PocketCommFinal Nat

Pocket Communication
Ashley Hill
Alexa Gohl
Natalia Alba
Malaika Karriem
Cynthia Jessup
Stephanie Pischke
Meghann Patterson
Professor Mims
May 7, 2015

Introduction
Mason Cable Network is George Mason University’s student operated on campus
television station. MCN airs 24/7 on the local Fairfax channel 231 to approximately 6,000
residents. Geared towards Mason students, MCN produces live shows, pre-recorded shows, and
student projects. MCN has been providing students with entertainment and news for over 10
years.
For this project, we wanted to introduce Mason Cable Network to George Mason in a
positive light that engages students to look to MCN for news and entertainment for now and for
the future. For our objective, we aimed to triple the average amount of views on Channel 231 on
a single day compared to the past average amount of daily views as well as establish a beneficial
relationship with the on-campus students, faculty and staff at Mason.
After the project was completed, we surpassed our goal of tripling the viewership
number. The original number of viewers was 1 to 3 per day. Due to our efforts in promoting
MCN, we increased the viewership by over 2000% on the day of the event, also known as MCN
Takeover. The final number of viewers on that day was 23 people.

AGENCY CLIENT CONTACT SHEET
TEAM (Agency) NAME: Pocket Communication
AGENCY TEAM MEMBERS & CONTACT INFORMATION:
NAME: Ashley Hill EMAIL: ahill17@masonlive.gmu.edu CELL: 540-446-1376
NAME: Natalie Alba EMAIL: nalbagom@masonlive.gmu.edu CELL: 202-834-0536
NAME: Meghann Patterson EMAIL: mpatte10@masonlive.gmu.edu CELL: 703-973-9643
NAME: Alexa Gohl EMAIL: agohl@masonlive.gmu.edu CELL: 757-395-9739
NAME: Stephanie Pischke EMAIL: spischke@masonlive.gmu.edu CELL: 203-942-5690
NAME: Malaika Karriem EMAIL: mkarriem@masonlive.gmu.edu CELL: 757-646-6215
NAME: Cynthia Jessup EMAIL: jessupcynthia21@gmail.com CELL: 512-788-0173
Agency Project Coordinator: Ashley Hill
CLIENT NAME: Mason Cable Network
CLIENT CONTACT NAME/PHONE: Mason Cable Network/703-993-3996
CLIENT ADDRESS: 4400 University Drive, Fairfax, VA 22030
CLIENT DESCRIPTION: Mason Cable Network is a student operated television network at
George Mason University created for students. MCN runs 24/7 on channel 231 to approximately
6,000 residents. They produce live shows, show pre-recorded shows, and also airs student
projects.
PR PROJECT:
For this client, our agency has a few choices on how to help this client. We can either aim
to increase viewers on one specific day, increase the overall awareness of MCN, increase
average views for one specific show on MCN, or increase the number of students involved with
the production of MCN.
Our strategies could include to appeal to student’s necessity for information, appeal to
students the convenience MCN holds to provide information that pertains to George Mason,
appeal to student’s need for free entertainment they can achieve in their dorm anytime, or
become the channel students leave on in their dorm. For specific tactics, we could hold a 24-hour
film festival, we could create a clever hash tag that intrigues students to tune to MCN, hold a

flash mob hosted by MCN, or have MCN out in the plaza and film students for a few seconds
and create a video called Faces of Mason.
CLIENT SIGNATURE:
I received a conformation e-mail from Robert Horan, the General Manager for Mason Cable
Network.

Master Plan
The Goal
Introduce Mason Cable Network to George Mason in a positive light that engages students to
look to Mason Cable Network for news and entertainment for now and for the future.
Challenges
● Students prefer to watch provided networks such as HBO
● Students prefer to Netflix to binge watch television shows
● The viewer ship is low
● MCN lacks personal presence on campus which makes the network seem
disconnected from students
● Some might see MCN as a low budget production and not professional
● The content might not seem interesting to students
Opportunities
● MCN is student operated
● MCN provides hands on experience for students for who are looking into a media
career
● MCN is geared specifically towards George Mason students
● MCN offers a variety of shows
● MCN produces at least 10 different episodes weekly so there is always new
content
● MCN is free and comes directly to students’ dorms
Target Publics
The target audience is the Fairfax GMU on campus student population as well as faculty and
staff.
Objective
● Triple the average amount of views on Channel 231 on a single day compared to
the past average amount of daily views
● Establish a beneficial relationship with the students on George Mason’s campus
by getting MCN more involved in student activities around campus

