This advertising plan aims to increase enrollment in Radford University's College of Business and Economics (COBE) by targeting high school juniors and seniors in Northern Virginia, Richmond, and Tidewater areas of Virginia. The campaign will use social media, radio, TV, and billboards to raise awareness of COBE's majors/minors and new building. Goals are to increase COBE awareness by 10%, overall applications by 10%, and change perceptions to rank Radford higher than competitors. Success will be measured by surveys tracking interest in Radford/COBE over time.

1. ADVERTISING STRATEGY MARKETING 341
Will Bates
Jessie Chivington
James Dowell
Shaaquayla Jones
Jill Lampert
Jasmine Marshall

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R A D I F I
TABLE OF CONTENTS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY........................................................................................................................................................................1
SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS......................................................................................................................................................................1
RESEARCH..............................................................................................................................................................................................2
A. OBJECTIVES OF RESEARCH................................................................................................................................................2
B. METHODS/SOURCES............................................................................................................................................................2
SWOT ANALYSIS....................................................................................................................................................................................3
TARGET MARKET PROFILE.................................................................................................................................................................4
TARGET MARKET PERSONA...............................................................................................................................................................5
POSITIONING STATEMENT FOR THE COBE....................................................................................................................................6
THE BIG IDEA........................................................................................................................................................................................6
CREATIVE BRIEF....................................................................................................................................................................................6
CAMPAIGN MARKETING AND COMMUNICATIONS GOALS AND OBJECTIVES.......................................................................7
CREATIVE STRATEGY AND EXECUTION.........................................................................................................................................9
MEDIA STRATEGY (TIMEFRAME)....................................................................................................................................................11
MEASUREMENTS OF SUCCESS..........................................................................................................................................................12
CREDITS................................................................................................................................................................................................13

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C A T I O N
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
SITUATIONAL ANALYSIS
- Radford University is a small public university (approximately 10,000 students), located in the New River Valley of
Southwest Virginia. The size of the school results in a close, personal relationship between professors and students.
- Accredited by the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business; an honor bestowed on less than 5% of the world’s
business programs.
- Many new technologies and out of classroom opportunities for involvement are offered by the College of Business and
economics.
- Majors Offered: Accounting, Economics, Finance, Management, and Marketing
Radification Advertising has developed an advertising plan that will increase the interest and enrollment of
incoming college freshman to Radford University’s College of Business and Economics. Our campaign will reach
out to high schools in the Tidewater area, Northern Virginia, and Richmond. Contacting guidance councilors in
these high schools and making frequent recruiting trips will implement our campaign. We will be using social
media, radio broadcasts, television commercials, and billboards; to increase interest and enrollment in Radford Uni-
versity’s College of Business and Economics
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OBJECTIVES OF RESEARCH
- To identify attractive and marketable aspects of Radford
University and Radford University’s College of Business
and Economics.
- To identify strategies to promote the attractive and
marketable aspects of Radford University’s College of
Business and Economics.
METHODS/SOURCES OF RESEARCH
- Reaching out to school counselors and taking recruiting
trips to high schools in our target areas.
- Survey potential students who tour Radford University
and/ or are visited by recruiters.
- Reaching potential students and potential students’
parents via social media channels, radio advertisements,
television commercials, and road billboards.
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SWOT ANALYSIS
Strengths: Small class sizes resulting in more personal relationships
between professors and students.
Weaknesses: The small size of the University may deter potential students,
due to it not being one of the very large, well-known universities.
Opportunities: Potential for expansion of the university as a whole.
Threats: Universities of a much large scale, drawl in a greater interest from
potential students.
Strengths: Accredited by the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of
Business; an honor bestowed on less than 5% of the world’s business pro-
grams.
Weaknesses: COBE offers a greater variety of minors than majors.
Opportunities: To expand offered minors in to majors.
Threats: Losing students to other college business programs due to the lack
of major options.
IMPLICATIONS AND INSIGHTS
People know of the COBE because of its size, but upcoming freshmen might not know
of everything that the building has to offer. In order to have all of the features known,
Radford University needs to advertise it more to the high school juniors and seniors so
they can have more of an idea of what all COBE has to offer to them and their needs in
order to succeed in the university.
