COM 377 Public Relations Campaigns
School of Communication
Illinois State University
Spring 2015, Section 001
Tuesday & Thursday, 12:35-1:50pm
158 Fell Hall
Professor: Rebecca Hayes (Becky), Ph.D.
Office: 424 Fell Hall
Office Phone: (309) 438-8869, MOBILE PHONE (734) 330-3264
E-mail: rahayes@ilstu.edu
Note: E-mail is my preferred mode of communication, you’ve got my mobile number for calls or texts
related to emergent client issues or things that need to be talked through. Or, for pics of awesome stuff
you find out in the “real world”.
Office Hours: Wednesdays, 2:00 – 3:30 pm; Thursdays 11:00am - noon.
Catalog Course Description
Theory and research related to professional experience in strategizing and executing public relations.
Prerequisites: COM 111, 161, 268, 297. Can be taken for graduate credit.
Additional Description
This course is the first of two capstone courses to the public relations major, and students will be
challenged to do their very best work and will be held accountable for it. This course blends lecture,
in-class discussion, and out-of-class work to extend the principles of public relations and integrated
marketing communication. Advanced academic readings, industry publications, and case studies will
also reveal how effective public relations tactics, strategies, and campaigns are conceived, developed,
implemented and measured. The focal point of the course is a complete public relations campaign plan
for a real client that students develop during the semester. Students will compete in agency teams for
the client’s business.
Course Objectives
I will expect the most perfect (textbook) and compelling (creative) work you and your team can
possibly produce. You are now juniors and seniors and will soon be released into the wilds of PR and
the integrated marketing communication industries. Your colleagues and clients will expect perfection
and creativity throughout your career.
More specifically, upon successful completion of this course, you should be able to:
1. Define the basic process in organizations for developing communication campaigns and designing
messages for them.
2. Apply rules for English grammar, AP and APA styles accurately.
3. Effectively articulate the tactics, strategies, objectives that must be addressed on behalf of the
assigned client.
4. Design and conduct research (on behalf of a specific client) appropriate to a public relations
campaign.
5. Create a PR plan that will bring together audiences and messages on behalf of the client.
6. Develop example public relations tactics in support of such a campaign.
7. Present the campaign persuasively to the client in a competitive pitch.
8. Know how to perform in a professional setting and how you will be expected to think and act
when given communication challenges.
9. Continue to be excited about and engaged with the PR industry you are about to enter.
Continued Enrollment
Your enrollment in this class constitutes agreement with all aspects of this syllabus and any additions
or alterations that may be made to it during the course of the semester. Additions and alterations
include announcements I post for the class in ReggieNet or make in class, and additions and
alternations include e-mail sent to class members. Such additions and alterations include information
about the course, assignments, and so on. These announcements and e-mail are equally important
when it comes to evaluating your work, because announcements may contain clarifications or other
help that fit within assignments’ requirements. It is your job to keep tabs on what is going on.
Texts & Readings
 The Associated Press stylebook and briefing on media law, Associated Press (2013, or 2014).
Either of these editions are fine. Please note that the 2012 edition is much cheaper and
available on Amazon, but there are big differences between the two editions, particularly in
the areas of fashion, technology, and social media terminology, so it isn’t recommended. Also
available as an iPhone/iPad and Android app (SUPER useful).
www.apstylebook.com/mobile/
 Readings available through the course page on ReggieNet. Each week will have its own
readings folder under “Resources and Materials”. There will be more industry readings than
are listed here in the syllabus, and if is in the folder for the listed week, it is an
assigned/required reading.
 PR Week and Regan’s PR Daily. PR Week is available through the Milner Library website,
through the web and Facebook. Please see the ReggieNet document “Accessing PR Week”.
PR Daily is available at www.prdaily.com
Additional Resource:
Note: I expect all in-text citations and references to be in APA Style.
Please see this as reference:
The Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) , http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/
Outside Preparation
Plan on spending between six (6) and nine (9) hours each week outside of class on your work for this
course. You will need this time to complete assigned readings, write papers, develop team projects,
and study for the exam. This load will be heavier toward the end of the semester, so work ahead if
you can.
Assignments & Learning Assessments
All assignments are expected to be to the highest level of collegiate writing, written in AP Style with
APA style in-text citations and references (thus, the pre-reqs of 268 and 297). I reserve the right to
turn back highly flawed work ungraded. Please see more details, below, in “Class Policies”.
Tactic assignment: We will be upgrading our tactic knowledge and producing a particular
persuasive tactic.
Current campaign assignment: Throughout the semester, each student is responsible for an
approximately 5-7 minute presentation and short paper on a current public relations industry
campaign or event. We will sign up for presentation days the first week of class.
Written analysis of PRSA Silver Anvil winner: This assignment is team-based and requires you to
apply general and specific thinking (theory and practice) about campaigns and message design.
COM 377 Syllabus, Spring 2015
Page 2 of 9
Non-profit pitch: This in-class and take-home assignment is team-based and requires you to apply
specific concepts and methods about effective pitching and problem solving.
Exam: There is one exam, about two-thirds of the way through the semester. It is online and opennote, but it will not be open-person (as in you must complete it on your own). Missed exams
cannot be made up.
In-class assignments: There will be a couple of in-class assignments throughout the semester that
will require close attention to the assigned readings and the documentary, but will be done during
the course of that day’s class.
