2. EXECUTIVE
SUMMARY
CAMPAIGN PERIOD:
● January 2016 - December 2016
BUDGET:
● Use of labor hours
TARGET AUDIENCE:
● High School juniors and seniors
● Undecided freshmen
● Current AHSS students and alumni
● Students outside of the college
● Parents
CAMPAIGN OBJECTIVES:
● Using the sensory portion of the strategy wheel to show the target audience what it’s like to attend NDSU and be a part of the
college of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
○ “The role of communication is to transform the product into a "pleasurable moment" by showing how use of the product
produces sensory pleasure (taste, sight, hearing, touch, or smell)”
● Improve AHSS messaging and media presence
● Create more consistency
MESSAGE:
● Challenging you to change the world
MEDIA:
● Social Media
● AHSS Homepage
3. HISTORICAL CONTEXTMISSION
We provide the insights, creativity, and enrichment of the fine arts, the humanities and the social sciences within the land-grant mission of North Dakota State
University.
VISION
The College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences embraces the teaching, research, creative activities and service objectives of NDSU's land grant mission, and
the needs of a diverse constituency.
The College is committed to:
● Providing its students the highest quality of preparation in an atmosphere that promotes intellectual vigor, critical inquiry, citizenship, and creative
decision-making requisite for personal growth and professional success;
● Encouraging in its faculty exemplary scholarship of teaching, research, and service, leading to significant publications and performances;
● Invigorating the tradition of outreach through enriching performance, presentation and cultural understanding.
● In its vision to realize human potential and achievements, the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences is guided by the qualities of creativity,
ethical integrity, and mutual respect.
OBJECTIVE
We help prepare you for an exciting future! In addition to providing the preparation needed to earn a livelihood in our highly competitive society, the aims of the
College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences also concern development of the inner resources of individual students so they may realize fully their own value and
dignity as persons.
This development of the student includes acquiring accurate knowledge in several areas to facilitate full mental growth and to prevent distorted judgments,
developing ability to think and express ideas clearly regarding this knowledge, understanding one's internal world as well as knowing and respecting the external
one, providing opportunities for developing talent, and acquiring and perfecting skills.
The diversity of courses offered within the college permits students to explore various fields to aid them in career decisions.
4. INDUSTRY &
MARKET ANALYSIS
In North Dakota, Minnesota, and South Dakota, there are over 140 Schools that offer Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences degrees
that the college has to compete with.
According to the 2010 census, the states that most students attending NDSU are from have the following amount of people aged 15-19
years old who will be targeted with the campaign
● 47,474 in North Dakota
● 367,829 in Minnesota
● 57,997 in South Dakota
● 399,209 in Wisconsin
5. PRIMARY
RESEARCH
We conducted our primary research by interviewing current
students of the college of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences
as well as students in other colleges at NDSU. We also
interviewed some alumni and parents to get a different point of
view. In the student interviews, we asked why they chose NDSU
and their major, what they liked specifically about their college
compared to others at NDSU and what they thought the biggest
benefit they received from their college is, what they think NDSU
could do to make their experience better, and what they know
about the college of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences.
From the parent surveys, we hoped to learn some information
about what people outside of the school knew. We asked what
they thought their child gained from attending NDSU over
another University, if they had any influence on their child
attending NDSU, what they liked most about the University,
what they know about the college of Arts, Humanities, and Social
Sciences, and what issues they would like to see improved.
FINDINGS
What we learned from conducting these interviews is that students
in other areas don’t know much about the college, including what
majors are included in it. We also found that students are turned
away from the college because of the misconception that they won’t
be able to use a degree from the college of Arts, Humanities, and
Social Sciences. Most students outside of the college knew that an
English degree would come from the college of AHSS, but they
were aware of others such as architecture and emergency
management. What students really value in every college at NDSU
is the smaller class sizes and the clubs that they are able to join to
get involved and experience more within their major.
6. ALUMNI PERSONA
INTERNAL NOTES
Roles: Efficient communicator with customers, Professional, CEO
Goals: To keep achieving and receiving promotions in the workplace.
Challenges: Creating time out of work place for family, and the NDSU sports activities, as well
as
attending their children's school events.
STORY
A typical day for an NDSU college of AHSS alumni is going to work and using their knowledge
in the real world to the best of their ability. The alum will spend their time at work talking to
customers and speaking with coworkers about clients. They will enjoy their given lunch break at
12pm with co-workers or sometimes other friends and then return to work around 1pm. After a
long day of work they will either attend a school event for their children, or return home to
spend time with their family.
The goals for a typical alumni is to rise up in their profession and eventually be promoted to a
higher position with higher pay.
