Fall 2013
PR Cases & Campaigns
Comm 5580, Section 001
Class: Mon/Wed, 11:50-1:45 – MEB 1225
_______________________________________________________________________
Instructor: William Payton
Email: billp72@gmail.com
Phone: 801.836.7304
Class Overview:
Welcome to PR Cases & Campaigns! The goal of this class is to provide you with an overview of public
relations practices, cases, and methods for creating effective campaigns. We will discuss and review
concepts and specific campaigns. We will then devote the class and these discussions to a project that you
and a group of students will complete for a local client.
The project will be an excellent opportunity for you to apply the principles you have learned in school
thus far, and provide a powerful piece of work to add to your portfolio. This class requires work and a
time commitment. It will be enjoyable and rewarding if you engage in it.
Objectives:
1. To understand the role of public relations in organizational management
2. To understand the role of strategic planning in public relations
3. To learn how to develop a strategic plan using the planning matrix
4. To develop a public relations campaign for an organization
5. To learn and demonstrate oral presentation abilities
6. To demonstrate your grasp of points 1-5 above and ability to present ideas in a well-written and
professional document
7. To demonstrate your ability to work as part of a group
Text:
There is no assigned textbook for this class. Readings may be assigned, and will be provided through
Canvas, but no book will have to be purchased. Enjoy your extra cash. Topics will be presented and
submitted for discussion and elaboration in class, so plan to attend each day. Regarding the provided
readings, they should be completed before the next time class meets.
As an optional text please consider the following book as an excellent resource on PR planning that will
help you as you enter the workforce:
Wilson, L. & Ogden, J. (2012). Strategic Communications Planning for Effective Public Relations
and Marketing (5th ed.). Kendall Hunt Publishing.
Attendance:
The easiest way to pass this course is to show up for class and do the work. Class discussions are
designed to help you learn the proper format and steps necessary to complete your individual client
campaigns. Two absences for the semester will be excused, and any additional absences will result in a 10
point deduction from your individual final project grade per absence. Then 10 additional points will be
deducted for each additional absence up to a total of five. At that point you will fail the class. Leaving
class early without notifying me also counts as an absence. I realize that things come up, however, so
contact me by email PRIOR to class if an emergency arises. Exceptions are not likely and will be made at
my discretion.
Final Project
The culminating assignment in this class is your final project, which will involve creating a full, strategic
PR campaign for a local client. You will present the project to your client as the final project for this
class. This project will be a wonderful addition to your portfolio if you put forth the effort to make it so.
The project will involve thorough research into the messaging efforts currently in use by your client and
an analysis of their effectiveness; identification of key publics (and opinion leaders, if applicable) with
self-interests, strategies, and tactics for each public outlined; an overview of which media channels should
be utilized for effective messaging and justification for each channel; an implementation calendar
allowing for the execution of your plan; and several other elements. A full outline of the project will be
provided in class to allow for advance planning. Be prepared for both primary (focus groups, surveys,
etc.) and secondary (Google, local news, published industry research, etc.) research to drive your plan.
In addition to the project (which will be in pdf format), a presentation should also be created that provides
an overview of your plan. This will be presented on the last three days of class. A grading rubric will be
given later in the semester which outlines the specific criteria that need to be met. Note that 75 points of
your grade this semester (see below) comes from your group members’ evaluations of your contribution
to the group, so make sure you are both present and engaged! The class as a whole will also evaluate your
presentation, and their scores account for 25 points of your grade this semester. More details on the
project are forthcoming. Be creative and have fun with this assignment!
Grades:
Project Score
Group Member Evaluations
Presentation Score
Class Presentation Evaluations
Various assignments and quizzes
TOTAL (may vary)
100 pts.
75 pts.
50 pts.
25 pts.
50 pts.
300 pts.
*Grading scale and syllabus are subject to change at instructor’s discretion.
Grades will be based on the following percentages:
100-90% A
89.99-87% B+
86.99-84% B
83.99-80% B79.99-77% C+
76.99-74% C
73.99-70% C69.99-67% D+
66.99-64% D
64.99-60% D59.99% on F
Content Accommodation: The University recognizes that students’ sincerely-held core beliefs might
make it difficult for students to fulfill some requirements of some courses or majors. It is the student’s
obligation to determine, before the last day to drop courses without penalty, when course requirements
conflict with the student’s sincerely-held core beliefs. We will not make content accommodations in this
class.
