OSU students place nationally for public relations campaign

Friday, November 22, 2013

Oklahoma State University School of Media and Strategic Communications students Mason Waldvogel, Andi Fagan and Annie Scheffe hosted a tail gate as part of their public relations campaign.

Oklahoma State University Public Relations Student Society of America placed third in the national College Duck Tape® PRSSA Challenge.

Duck® Brand challenged chapters nationwide to develop and execute a PR campaign to generate awareness of College Duck Tape® on campus by hosting a tailgate party. OSU PRSSA students Annie Scheffe, Andi Fagan and Mason Waldvogel developed and submitted a two-month long campaign. Dr. Lori McKinnon, School of Media and Strategic Communications professor, advised the competition team.

The challenge asked students to build brand awareness for College Duck Tape® on campus, communicate the fun and functional nature of the product and target students while incorporating alumni outreach. Focusing on OSU’s specific duck tape, students applied strategic communications research and theory to create campaign communications.

“I am thoroughly impressed with the students’ creative campaign ideas and professionalism,” McKinnon said. “In fact, key campaign concepts emerged from the team’s focus group research.”

In the initial phase of the campaign, the team sent OSU influencers OSU Duck Tape and asked them to create something. Selected influencers included: Stillwater Mayor John Bartley, Voice star Adley Stump, OSU Pom squad members, city council member and professor Gina Noble, OSU band members, Miss OSU 2014 Ali Brooks, Campus Concierge Matt Fletcher and SMSC professors. Next, OSU influencers’ projects were tweeted and shared on SMSC social media sites with #OSUstuckonDuck.

SMSC’s homecoming tailgate kicked off the second phase of the campaign. Not only did students decorate the event with OSU Duck Tape, but they also created an event photo booth. OSU fans took photos with various Duck Tape props, and the team shared the photos via social media. Fans also were encouraged to share photos on personal social media sites to be entered into a campaign contest.

Judging for the contest was judged based on organization, creativity, campaign coverage, tailgate execution and post-challenge report. For OSU’s campaign efforts, Duck Brand will award SMSC’s PRSSA chapter a $500 prize.

Duck® Brand markets College Duck Tape®, a line of tape featuring logos and mascots from more than 40 college athletic teams. Locally, OSU fans can purchase the tape in the Student Union bookstore, at Walmart, and at Lowe’s.