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6. ADVER
R A D I F I C
COBE BRAND PERSONALITY AND BRAND SPIRIT
In addition to the abundant amount of resources that the COBE has to offer all the students and faculty members, the
COBE also offers an environment that is a professional one. For example, the first Friday of every month the COBE encourages all
of the business students to dress in professional attire. That is just one way that the COBE gets its business students ready for the
real world. Another would be that since the classrooms aren’t large ones, the teachers can get to know the students on a personal
level and be able to assist them better.
KEY FINDINGS AND UNIQUE SELLING PROPOSITION FOR COBE
- Implemented resources such as; newly constructed building, computer labs, upgraded technology, stock trading room,
breakout rooms, conference rooms, lecture rooms, and multipurpose rooms.
- More personalized relationships between students of COBE and professors of COBE.
- Highly accredited by the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business.
HIGH SCHOOLS TARGETED:
- Chantilly High School
- Stone Bridge High School
- Westfield High School
- Deep Run High School
- Mills E Godwin High School
- Broad Run High School
- Frank W Cox High School
- Paul VI High School
- South County Secondary School
- Osbourn Park Senior HS
Of the data collected through research of by the university Radification have chosen three top areas in Virginia being
Northern Virginia area, Richmond area, and the Tidewater area. Within those areas the high schools with the highest applicants
to Radford University were chosen, Radification picked these areas to bring awareness to COBE of the applicants in this area.
TARGET MARKET PROFILE
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PRIMARY TARGETS
- Rising Juniors and Seniors in High School
- Live in the Tidewater, Northern Virginia,
and Richmond areas.
- 16 to 18 years old age range
- Parents and Guardians
- 40-65 years old age range
- Play a large role in college decision
- Annually income to provide the college
education to their children
- Guidance Counselors
- Working at the prospective high schools
TARGET MARKET PERSONA
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POSITIONING STATEMENT FOR THE COBE
THE BIG IDEA
The reputation of a University is important to prospective students. Students looking to attend
business school will not want to attend a university where the student body is more focused on
having a good time than on learning, and, unfortunately, Radford (and by association, the COBE) is
positioned in the minds of many students as primarily a “party school.” This campaign will aim to
change customer beliefs and attitudes about Radford’s party-centric reputation and create an
updated image of a more studious, professional and academically-focused environment. The
promotional materials created for the campaign will include information on the new COBE building
and all of its amenities, the qualified professors, and the various honors and awards earned by the
COBE to create a feeling of prestige, professionalism, and career opportunity.
The big idea behind our advertising campaign is to enter the minds, hearts, and homes of prospective
students to provide them with the information on how to not only enhance their education but their
future with Radford University as well as the College of Business and Economics.
The goal of Radford University is to raise the amount of people who apply to the university; the goal
of the COBE is to get more students to want to be a business major or minor. The target market that
the COBE should focus on is high school juniors and seniors because they would be so new to the
environment and more willing to want to be in the business department and take advantage of all the
things that are offered when they are freshmen at Radford University.
THE CREATIVE BRIEF
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CAMPAIGN MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS GOALS & OBJECTIVES
Goal 1: Increased Awareness of the COBE (Pursue from November – February 1st)
Goal 1a: Increased Awareness of the COBE Majors/Minors
- Beginning in September when high school students go back to school and running until February 1st, when regular
decision applications to Radford are due.
- COBE-specific TV and Radio ads featuring the majors and minors offered will be run in the three highest-applying
geographic segments once per month in November and December (when seniors start cracking down on college
applications and early-decision deadlines) and twice per month in January and February (right before application
deadlines for seniors).
- COBE promotional collateral materials (posters and flyers to be displayed in schools, informative COBE brochures
for guidance offices) will be created and given to high schools to provide their students with information on the
college options available to them
Goal 1b: Increased Campus Visits
- Campus visits are ranked as the #1 most important source of information to students seeking information about
colleges.[1]
- Increasing the number of students that come and experience Radford’s campus, the new COBE building, and get
firsthand information and answers to questions in person. If a student is less informed, seeing the new building
and getting information about the quality of the program may move Radford and the COBE higher up above other,
similar schools on their list of choices.
Goal 2: Increased Rate of Application with Intention of Joining the COBE (Pursue December – January)
- Increase the number of students that apply to Radford intending to join the COBE, focusing these efforts before
December 1st (the early decision application deadline) and February 1st (the regular decision application
deadline).