Brian
DEMOGRAPHICS
Age : 23+
Income: $50,000+
Education: Bachelor-Doctorate
Location: Fargo
7. STUDENT IN A DIFFERENT COLLEGE
PERSONAINTERNAL NOTES
Roles: Management student, Campus Attractions special events coordinator, 2015 Homecoming
Parade chair
Goals: Be involved on campus, make the dean’s list, network with students and professors to excel
in the future
Challenges: Finding time for all activities and studying, having time to spend with friends and
family
STORY
A typical day for a College of Business student includes attending 2-3 classes where class
participation is necessary to learn the material well. The student will spend time in between class
catching up with friends and classmates while grabbing a quick lunch downtown. In the evening,
the student goes home to eat dinner, watch a few episodes of their favorite show, and work on
class assignments and group projects. The student will also spend some time on social media and
looking at the newest trends in their field of study. The goal of the average college of business
student is to find clubs or groups that they can join the feel connected with other students as well
as grow their knowledge on a subject they are passionate about. Another goal is to find a job in
their field, so they will spend some time looking for internships that will lead to experience that
will help them land their dream job.
Amelia
DEMOGRAPHICS
Age: 20-23
Income: $5,000 - $10,000/year
Education: Pursuing Bachelor of
Science
Location: Downtown Fargo
8. PARENT PERSONA
INTERNAL NOTES
Roles: Parents to 2 children; Mandy who is 21, a junior at NDSU majoring in
communications and Brian who is 17, a junior in highschool, who would like to attend
NDSU.
Goals: To have both of their children succeed in college and find a major that will
provide for their future.
Challenges: Helping their kids find majors that the kids love and enjoy while making
sure they will have a future career path in that major.
STORY
Both Nancy and Ron, want their kids to have bright futures ahead of them. They know
that in order to do that both kids must receive college degrees. Nancy and Ron often
fear that one of the kids may get a degree that they won’t be able to use in the future.
They would like to be more educated on what the different colleges have to offer and if
their kids will be success in the major that they choose.
Nancy & Ron
DEMOGRAPHICS
Age: 40-60
Income: $40,000 - $80,000/year
Education: Both received degrees from
NDSU
Location: St. Paul, MN
9. STUDENT PERSONA
INTERNAL NOTES
Roles: Alex is a freshman at NDSU
Goals: To graduate in 4 years and have a fun college experience
Challenges: To make new friends and become an independence adult
STORY
Alex is a freshman at NDSU and is still getting used to being at college. She is an
undecided major or in something general because she is still exploring her options.
Alex is trying to make new friends and figure out how to be successful in college.
She is still very close to her parents and calls her mom once a day. Her parents are
putting a lot of pressure on her to graduate in 4 years with a degree in something
that has job stability. She is enrolled in a lot of general freshman courses.
Alex
DEMOGRAPHICS
Age: 18
Income: None
Education: High school graduate/college
Freshman
Location: On campus
10. SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCEWe researched the presence of the college on Social Media to see if they are reaching their target market. Our research showed that the
college is only present on Facebook, and the posts are mostly about faculty or alumni. While this information is good to promote that
there are successful staff and alumni, the college isn’t showing a lot of experiences for prospective students to get excited about.
COMPETITION ON SOCIAL MEDIA
NDSU MSUM Concordia UND
Social media platforms
used
Facebook Facebook, Twitter,
YouTube
Facebook,
Foursquare, Flickr,
Tumblr, Twitter,
Google+, Instagram,
Storift, YouTube,
LinkedIn, Pinterest,
Blogs
Facebook, Twitter
Audience
Faculty and alumni Students Students. alumni,
faculty
Students, alumni,
faculty
Content
Successes of alumni
and professors
Relevant information
for students
Cobber family,
upcoming events
Interesting links for
students
15. SWOT ANALYSIS
STRENGTHS
The college of AHSS has some great strengths that it should
capitalize on to bring in more students. These strengths include a
variety of classes to choose from while having smaller classes,
allowing stronger student-faculty relationships. The college also
has a wide variety of clubs and groups for students to get
involved in to give them more experience in their major.
WEAKNESSES
The college also has some weaknesses that they should improve
on. Their largest weaknesses are the lack of a social media
presence, a lack of student awareness, and the lack of an easy-to-
navigate website structure.
OPPORTUNITIES
Some opportunities the college can take advantage of in reaching it’
s target audience and gaining more awareness is taking advantage
of free social media for advertising as well as the many local high
schools that offer exposure to future students.
THREATS
The external threats the college faces is the competition of
Concordia College and other liberal arts colleges close in proximity.
16. THE BIG IDEA
Challenging you to change the world
This can be adapted to any major within the college and can be shown by having photos as well as videos of students’ work or
alumni that have done something cool after graduating
A SENSORY APPROACH
“Segment 3 is characterized by Cyrenaics philosophy. In
this segment products provide consumers with "moments of
pleasure" based on any of the five senses : taste, sight,
hearing, touch, or smell. Though there is not a "formal
strategy " recognized in this segment, sensory appeal is
quite common and "moment of pleasure" strategy or
Cyrenaics strategy seems apt. The role of communication is
to transform the product into a "pleasurable moment" by
showing how use of the product produces sensory pleasure”
CREATING A CONNECTION
The big idea will get the target audience involved in the
college on any social media platform they are using. Since
the big idea is focused on the college's objective, it will
promote what the college is about and spread the message
out to the audience.
