our primary research, we were able to pull
useful information about students who said they never work out, work out a
few times a month or seldom work out.

11
 Here are the results:
When those students were asked what content theyd like to see from a Rec
Services YouTube account (they could select more than one), 100 percent of
them said theyd like to see workout tutorials, 66 percent said theyd like to
see nutritional information, 50 percent said beauty tips and 16 percent said
planned trip promotions and/or recaps.
When those students were asked if theyd participate in kayak races on Lake
Laverne, camping on central campus, neither, or both: 33 percent said kayak
races, 8 percent said camping, 25 percent said neither and 25 percent said
both.
92 percent of those students said they notice designs on disposable cups.
When those students were asked to choose which would give them a more
positive opinion of Rec Services, 42 percent said kayaking on Lake Laverne,
33 percent said a YouTube account, 17 percent said disposable cup designs
relating to Rec Services, and 8 percent said camping on central campus.

12
Conclusion
What did we learn?

As a group, we were surprised to find out that many students do not

use workouts to ease stress, which was our target population. We assumed
more students would want to use the gym as their break from studying. We
also learned that students are not likely to combine studying and working out
even if offered. Our participants said hanging out with friends, going for a
leisurely walk or going outside, calling their mom, crying, and one subject did
say that working out helped release stress. However, almost all subjects
described that simply being stressed prevented them from doing things to
relieve stress, and they were often too busy to be able to worry about stress
management.

13
Strategies for
Implementation
With the results of our focus group, one-on-one interviews and ethnography we came up with a
few PR and advertising ideas we thought would work to target our audience. Here are the top
ideas we thought of:

Advertising with Froots or Any Drink Distributor

It would be ideal to create a partnership with Froots or any of the distributors of drinks.
For example, many people will go to Froots with no intention of going to the gym. The gyms
should make custom cups that are featured for a week with the times the gym is open and when
classes are that are around the cup. We came up with this idea because based on research,
students do not read the Daily enough to pay for an advertisement. However, if we can create
some sort of cup that would be distributed on campus, even for a day, the information about the
gyms would be easily accessible to the students. The best way to get information out to students
is to go where they are at and be as obvious as possible. Whats more obvious than a cup in
someones hand with the gym times?

Create a YouTube Account or App

A YouTube presence would allow Rec Services to connect with students better. Videos
with rec center tours, workout tutorials, equipment tutorials and weekly challenges can engage
students while giving Rec Services a chance to make themselves more involved in students
lives. Workout videos and tutorials can allow people who are new to working out to feel more
comfortable when they go to workout for the first time. YouTube videos are also easy to share by
social media like Twitter and Facebook, and its easy to link or embed to mobile apps. After
talking with students in the focus groups, we concluded that class-type settings and doing things
with friends makes working out more fun. Using the YouTube channel (especially with social
media) can bring a stronger sense of community to students of all experience levels working out
at ISUs rec centers.

PR Stunt of Kayaking on Lake Laverne

This would include the gyms rental services putting all of their kayaks and canoes
(including life jackets) on the grass area of the lake and giving students turns to kayak. There
would be a couple of gym representatives present as well as a lifeguard to parole the perimeter as
well as answer any questions pertaining the state gym and this activity. There will be a main
representative who announces the activity and encourages students to come to state gym and use
the rentals available. They will inform the students about the different kinds of rentals as well as
the different amenities the two gyms offer, like trips, intramurals, personal trainers and dietitians,
etc. This idea will work because its a fun interactive activity that people will want to get

14
involved in. It will also be a very informational experience. People will learn about the things
that are offered by the gyms all while having a positive experience.
We were specifically thinking of PR stunts we could pull and remembered researching
the rentals that were available through the gym. During our focus group, we mentioned these
were available through State and none of the people present knew about them. They were all
interested, however. Since not a lot of people know about this, we thought the best way to use a
moneyless stunt and still incorporate Iowa state and Iowa state students was to use what we have
available on campus. Knowing they rented out canoes and kayaks and with the closest body of
water to campus being Lake Laverne, we thought, why not there?