Goal 3: Repositioning Radford and The COBE (Pursue November – February 1st)
- Change the perception of Radford (and therefore the COBE) among prospective students towards being superior to
other colleges.
- Promotional materials will include information on the new building and all of its amenities, the qualified
professors, and the various honors and awards earned by the COBE to create a feeling of prestige, professionalism,
and career opportunity.
- Success on this measure can be gauged by surveying prospective high school students on their ranking of a list of
colleges (made up of Radford and its primary competition) before and after the start of the campaign.
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CAMPAIGN MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS GOALS & OBJECTIVES
Objective 1: Increase Awareness of the COBE by 10% (By February 1st)
Objective 1a: Promote Campus Visits to Increase Average Campus Visit Group Size by 2 Students (By February 1st)
- Promote campus visits to increase campus visit group size and raise the maximum allowed group size by two
students. This will result in 704 more visiting prospective students, an average of 18% of whom already intend to
major in a COBE Major.
- This means 127 more prospective business students will experience the COBE yearly and may be convinced to
apply, leading to 25-114 extra additions to the COBE program.
Objective 2: Increase Overall Application by 10% (December 1st - February 1st)
- Increase overall application to Radford by 10%
- About 18% of them will likely intend to pursue the COBE, resulting in about 176 new applicants intending to join
COBE for the program to choose from (11% of the total current number of COBE students)
- Since about 75-90% of COBE-pursuing applicants are accepted, with about 20-50% of them enrolling, this could
mean an extra 35 to 158 new student additions to the program.[2]
Objective 3: Change Perception of Radford (and therefore the COBE) to Ranking Higher than Other Schools (By February 1st)
- Surveys on interest in the COBE (and other programs/colleges) can be given out by guidance counselors during the
hectic winter season that they spend loading high school students up with college information and helping them
apply.
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CREATIVE STRATEGY AND EXECUTIONS
The twitter page can keep all of the COBE’s students,
faculty, and potential future students up to date on what is
happening in the College of Business & Economics.
Everything that happens in COBE can be found on this
page, from activities to clubs and organizations.
The Facebook page will be for current students and future
students to connect with others and post based on current
activities going on in COBE.
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THIRTY SECOND RADIO AD:
“Are you a high school student interested in attending one of the best
business schools in the country? Look no further. Radford University
College of Business has been ranked by the Princeton Review as one
of its top 200 business schools in the country. With its new 44 million
dollar COBE building and AASCB certified programs, Radford
University is an excellent choice to get a start on your future and career.
Apply today at Radford.edu!”
OUTDOOR MOBILE BILLBOARD
This is a mobile billboard that will run for
8 hours, for 5 to 6 days a week throughout
Vrginia. It will be focused in Northern
Virginia.
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MEDIA STRATEGY (TIMEFRAME)
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R A D I F I
MEASUREMENTS OF SUCCESS
The success of this campaign’s awareness-generating and repositioning efforts will be measured through surveys of
interest in different schools (including both Radford and the COBE) given to students by their high school guidance
counselors or e-mailed directly to students who have expressed interest in Radford (whether on websites like
CollegeBoard and CollegeProwler, during standardized tests like the PSAT and SAT, or directly to the university).
Success will be indicated by an increase in the number of students that rank Radford University and The COBE as ac-
ademic paths that interest them, as well as an increase in the number of students who rank Radford and The COBE as
their top choice schools, before the regular decision application deadline on February 1st.
The success of the measures taken to increase the number of applications to Radford University will be measured using
the number of applications submitted by February 1st.
Any success achieved in increasing the sizes of tour groups will be measured by comparing the average tour group size
during the fall semester and up to February 1st to the average size of tour groups during the same time period in the
previous academic year.
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C A T I O N
CREDITS
History of Radford University:
http://www.radford.edu/content/radfordcore/home/about/history.html
History of the College of Business and Economics: http://www.radford.edu/content/cobe/home/about/cobe-history.html
Will, Stanton.