Strategic Plan
● Promote MCN as a student run network. Your peers have similar experiences,
therefore creating content that is relatable and matters more in your everyday life
of a student, run it.
● Position MCN as a cable option you should choose over another channel because:
 It airs 24/7, assuring something to watch at all times
 It informs students about their surroundings; incredibly relevant
 The shows are fun to watch, while be informative!
 It is Free
● Don’t make it an “option” make it a must! The channel to have
● MCN is a fun way to wind down at the end of a long day of classes with or
without friends and watch programs about recreational and entertaining content.
● Promote MCN as “YOUR cable network” to appeal to the needs of GMU students
by emphasizing their signature motto “YOUR FACE, YOUR VOICE”
● Appeal to students other interests by partnering with other services that Mason
has on campus.
● Build interaction with the viewers during the shows.
● Partnership with other organizations that have similar interest
● Promote the numerous opportunities the network offers by appealing to students
sense of individuality
● Position the network as the place to JUMP START YOUR CAREER
Tactical Plan
● Create a single day that will have various new shows and activities
○ On one specific day at the end of the campaign we can create times where
all the MCN shows will show on one big day called Mason Cable Madness
○ MCN TakeOver will run from 9am-12pm
○ Show a movie at the end of the day
○ Hand out fliers with schedules of MCN TakeOver
○ Post these fliers in the JC
○ Post on Social Media the schedule
○ Show Faces of Mason Video
● Hold an event called “Faces of Mason”
o MCN would have a giveaway table in the plaza that would entice people to
come over.
o Hold a huge event in the plaza hosted by MCN where students can come out
and enjoy food, fellowship, and fun activities.
o In order to get something, students have to take a picture holding a piece of
paper saying “FreeYoSelf”
o We would make a video with all the pictures and show it on MCN TakeOver

o Take advantage of college students’ love of self. Give them the opportunity to
be seen on MCN through “Faces of Mason”.
o Throughout the week, we will release small clips and air the actual piece on
MCN TakeOver
o Create a hashtag #FOM to reach out to the student body who can’t be there
that day
o Have them sign the consent form
 Host a contest by the clock tower
o Students have 10 seconds to name as many of the following as possible.
o Basketball players
o Names of shows on MCN
o Volleyball players
o Names of club sports at Mason
o The winner gets a giveaway
 Have a table in north plaza giving away lemonade
o Have the hashtag for MCN TakeOver on every single cup
o Ask them to like us or follow us on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook
o If there are big groups we will take their picture and put it on Instagram or
Facebook with #FreeYoSelf
o Hand out fliers of schedule
 Secret Phrase Contest
o At the beginning of a specific show, one half of the two part phrase will be
disclosed.
o The viewers have to wait until the end of the show to get the second half of
the phrase
o Students would tweet or post on MCN’s Facebook the word to MCN
o The first person to post the complete phrase will receive a prize
o 4 secret phrases will be given away
 Advertise in Fourth Estate
o Talk about the various events happening on MCN TakeOver
o Talk about the upcoming events i.e. Film Festival
 Count Down Clock
o Have countdown clocks in various places
o Have a board in the plaza that changes every day with the number of days
until the MCN TakeOver
o Count down on every single social media
 Social Media
o Give Facebook a makeover

o Keep it active
 Post every single day on each site
o Promote the day itself
o Promote the phrase contest for the duration of the campaign
o Have a few days where we ask people to hashtag pictures of themselves being
a couch potato with the hashtag #PotatoPatriot
o Create buzz about MCN TakeOver with the hashtag #FreeYoSelf to
emphasize relaxing and de-stressing and that the network is free
Working Schedule
March 20th
● Complete Master Plan
March 22nd
● Have the Master Plan completed
March 23rd
● Begin gaining permission for North Plaza events
March 25th
● Have the word document schedule created and send to Stephanie
March 30th
● Have the schedule flier graphic completed and ready for print and sent to Ashley
March 31st
● Gain final permission for North Plaza events
● If permission is not granted, we will host events outside the HUB
April 1st
● Have the movie ready
● Print off fliers of schedules
April 3rd
● Have countdown board created
● Meet with Group in Sub 1 at 11:30 to discuss the campaign
● Know the average number of viewers per day and record this information
● Secure the tables for all the events
April 5th
● Have MCN Takeover Graphic Completed
April 6th