PR Stunt of Camping on Central Campus

A PR stunt of camping on central campus. We had the same thought process for this as
we did for the previous PR stunt. Central campuss large grass area would be a perfect place to
camp out at. We knew State rented out camping gear and to inform the students that these things
are available, why not show them. The gyms would have tents available for students to rent.
there would be people there who could instruct everyone how to put up a tent and camp
successfully. There could be other avid campers that work with the gyms to teach people how to
successfully camp, what all materials they will need and what all the materials do. This could be
a learning and doing workshop type activity.

15
Evaluation
Evaluation of Research

For the most part, our research came out how we expected.
Unexpectedly, the participants in the focus group, for example, concluded
that stress wasnt a primary motivation to working out, but this did redirect
our focus to time availability issues. We noticed the heavy time management
that most of the participants engaged in, so we directed more questions to
moments in their schedules that influence when they do or dont use rec
services. We noticed that doing almost any activity with their friends was
important for most of the participants, but once it came to doing specific
workouts, they were mostly individual.

16
Advertising and PR
Components
We found that the PR concept with the most amounts of responses was
our idea to have Kayak races on Lake Laverne. Almost 40 percent of our
participants indicated interest in that stunt. The participants also indicated
that this stunt would create the best publicity and overall image of Rec
Services to the students.
Twenty percent of the participants indicated they would use a YouTube
account for nutritional facts; workout tutorials or beauty tips. Either one of
these stunts seem to be a viable option due to research.

17
Client Summary
According to Iowa State Recreation Services, one-third of Iowa State
students are not going to the gym, or swiping their card at either gym, at all
during the course of a semester. Our challenge was to conduct research and
come up with ideas on how to get more students to go to State or Lied gym
at least one time during each semester. We narrowed our target audience
down to freshman and sophomore students who live on campus, have
strenuous course loads and who dont make working out a priority, but will
go to the gym during high stress times such as dead week or midterm week.
We did quite a bit of secondary research on as how stress relates to
exercise and college campuses and exercising. We found a multitude of
information regarding how exercise correlates with better grades, lower
stress levels and more socialization. In regards to our target audience, we
thought that our research was very beneficial.
Our key message that we wanted to express was that going to the gym
would not only good for your physical health, but it is also exceptionally good
for your mental health as well. We conducted a SWOT analysis and discussed
the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats for both gyms. This
analysis helped us with the questions we wanted to ask students when we
did some of our primary research.
Throughout the semester we conducted a focus group, one-on-one
interviews, an ethnography and sent out an online survey. Through each of
these research methods we found a variety of valuable information. Our
focus group concluded that stress was a primary factor in what motivated
the attendees to workout, but time management was something they
struggled with. Through our ethnography and one-on-one interviews we
learned that convenience played a major role in students choice of gym,
more underclass females would rather go with a friend or a group and most
people didnt work out to solely relieve stress.
With the information from our focus group, interviews and ethnography
we came up with a few PR and advertising ideas for ISU Rec Services to
possibly use in order to convince people to go to the gyms. The three main
ideas we chose were a YouTube channel, advertising on coffee cups or Froots
cups or Kayaking on Lake Laverne and camping on Central Campus. With
these ideas we sent out an online survey in order to find out which of these
ideas would work the best. With the results of the survey we found that
kayaking on Lake Laverne and camping on Central Campus were the most
popular, but advertising on cups was still something that most people
thought would catch their eye.

18
 In conclusion, we found that most students thought about stress
relating to exercise, but overall that wasnt the primary motivator for them to
use the gym. A lot of students dont like to go alone to the gym or they are
intimidated by the extremely fit people that are already there. Having a PR
stunt such as kayaking or camping would attract a lot of attention, as well as
advertising on cups and providing a YouTube channel for students to utilize.
We hope that with the research we have conducted will be able to help ISU
Rec Services with fixing their initial problem.

19
Appendix

(Figure 1)

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