17. “Challenging you to change the world” will showcase students who are excelling in the studies.
The big idea can be applied to all majors within the college.
ARTS HUMANITIES SOCIAL SCIENCES
18. WEBSITE
EXECUTION
The main idea of the Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences homepage is to make the page full of pictures and videos with a small
amount of text so it is easy to navigate and appealing to the eye. We propose moving all of the links that are currently on the side of the
page to the top of the page and turn them into drop-down menus (similar to the main NDSU homepage). The drop down menu titles
could be About, Student Resources, Academics, News and Events, North Dakota Institute for Regional Studies, Faculty Resources, and
Contact Us
Below these links will be a large slide show that is also similar to the main NDSU homepage. The college could have pictures that are
linked to what is going on in the college and that correlate to the big idea. We would like to have the ‘big idea’ in large type under the
picture slide show so that it is an obvious slogan.
On the rest of the page, the college could have smaller pictures with links underneath them. The pictures will each represent a
major/minor within the college and encompass what you do in that college. The links under each photo will be the name of the
major/minor, allowing viewers to see what exactly is in the college and take them to a page with more detailed information on the area.
20. INSTAGRAM
Through the use of Instagram, the college should
showcase special projects or designs that students are
working on. One week they could highlight work from an
architecture student, while the next week it may highlight
a poem written by an english major.
The goal of this social media site is to showcases students
currently in the program. By doing this, the goal is to peak
interest in potential students.
21. TWITTER
The college should use twitter as a very interactive form
of social media. Twitter should be used to promote and
grab the attention of incoming students.
The college should promote the program through weekly
tweets. During these weekly tweets, they should highlight
individual student within the program. The goal is to show
students who are currently in the program and are
thriving.
22. FACEBOOK
The goals for Facebook will be similar to the goals for
Twitter and Instagram. The college should showcase
pictures of students learning in a fun, active, and hands-on
environment. Posting statuses that explain the different
events in the college as well as the different majors the
college offers is a more up-to-date and exciting way to
reach students from all over. Seeing these pictures and
statuses will help encourage students to broaden their
ideas of the future and hopefully seek a degree that peaks
their interests in the college of Arts Humanities and Social
Sciences.
23. SOCIAL MEDIA
CONTEST
Running social media contests will increase student
involvement with the college on social media platforms
and get them excited about following the college.
● “Show us how you are working towards changing
the world! Post your picture, tag us, and use
#AHSSchallenge and #NDSU. The winner will be
chosen Friday at noon to win an AHSS prize pack!”
24. MEDIA PLAN
The college of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences should run the social
media campaign from January 2016 through December 2016. This will allow
the college to reach High School students during the beginning of the year
when they are deciding where they want to attending college in the fall.
Starting in August, the campaign will reach new students at NDSU that are
still undecided, showing them the benefits of being in the college of Arts,
Humanities and Social Sciences.
Since the college doesn’t have a budget for advertising and promotion, this
campaign will be run on free social media platforms and be produced by students or
volunteers. Having students produce the content will help to give them experience
while helping the college to save money.
The college should take advantage of the labor hours that are available through
staff and students. Having someone to manage the social media sites for about an
hour a day will help the college in their online presence. Having someone put
together a website may take time but it is only something that needs to be done
once. When the website is launched, there will only need to be some simple upkeep
that won’t take a lot of time or effort.
BUDGET
25. MEDIA
SCHEDULE
The college should maintain all social media accounts year-round,
but the schedule shows when there should be an emphasis on
posting and promoting campaigns on the social media sites.
26. EVALUATIONLIKES AND FOLLOWS
Before starting the campaign, the college should record how many likes and follows they have on social media. Then every so often, they
can check the progress and see if this campaign has made the college gain any new follows, showing that they are gaining more
awareness and recognition.
ENROLLMENT TOTALS
Another evaluation tool is to look at enrollment totals. This is more of a long term evaluation since one would have to wait until the
start of a new semester to see these totals. Looking at the enrollment totals before and after the campaign can be a good evaluation tool
because if there are any spikes in enrollment, you could assume that this is from the awareness that the campaign is bringing. The
easiest way to tell if there are any spikes in totals is to look at the past semesters and the usual amount that enrollment increases. If
there is an amount that is way higher, than the college will know that the campaign is bringing in new students.
HOW DID YOU HEAR ABOUT US?
The college could also ask incoming freshmen who have applied to the college how they heard about it. If they say that their initial
knowledge of the college was from social media, this is another way of knowing that information about the college is spreading on social
media.
