Ohio University’s Scripps Public Relations Student Society of America, or Scripps PRSSA, is in the midst of hosting its annual campaign within the Bateman Case Study Competition. Every year, the campaign is put on by PRSSA National, and every participating PRSSA organization is given a real-world client to create the campaign around.
The goal of Scripps PRSSA’s campaign involves making as many people on campus informed of what adolescent and young adult, or AYA, lymphoma is on behalf of this year’s Bateman competition sponsor, the Lymphoma Research Foundation.
“They pick a real-world client who has some story they want to tell, something they want to promote and universities put teams forward,” Beck Harhai, managing director for the Bateman campaign said. “There are around 80 universities who compete.”
Harhai said there are four steps within the campaign: research, or researching the client and the target audience for the campaign; planning, or plotting out the events for the campaign and what steps need to be taken; implementation, which means executing all the events thought of during planning; and evaluation, which is when the group will look at all their statistics and create and submit a final report to PRSSA Nationals. The campaign is currently in its implementation stage.
Every year, new members are chosen to be a part of the campaign. This year, the board includes Harhai, Lauren Reed as events planning coordinator, Makenna Goad as social media coordinator and Demetra Miller as creative director.
“We really want to increase awareness of the signs and symptoms of AYA lymphoma because many of the signs and symptoms are things that college students experience on a regular basis, like stomach pains, tiredness, loss of appetite,” Harhai said. “They're all symptoms that fall through other things that might be overlooked.”
Harhai, Reed, Goad and Miller have been working hard to make sure the campaign goes smoothly and that maximum outreach is achieved.
Miller has been handling the branding and aesthetic of the campaign, making sure the message is executed well through the website, logo and more. Through consistent marketing, the campaign can continue pushing its message and maintain engagement from others.
Goad said they have been campaigning through their social media, specifically on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. Goad said they are trying to raise awareness on social media through posting facts and quotes from medical professionals to help this process of education.
“We also have been trying to promote a healthy lifestyle, so recently we collabed with a dance organization on campus called OU Vibrations, and they allowed us to spread our message and talk to them,” Goad said. “Then we thanked them for having a healthy lifestyle and dancing and exercising and things like that, which helps prevent AYA lymphoma.”
The group has also been promoting through TikTok, highlighting different recipes that are good for one’s health.
In addition to social media, many events have been held since the beginning of the campaign. The campaign kicked off with a takeover of OU’s Instagram and has been followed by a plethora of outreach, including handing out red, heart-shaped cookies and handing out the campaign’s business cards. The campaign also partnered with North End Kitchen and Bar and has a red-themed drink for those 21 and over. They also recently held a trivia night at The Pigskin Bar and Grille.
Through the in-person events, Miller said there has been a good turnout despite the challenge COVID-19 poses.
“I know we were all a little bit nervous because we’re still in the midst of COVID,” Miller said. “It’s definitely looked a lot different than campaigns in the past but we’ve had good turnouts for the events that we’ve had and it’s been great so far.”
Reed said the group was even able to have the Athens City Building light-up red for three days at the beginning of the campaign.
“We also did a selfie stand, I believe it was like the second week of our campaign,” Reed said. “(It was) just a good way to get awareness with that sort of thing.”
The campaign will end during OU’s spring break, so the team is making sure to have a week full of extra outreach.
This week, the team will be releasing a cookbook full of healthy recipes that promote a healthy lymphatic system. They also hosted a Twitter chat Monday night and answered questions regarding lymphoma.
Together, Harhai, Reed, Goad and Miller have been able to watch the campaign unfold, and are looking forward to compiling their research and submitting it for judging.
“I think it's very rewarding educating other people about lymphoma, like running the campaign and then leaving with the knowledge that people know more about the signs and symptoms, how to live a healthy life and take care of their bodies – that's something that’s really rewarding,” Harhai said.
