By: Amber Carson
Mountaineers With Purpose, a group formed by members of WVU's PRSSA chapter, took on the Bateman Case Study competition this spring semester to put our public relations skills to the test. According to prssa.org, "the Bateman Case Study Competition is PRSSA’s premier national case study competition for public relations students and gives you an opportunity to apply your classroom education and internship experiences to create and implement a full public relations campaign." This year, we built a campaign for a non-profit called With Purpose; the organization's main purpose is to raise awareness for pediatric cancer. Our team's goal was to spread the word about With Purpose, as well as advocate more research for treatments for childhood cancer.
Starting off, our team had to collect primary and secondary research so that we could gather more information about the cause and the organization itself. We divided different areas of research amongst the group including, the current West Virginia market, competitors/potential partners, national organizations, West Virginia community organizations, and the current company background. We also established our audience, which was primarily college students on our campus. For the secondary research, we conducted focus groups to ask people if they had heard of the organization, what comes to mind when they hear "pediatric cancer", and other questions relating to their personal experiences. We also created a short survey to collect information online and a petition, pushing for more treatment options.
Brainstorming sessions with the team were always fun and interesting; some of our ideas were extreme, but our team captain, Hayleigh Moore, always pulled us back on track. A few of our initial plans ended up not playing out, but professional public relations specialists always have a backup plan! We decided to plan one large event rather than several smaller ones for our campaign. The team wanted the Golden Hour event to be a fun, positive experience, so we invited therapy dogs, A Moment of Magic, and a miniature therapy horse! The Golden Hour event featured a lit-up balloon release to recognize those coping with pediatric cancer and to those who we've lost to pediatric cancer.
Event planning is not as easy as it looks! Every detail of the event had to be planned and have a back-up plan, in order for it to be successful and run smoothly. The team pulled together to design graphics for flyers and social media, send out invitations to special guests, find supplies for the event, and attract people to attend. Since the campaign was a competition, we were extremely limited on time. Our primary methods of advertising for our event were using social media to share details about what was going to happen and who was going to be there, and we set up tables in the Mountainlair a few times to share some information.
Pediatric cancer is not a light conversation topic, but the discussion must remain for more treatments to become available. Working with an organization like, With Purpose, was rewarding because our team had the chance to help raise awareness to provide relief to people in difficult situations. This case study gave our team the opportunity to experience hands-on PR, with a purpose.