● Begin the public campaign
● Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram will release the graphic of the schedule and the
MCN Takeover graphic picture and the countdown starting at 11am and the
hashtag #FreeYoSelf
● Have the fliers posted around the JC, HUB, and SUB 1
● Have all the materials for the lemonade stand in the Office of Student Media
● Set out countdown board
April 7th
● Have all cups display hashtag
● Make the lemonade and put it in the fridge
● Mark off one day of countdown board
● Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram will post 10 on the countdown start the
#PotatoPatriot hashtag and the hashtag #FreeYoSelf
April 8th
● Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram will post 9 on the countdown and the
● Lemonade Stand
o Begin at serving at 3 and serve until 5 or whenever you run out of lemonade
o Meet at the Hub at 2:45 to get setup materials
April 9th
 Mark off one day of countdown board
● Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram will post 8 on the countdown and the
● Have the table and giveaways ready for Faces of Mason in the office
● Have consent form finished and printed off
April 10th
● Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram will post 7 on the countdown and pictures from
FOM and the hashtag #FreeYoSelf
● Faces of Mason Event Table
o Meet at 8:45am at the Hub (CYNTHIA, MEGHANN)
o Start 9am and finish 1pm (CYNTHIA, MEGHANN)
● Submit all the photos to everyone via Google Drive that night
● Have a completed list of Clock Tower Questions and sent to everyone on staff and
printed out
April 11th

April 12th
● Have the secret phrases graphics created
April 13th
● Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram will post 4 on the countdown and FOM and the
hashtag #FreeYoSelf
April 14th
● Clock Tower Contest
o Meet at 8:45am at the Hub (CYNTHIA, MEGHANN)
o Start at 9am finish at 11:45am (CYNTHIA, MEGHANN)
● Finish the Faces of Mason video
hashtag #FreeYoSelf
April 15th
● Fourth Estate article posted online or in print by this day
hashtag #FreeYoSelf
April 16th
hashtag #FreeYoSelf
April 17th
● Host MCN Takeover on MCN
● Take down the countdown board
● Twitter and Facebook will watch for the secret phrase winner and release the
names on their media source as well as a description of where to obtain their prize
and the hashtag #FreeYoSelf
April 20th
● Collect data and viewership
May 7th
● Present oral report

Evaluation
● Acquire the baseline number of views per day before the campaign starts
● After MCN Takeover, acquire the number of views on that day
o Compare to our objective to see if we reached our goal of tripling the number
of views

EXECUTION
Tactics
 On one specific day at the end of the campaign we can create times where all the MCN
shows will show on one big day called MCN Takeover
o MCN Takeover will run from 12 p.m.-12 a.m.
o Show a movie at the end of the day
o Show new shows
o Show marathons of old shows
o Hand out fliers with schedules of
MCN Takeover
o Post 50 of these fliers in the JC
o Post schedule on social media
o Show Faces of Mason Video

 Hold an event called “Faces of Mason”
o Hold a huge event in the plaza hosted by MCN where students can come out and
enjoy food, fellowship, and fun activities.
o In order to get something, students have to take a picture holding a piece of paper
saying “#FreeYoSelf”
o We would make a video with all the pictures and show it on MCN Takeover
o Take advantage of college students’ love of self. Give them the opportunity to be
seen on MCN through “Faces of Mason”.
o Throughout the week, we will release small clips and air the actual piece on MCN
Takeover
o Create a hashtag #FOM to reach out to the student body who can’t be there that
day
The video can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJXTI7_z6yo

 Hold a contest on Facebook challenging people to answer as many questions as they can
about George Mason
o The winner gets a giveaway

 Have a table in north plaza giving away lemonade
o Have the hashtag for MCN Takeover on 200 cups
o Ask them to like us or follow us on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook
o If there are big groups we will take their picture and put it on Instagram or
Facebook with #FreeYoSelf
o Hand out 200 fliers of schedule at events

 Secret Phrase Contest
o At the beginning of a specific show, one half of the two-part phrase will be
disclosed.
o The viewers have to wait until the end of the show to get the second half of the
phrase
o Students would tweet or post on MCN’s Facebook the word to MCN
o The first person to post the complete phrase will receive a prize
o 4 secret phrases will be given away at random times

 Countdown Board
o Have a board in the plaza that changes every day with the number of days until
the MCN Takeover
o Count down on every single social media
o Start at 11 days and count down to 0
*

 Hold A Social Media Campaign Promoting Events
o Post every single day on each Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter
o Promote MCN Takeover by posting about it on every site
o Promote the phrase contest for the duration of the campaign
o Have a few days where we ask people to hashtag pictures of themselves being a
couch potato with the hashtag #PotatoPatriot
o Create buzz about MCN Takeover with the hashtag #FreeYoSelf to emphasize
relaxing and de-stressing and that the network is free

 Held a Viewing Party
o Host an event for everyone to come
o Have MCN on for peole to watch
o Hampton Roads dorm Lobby at 8 p.m.
o Have donuts for people who like our social media pages
o Have lemonade
o Have 100 cups with #FreeYoSelf on it
o Have candy for people who stay


