1. Rattler’s Donation Closet Public Relations Campaign – Fall 2014
Created by Hannah Hargis & Daniel Perez

2. RDC Campaign 2
Executive Summary
The goal of this public relations campaign is to spread awareness, gain monetary donations and create a high
school internship program to continue the public relation goals.
As the campaign progressed the goals of the team were scaled back in order to insure quality work by our team.
The new goal of the team focused solely on raising awareness of RDC through media outlets, by using social
media and by hosting a donation event.
The main challenges of this campaign were in regards to a lack of a budget, limiting the team’s ability to spread
the story of Rattler’s and also capping what was able to be done as far as the donation event was concerned.
The team was also challenged by the lack of cooperation received from Rattler’s executives. Without the support
of the executives, the campaign was slow moving and not nearly as effective as we had planned.
However, the team was abl to create a solid foundation for the Rattler’s facebook page, a foundation which could
succesfully be built upon if the Rattler’s executives decide to make the organization more of a priority.

3. RDC Campaign 3
Situation and Analysis
Research Data indicates that San Marcos is a high poverty area. When compared with poverty levels throughout
the state of Texas as a whole, San Marcos scores 20% higher in terms of total population with 37.4% of San Mar-
tians classified at poverty level.
It is also seen that the percentage of families classified as poverty level in San Marcos is higher than in the state of
Texas with 17.7% of families in San Marcos compared to 13.5% in Texas.
Further research shows that with regards to families with children under 18 years of age, 24.4% of families in San
Marcos are classified as poverty level where as the percentage is only 19.9 in Texas as a whole.
With all of this data is clear to see that San Marcos families are in need of financial assistance. Rattler Donation
Closet fills that need by contributing clothing, school supplies and other necessities to those families. It is to
these community members that the awareness of the RDC services will be targeted to.
However, with this data we can assume that there are members of the San Marcos community (the remaining
62.6%) whom are not classified as poverty level. It is to these community members that the request for aid will be
targeted.
A survey was distributed to the San Marcos community in an effort to determine likelihood of community
involvement and aid to RDC.

4. RDC Campaign 4
Problem and Consequences
The families of RDC are in need of everyday necessities that make attending and succeeding in school a
possibility.
• These items include but are not limited to:
• School supplies
• Back packs
• Gift cards of donations for shoes or clothes
• Gift cards to HEB or Wal-Mart for food
• Underwear
• Socks
• Hoodies
• Dawn dishwashing liquid
• Lice treatment
• Toothbrushes
• Toothpaste
• Deodorant
• Brushes
• Combs
• Bath soap
• Shampoo/conditioner
The San Marcos community is unaware of RDC’s specific needs at this time. A consequence of this is seen in the
fact that RDC receives approximately 90% (?) of unusable material. Clearly, the desire is there for people to
donate; however they are unaware of what materials should be donated. Resulting in a lowering of results for
RDC.

5. RDC Campaign 5
Campaign Goal
The goal of this PR campaign is to grow RDC’s presence within the community. Without increased awareness,
not much can be done to increase the organization’s effectiveness. The program is supported solely through
donations and volunteer hours; therefore it is the goal of the campaign to increase the awareness of RDC in an
effort to gain monetary, material and volunteer support.
However, without those community members in need, RDC would serve no purpose. Therefore, it is one goal of
this campaign to increase awareness of RDC services to those members of the community in need, that they may
benefit from RDC.
It is also the goal of the campaign to create a PR program that is easily passed down to future Mass Communi-
cation students. To achieve this goal, a position will be created within RDC that will serve as a Public Relations
internship. Thus broadening the manner in which RDC serves the San Marcos community, allowing young PR
practitioners to gain valuable experience and helping RDC maintain its presence within the community.
Audience Identification and Messages
Three audiences will be targeted throughout the duration of this campaign.
1. Families in the SMISD – Asking for donations/Informing those in need of RDC and how to gain access
2. College Students – Asking for donations/Creating a relationship between RDC and a Sorority (or service
team) on campus
3. Elderly San Marcos Community – Has the most means to contribute financial donations
Objectives
Increase awareness of Rattler Donation Closet throughout the San Marcos Community – Evaluated by Google
Analytics & Number of published media spots
Increase monetary and material donations to Rattler Donation Closet – Evaluated by number of donations when
compared to previous months.
Increase RDC Involvement in the lives of those in need – Evaluated by number of families who receive aid from
RDC compared to previous months.
Establish Rattler Donation Closet Public Relations internship with San Marcos High School – Evaluated by end
result of established internship.

6. RDC Campaign 6
Strategies
Means of Communication with Families:
A spot in the weekly E-mail sent out by SMISD
Press Release to Newspaper (Daily Record) about RDC services/needs
Means of Communication with College Students:
Social Media – Facebook, Website, Twitter
Kickstarter – To gain financial donations
QR Code
Means of Communication with Elderly:
Community Center and Church Flyers – To inform the elderly community about RDC services/needs and
request support.
Tactics
Create 2-3 Paragraph Write Up to send out in SMCISD E-mail Updates
Distributed via E-mail Updates and Posted on SMCISD Website