Christopher Newport University. (2015). WWW.CNU.EDU
James Madison University. (2015). WWW.JMU.EDU
Longwood University. (2015). WWW.LONGWOOD.EDU
Virginia Commonwealth University. (2015). WWW.VCU.EDU
Virginia Tech. (2015). WWW.VT.EDU
College of Business and Economics, http://www.radford.edu/content/cobe/home/academic-departments/economics.html/
College of Education and Human Development, https://www.radford.edu/content/cehd/home.html
Waldron College of Health and Human Services, https://www.radford.edu/content/cehd/home.html
College of Humanities and Behavioral Sciences, https://www.radford.edu/content/chbs/home.html
College of Science and Technology, http://www.radford.edu/content/csat/home.html
College of Visual and Performing Arts, https://www.radford.edu/content/cvpa/home.html
Products Offered, Retrieved 4 November 2015 from:
https://learn.radford.edu/d2l/le/content/84692/viewContent/1349976/View?ou=84692
http://www.radford.edu/content/cobe/cobe-advising/academics/majors-minors.html
Freshman profile. (2015, October 12). Radford.edu. Retrieved from http://www.radford.edu/content/admissions/home/prospec
tive/profile.html
The Most Popular Social Media for Young People? Texting, http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/06/facebook-tex
ting-teens-instagram-snapchat-most-popular-social-network/373043/
Recreation for Teens in Northern Virginia, https://archive-it.org/collections/4178
Top 10 Music Cities other than Nashville, http://www.musicfromtherow.com/home/top-10-music-cities-other-than-nashville
Radio Locator, http://radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/vacant?select=city&city=Norfolk&state=VA
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CREDITS
http://www.gaebler.com/Cost-of-Radio-Advertising-In-Roanoke---VA
http://www.gaebler.com/Cost-of-Radio-Advertising-In-Richmond---VA
http://www.gaebler.com/Cost-of-Radio-Advertising-In-Virginia+Beach---VA
http://www.gaebler.com/Cost-of-Radio-Advertising-In-Fairfax---VA
https://willhanrahan.wordpress.com/2012/03/28/pandora/
https://www.chilliprinting.com/Shopping-Cart/?CFID=2531247&CFTOKEN=4b5722d49684f205-86DB793F-06C5-2A78-3CD
682FA8F1C5824&jsessionid=66309baf2b1cf9d7bf9a782f751b3d187a5c
Will, Stanton.
History of Radford University, Retrieved 1 March 2015 from History of Radford:
http://www.radford.edu/content/radfordcore/home/about/history.html
Will, Stanton.
http://www.radford.edu/content/radfordcore/home/academics/colleges-and-departments.html#par_text_5
http://www.radford.edu/content/cobe/home/academic-departments/economics.html/
Products Offered, Retrieved 4 November 2015 from:
https://learn.radford.edu/d2l/le/content/84692/viewContent/1349976/View?ou=84692
http://www.radford.edu/content/cobe/cobe-advising/academics/majors-minors.html
http://www.gaebler.com/Cost-of-Radio-Advertising-In-Richmond---VA
http://www.gaebler.com/Cost-of-Radio-Advertising-In-Virginia+Beach---VA
http://www.gaebler.com/Cost-of-Radio-Advertising-In-Fairfax---VA
https://willhanrahan.wordpress.com/2012/03/28/pandora/
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CREDITS
https://www.chilliprinting.com/Shopping-Cart/?CFID=2531247&CFTOKEN=4b5722d49684f205-86DB793F-06C5-2A78-3CD
682FA8F1C5824&jsessionid=66309baf2b1cf9d7bf9a782f751b3d187a5c
SWOT Analysis
http://www.radford.edu/content/cobe/home.html
http://www.maps.vt.edu/
http://www.vt.edu/about/factbook/about-university.html
http://www.jmu.edu/about/index.shtml
http://www.jmu.edu/about/fact-and-figures.shtml
http://www.jmu.edu/international/abroad/all-programs/index.shtml
https://info.jmu.edu/studentactivities/about-us/
http://www.jmu.edu/academics/business.shtml
http://www.jmu.edu/cob/experiential-learning/index.shtml
http://cnu.edu/irar/
http://cnu.edu/about/index.asp
http://www.opds.vcu.edu/insti-planning--analysis/
http://www.longwood.edu/assessment/
Goals & Objectives
[1] Freshman profile. (2015, October 12). Radford.edu. Retrieved from http://www.radford.edu/content/admissions/home/pro
spective/profile.html
[2] Radford University admissions stats. (2015, October 12). Cappex. Retrieved from http://www.cappex.com/colleges/Rad
ford-University/admissions
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