Course Schedule:
The “live” schedule will reside on Canvas, for you to review each week. The schedule below will serve as
a general outline of the semester, although it is subject to change at any time.
Date Topic/Agenda Notes
Mon, Jan 12 Introduction, expectations, welcome to class
Wed, Jan 14 A Case Study, Community and the Relationship-Building Approach to Communications
Identify your groups.
Mon, Jan 19 Martin Luther King Holiday
Wed, Jan 21 Cases and examples
Mon, Jan 26 Guest or Public Information and Persuasive Communication: methods, ethics
Wed, Jan 28 Meet the Client
Mon, Feb 2 Communication Research Methods: Secondary Research
Wed, Feb 4 Meet the Client; Client Application: Client Research
Mon, Feb 9 Communication Research Methods: Primary Research
Wed, Feb 11 Client Application: Design Your Primary Research Study and Timeline
Mon, Feb 16 President’s Day Holiday
Wed, Feb 18 Using Research for Effective Communication Planning; Group Meetings: Primary Research
Design Due
Mon, Feb 23 Setting Goals and Objectives and Key Publics and Message Design
Wed, Feb 25 Group Meetings: Research based objectives
Mon, Mar 2 Designing Strategies and Tactics to Send Messages
Wed, Mar 4 Group Meetings: Your Strategies and Tactics
Mon Mar 9 More on strategies and tactics
Wed, Mar 11 Group Meetings: situation analysis and core problems and opportunities Due, Thursday Mar
12, 11:00 p.m.
Mon, Mar 16 Spring Break
Wed, Mar 18 Spring Break
Mon, Mar 23 Regular class begin strategies and tactics
Wed, Mar 25 Group Meetings: Calendar and Budget Due
Mon, Mar 30 Effective Communications Measurement and Evaluation
Wed, April 1 Ethics and Professionalism; Executive Summaries and Business Presentations; Review the
requirements for the project and presentations.
Mon, Apr 6 Group Meetings Meetings w/ Groups 1, 2, & 3-----Wed, Apr 8 Group Meetings Meetings w/ Groups 4, 5, & 6
Mon, Apr 13 Group Meetings Meetings w/ Groups 1, 2, & 3
Wed, Apr 15 Group Meetings Meetings w/ Groups 4, 5, & 6
Mon, Apr 20 SCHEDULED MEETINGS ONLY Email me to schedule meetings on this day.
Wed, Apr 22 The Presentation: Meet as class and then short group meetings.
Mon, Apr 27 Project Presentations Groups 1, 2 & 3
Wed, Apr 29 Presentations Groups 4, 5& 6
Your final project and presentation will count as the final exam.
Scholarship/Professionalism/Honesty:
Students are encouraged to arrive on time, prepared, and ready to participate in class discussions. Quizzes
will occasionally be given in class. These will be arranged to open at the beginning of class and close a
few minutes later. There will be no makeup opportunity.
Students who habitually arrive late (or fail to arrive at all) will lose points as outlined above. The same is
true for students who lack professionalism. Part of professionalism is honesty. Cheating in this class will
not be tolerated. If you are caught cheating or plagiarizing you will fail the final assignment, and your
fate is left in the hands of the Department Chair. Students generally cheat due to one of two reasons:
either they choose to be lazy, or they do not understand the material. I cannot help you with the former,
but I will make myself available at any time to help you with the latter. If you are struggling with certain
concepts in the class PLEASE contact me via email and we'll work through them together. If I don't know
the answers to your questions, I will do my best to help you find them.
Accommodations:
ADA: The University of Utah seeks to provide equal access to its programs, services, and activities
for people with disabilities. If you need such accommodation in this class, please provide reasonable
prior notice to the Center for Disability Services, 162 Olpin Union Building, 801-581-5020
(V/TDD), http://disability.utah.edu/.
I am happy you are here! Enjoy the class!