7. RDC Campaign 7
Create a Press Release to send to media outlets
Sent to local San Marcos media outlets
Picked up by KTSW Radio
Rattler’s
Donation
Closet
501
S
LBJ
Drive
San
Marcos,
Texas,
78666
CONTACT:
Hannah
Hargis
(512)
919-­‐6392
hkh1@txstate.edu
FOR
IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
RATTLER’S
DONATION
CLOSET
ANNOUNCES
DONATION
DRIVE
SAN
MARCOS,
Texas
(November
7,
2014)
–
Rattler’s
Donation
Closet
(RDC)
is
pleased
to
announce
it’s
inaugural
Thanksgiving
Donation
Drive,
scheduled
to
run
November
17
through
November
21,
2014.
The
Donation
Drive
will
be
held
at
all
San
Marcos
Consolidated
Independent
School
District’s
(SMCISD)
schools
in
an
effort
to
inform
the
SMCISD
of
RDC’s
work
and
to
gain
much-­‐needed
donations.
Rattler’s
Donation
Closet
was
created
in
2011
when
SMCISD
faculty
noticed
that
many
of
the
kids
in
the
school
district
were
missing
school
because
they
did
not
have
clothes
or
shoes.
“72%
of
the
kids
in
our
school
district
belong
to
families
classified
at
or
below
poverty
level,”
said
Georganne
Logue,
Secretary
to
the
SMCISD
Superintendent.
Because
of
this
fact,
RDC
is
hosting
a
Donation
Drive
to
gain
needed
supplies
for
the
children
in
the
SMCISD.
The
children
are
in
need
of
such
essentials
as
toothbrushes,
underwear,
socks
and
hygienic
products.
Logue
also
expressed
a
need
for
hoodies,
as
the
children
prefer
to
wear
these
in
the
winter
months.

8. RDC Campaign 8
Create Social Media presence
Facebook Page created in order to interact with San Marcos community
www.facebook.com/RattlersDonationCloset

9. RDC Campaign 9
Organize Thanksgiving Donation Drive event
Event held November 17 - 21 2014
Donation bins placed in the office of all SMCISD Schools

10. RDC Campaign 10
Create Viral Video
Create a viral video to tell RDC’s story
Video created with Adobe Voice
http://voice.adobe.com/v/MtCvh-znz9b
Rattler’s Donation Closet Viral Video
“What is your style?
(slide with stylish clothing)
Everyone has their own style. But some kids in San Marcos can’t afford to have a “style”. 24.4% of all families in
San Marcos with kids under the age of 18 are below the poverty line. This is where Rattler’s Donation Closet
comes in.
(slide of RDC Logo)
Rattler’s donation closet provides clothes and other necessaties to children in need. We believe that every child
should be able to be stylish and comfortable at school, no matter what their parents income level is.
So what can you do? Donate gently used or new clothes. Donate other necessities. Make a monetary donation.
Volunteer your time. At Rattler’s Donation Closet we believe some people are worth molting for.
www.facebook.com/Rattler’sdonationcloset
#shedyourskinSM”

11. RDC Campaign 11
Schedule
Budget
At this time, RDC is operating without a budget. It is the goal of this campaign to remedy this situation in the
future by creating a Kickstarter and requesting monetary donations.

12. RDC Campaign 12
Evaluation
At the beginning of the Rattler’s Donation Closet public relations campaign it was the goal of the team to spread
awareness, gain monetary donations and create a high school internship program to continue the public relation
goals.
As the semester flew by, our public relations team was cut from 5 members to 2 members. This greatly impacted
the effectiveness of the team and the ability to meet all objectives and complete all goals.
With a diminished team, the new campaign would be adapted to make the workload more suitable for high qual-
ity work. The new goal of the campaign would be simply to raise awareness of Rattler’s Donation Closet within
the San Marcos community.
Initial research showed that Rattler’s served an imminent need in the San Marcos community. Through survey
responses we saw that Social Media was the most effective form of communication for the target audience. We
also saw that the audience was more likely to donate material needs rather than monetary or volunteer needs.
With this in mind we created a Facebook page in order to communicate with the San Marcos community.
The success of the page is outlined in the following charts:

13. RDC Campaign 13
Most page interaction occurred in regards to the Thanksgiving Donation Event.
The creation of the Viral Video, while well intended, showed to serve no purpose within this campaign. This is
likely due to a failure to distribute the video. Much of this was due to video format. Without payment, a video
created with Adobe voice cannot be downloaded as a video format file. This limited the amount of distribution
the team was able to do.
Page interaction decreased as the current public relations team exported ownership/responsibility of the page to
the Rattler’s executives.
Survey responses showed that the San Marcos community was likely to donate material donations rather than
monetary. This caused the public relations team to focus on increasing material donations.
In an effort to both increase awareness of Rattler’s Donation Closet and to increase material donations, a
Thanksgiving Donation Drive was created.
Rattler’s Facebook community seemed interested about the event as shown by level of interaction increase. A
press release was distributed to local media outlets, however, was only picked up KTSW radio.
The effectiveness of the Thanksgiving Donation Drive remains unknown and the Rattler’s executives still have
not responded to status update requests.
The overall effectiveness of this campaign seems minimal. There was more interaction within the San Marcos
community through social media via Facebook.
We were successful in hosting a Thanksgiving Donation Drive, however it is unknown how successful the drive
was in increasing awareness or increasing material donations, as the Rattler’s executives have not communicated
with the campaign team.
This public relation team recommends that Rattler’s executives spend more time making the organization a
priority if they would like to see continued growth.
This organization would benefit greatly from regular donation drive type events. The public relations team
recommends that the organization invest more time into interacting with the community through scheduled
events.