 Get advertisement in Student Media Newsletter
o Promote Contest at the Corner
o Promote Lemonade Event

Objectives
For our objective, we aimed to triple the average amount of views on Channel 231 on a
single day compared to the past average amount of daily views as well as establish a beneficial
relationship with the on-campus students, faculty and staff at Mason.
After the project was completed, we surpassed our goal of tripling the viewership
number. The original number of viewers was 1 to 3 per day. Due to our efforts in promoting
MCN, we increased the viewership by over 2000% on the day of the event, also known as MCN
Takeover. The final number of viewers on that day was 23 people.
Top events aired on MCN
In comparison to other events MCN has aired our event topped all others featured on the
network:
Red Alert Fashion Show: 16
Football v Cop Pin State (club): 16
Freedom and Learning Forum featuring President Angel Cabrera and Rosemary Trible
(Founder of Fear 2 Freedom): 16
Mason Majesty 2014: 22
Testimonies
"I thought the MCN Takeover PR Campaign was a boost that the network needed,
especially on social media,” said Assistant Director for Multimedia Erica Taylor. “Overall, I
thought the campaign was an effective and creative way in getting the word out to Mason
students about MCN Ch. 231 and Student Media."
"The MCN Takeover event was very successful,” said General Manager of Mason Cable
Network Robert Horan. “The amount of likes and shares on social media has greatly improved
over this past week, and many new students tuned into the network. Overall, I am very pleased
with the results of the project, and in the future MCN will prepare similar events like this one.”
Not only did we meet and surpass our goal of tripling the average viewership for our
event we realized that our campaign sparked a resurgence we had not initially anticipated. Our
campaign motivated those who actually worked with MCN to continue our efforts and host a big
event every year. After seeing the success we had in two weeks they were encouraged to
continue our efforts in hopes to strengthen the network. Our campaign was initially created as an
Ad Hoc plan. However, upon its conclusion, we realized our campaign had a long term effect on
the MCN community.
Social Media Numbers
28 day summary from beginning to end of PR campaign
Twitter-
Beginning number of followers 688
Ending number of followers 705

Facebook-
Beginning number of likes 227
Ending number of likes 252
Instagram-
Beginning number of followers 299
Ending number of followers 316
Twitter-
Beginning impression: 13692
Ending Impression: 16300
Facebook-
Beginning post reach: 345
Ending Post Reach: 637

Obstacles:
 On each day, we scheduled to host an event (Lemonade event, Faces of Mason, Clock
tower contest). When it rained, it effectively decreased the number of attendees at each
of our events because it was cold and no one lingered at our events long due to the
weather. In an attempt to still host the clock tower event, we took the event to Twitter and
hosted it there. However, it was unsuccessful because no one interacted with us to win
the contest on Twitter.
 Due to the fact that most of the campus population was not aware of who or what MCN
was it was harder to give them incentive on why they should come and participate in our
events.
 On the night of our main event, MCN Takeover, the network was down for part of the
night which delayed shows and irritated viewers.
 People were not engaging in social media as there were many “likes” and favorites but
there were no replies or retweets. To compensate for the lack of social media response we
hosted a viewing party in the lobby of Hampton Roads dorm. We set up a MCN table
filled with snacks (lemonade, candy, doughnuts) and also left flyers of our event in hopes
that those passing by would grab a snack from our table and watch the movies playing on
our network in the lobby.
 Also, we were unable to secure North Plaza for two of our events which forced us to
relocate to outside the HUB
 Our events were the same week as International week and there were several events
hosted by fraternities and sororities that weekend. Consequently, not only were we
competing for viewers attention but there were very few people actually in their dorms
and at a tv on that specific Friday night.
 We were not able to get a story posted in Fourth Estate due to Campus restrictions

What Worked Well:
 Social media was very active and posts were frequent, allowing a broader post reach and
more awareness around our event, MCN Takeover.
 Our communication and collaboration as a group allowed for a productive and successful
atmosphere that made it easier to work through the obstacles we faced.
 Being outgoing, as well as handing out candy and lemonade was a great way to attract
people to our table at events.
 Exchanging prizes and goodies for social media presence
What We Could Have Done Differently:
 Be more mindful of the events being hosted the same week as ours so that we can prepare
ourselves for competition
 Have a more solid back-up plan for events that could possibly be cancelled and/or
affected due to weather
 We should have partnered with International Week instead of working against it
 The viewing party should have been the main event instead of trusting students to
individually tune in
 Noted the Instagram followers before the campaign started

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