NEWS
The red balloon icon and the subsequent launch of a hundred into the air had been somewhat foiled by the rain but the meaning rang through. Months of work had gone into that moment as they watched them float skyward. Hoping they would disperse upon release they instead stuck together rising up and eventually out of sight.
“We went through all this trouble finding environmentally friendly balloons and everything,” said senior Janelle Maluenda. She and her four teammates didn’t watch in vain as news came in April that their group as well as the “Pledge to Exist” team also from Chapman, had received honorable mention in the Bateman Case Study Competition. Of 16 honorable mentions Chapman received two from a field of 68 teams from across the country.
Each team, made up of five members, was given the challenge of taking a drab government initiated survey and turning it into one of the most important set of questions that people will answer this decade. Might seem a bit far-fetched but when more than $400 billion in federal funds is on the line it couldn’t be more accurate. Such is the case with the Census 2010, the once every 10 year survey that is the foundation the government will use to allocate resources for institutions such as hospitals, public works and schools as well as the number of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
But getting the word out is only half the problem and the Census Bureau has taken the battle to the streets and onto campuses to get those who would otherwise disregard that giant white envelope to see it as something that will impact their lives. In an effort to do so the bureau teamed with the Public Relations Student Society of America to help launch a public relations campaign of unprecedented scale.
The Census Bureau seeks to account for every person living in the United States and its territories. There is no target market here, if you live within the confines of the U.S., legally or not, the bureau wants to count you. Unfortunately getting people to open it up, respond to 10 questions and return it has become their biggest hurdle.
Efforts to get over that barrier this time around include sponsoring a national student competition to target one of the bureau’s “hard to count” segment’s of the population, college students.
Each year PRSSA holds a student competition that gives students from colleges and universities across the country the opportunity to create, implement and evaluate a public relations campaign for an organization. The Bateman competition, which began in 1973, provides a platform for students to apply what they learn in the classroom to a real-world client.
“The PRSSA is the most significant national organization for public relations students,” said Joan Gladstone, assistant professor of Public Relations and the faculty advisor to the teams.
Team members found out in November of last year that they had been selected out of a pool of applicants. Campaign research and planning began almost immediately and culminated in April when winners were announced on PRSSA’s website.
“We have worked so well together as a team and it has been such an amazing experience working together for the past four months,” said sophomore and “Pledge to Exist” team member Amanda Vo.
“Pledge to Exist” team members helped bring the Super Mash Bros. to campus in February. They combined with Chapman Radio to host the event and produced fliers, cds and information on the census to get their message out to students. The team’s facebook page was filled with pictures of people from the event with hands raised as though taking an oath, pledging to fill out the census form and return it.
“This program allows students to develop intelligent, creative and strategic campaigns,” said Ted Nguyen, manager of public communications and media relations for OCTA. Nguyen serves as professional advisor for the “Celebrate Census 2010” team. He competed as a member of a Bateman team while he was an undergraduate at Brigham Young University in Utah.
His counterpart for the “Pledge to Exist” team, Danielle Alvarez graduated from Chapman and is the manager of consumer public relations for Boost Mobile. She, like Nguyen competed in the Bateman competition, in which her team developed a campaign for Nutella.
“It is the closest thing to real world experience these students will have an opportunity to get as undergraduates,” said Alvarez.
Next year’s competition is already being discussed in public relations classes and meetings. Chapman will field only one team next semester so that campus activities and information is focused from only one source said Gladstone. A maximum of five members may serve on one team making the competition just to be a member greater than in years past.
“I wouldn’t be where I am at if it wasn’t for Bateman,” said Alvarez.
Contact this reporter: kim.galbraith@thepantheronline.com