Participation and attendance: Participation is more than just showing up, it is being engaged in
class discussions, contributing answers, being a good scholar-citizen, etc. Readings are to be
completed before class and I expect informed participation from all students. I realize off-days
happen, but please come prepared to class and ready to discuss our readings. Please see
attendance and lateness policy, below. There may be a couple of pop quizzes if I get the
impression that readings aren’t being done.
The Campaign: The purpose of the campaign is to give you hands-on experience with “the stuff”
of public relations. As a team, you’ll have an opportunity to act as an agency, meet with a client,
analyze problems and opportunities, and propose a public relations campaign to address the
client’s needs. You will prepare your campaign proposal piecemeal and get “no-stakes” feedback
on your learning and its quality as you develop the sections. The final product will be the “highstakes” graded work to assess your learning. At the end of the term, you will also make a
presentation to the client in which you will seek its business. The presentation will be backed-up
with a campaign plan book that explains your team's campaign and includes materials that the
client can immediately put into use. Your presentation and book will also explain how the
campaign is to be implemented and evaluated. The campaign plan book, presentation, and all
ideas and material developed for the client will become the property of the client to be used as the
client sees fit without remuneration to you and your team. You are entitled to and encouraged to
keep a copy of your team’s final campaign material for yourself to use in your portfolio.
Graduate Students
In addition to the assignments listed in the “Assignments” section, graduate students will develop a
research project relevant to the content of this course and suitable for submission to an academic
convention. I must approve topics. Details will be given separately, and the basic assignment includes
three parts: a written proposal (2-3 pages), literature review (6-7 pages) and final paper (17-19 pages),
which are due at different points in the semester (i.e., each third of the semester; arrange due dates
with the professor).
Graduate Assignments
Proposal
Intro & Lit Review
Final Complete Paper/Project
TOTAL
Available
Points
50
100
200
350
Earned
Points
Teamwork
Much public relations work takes place in a team environment; consequently, much of the work for
this course will be done in self-selected teams. A small amount of in-class time will be provided for
team activity and team consultations with me. You will be given a chance to evaluate your teammates
on the campaign at the end of the course. Note: This means I will know if you are “that” group
member. Don’t be that group member.
COM 377 Syllabus, Spring 2015
Page 3 of 9
Assignments
SAA Paper
Non-Profit Pitch
Current Campaign assignment
Exam
Participation
Tactics assignment
COM Week assignment
In-class assignments
Campaign Plan Points:
Client Pitch
Campaign Book
Client Evaluation
Peer Evaluations
TOTAL
Winning Team Bonus
Available
Points
100
50
100
150
50
50
25
50
Earned
Points
100
300
50
50
1075
15
Assignment grades will be posted on ReggieNet’s gradebook, please keep track of them there. If you
disagree with my evaluation of your work, it is clear that I have mis-graded something, please see me
during office hours within one week after I have returned your work. I will not discuss grades at any
other time. I follow conventional rounding up procedures (see scale, below)
Rounding
I do not "round up" or "round down" points toward final course grades, except in cases for fractions of
points, and at that rate I use conventional rounding procedures, e.g. 71.75% would be rounded to a C,
and those rounding procedures are actually reflected in the grading scale below. No exceptions.
Undergraduate Students (please note this might be different than your other classes):
A=92%-100%
B=82%-91.5%
C=72%-81.5%
D=60%-71.5%
Graduate Students:
A=1215-1350
B=1080-1214
C=945-1079
D=810-944
F=0-60%
F=0-809
Incompletes will be granted only when a documented emergency prevents you from completing the
class, you contacted the Dean of Students Office, and you have completed at least approximately twothirds (66%) of the course.
Late Work
Work submitted late will be penalized 30% per day (24 hours), with the first penalty starting after the
assignment is collected in class (typically at the beginning of class). The exceptions to this are the
Current Campaign Analysis and the Campaign – these cannot be done/turned in late, except for
documented and approved absences. I will follow the University’s bereavement policy in all instances
of family tragedies. Please see: http://policy.illinoisstate.edu/students/2-1-27.shtml
Attendance
I don’t take attendance, but I can usually tell when you aren’t in class. Since a big part of your grade
is participation, and nearly 50% of our content is presented in-class only, attendance is really
important.
COM 377 Syllabus, Spring 2015
Page 4 of 9
Lateness
Being late is terribly distracting, and a little rude. Please let me know if you know you are going to be
late for a particular class (or need to leave early) and we’ll be cool.
Special Needs
Any student needing to arrange a reasonable accommodation for a documented disability should
contact Disability Concerns, Fell 350, 438-5853 (voice), 438-8620 (TDD).
Course Schedule (Subject to change)
1/13
Course overview. Review of PR and its role in marketing
1/15
Review of PR and essentials skills of PR. What is a
campaign?
Assign Current Campaign Assignment
Reading/Assignment Due
Note: The readings are expected to
be completed BEFORE class on
the day they are listed. Additional
readings will be added as
interesting industry publications,
news articles, and blogs show up,
so please just reference the
ReggieNet folder for that week.
Visit ReggieNet site, PR Defined
(PRSA)
Atkin & Rice (2012) Heyman
(2004); Forbes (2014) Explore
PRWeek and industry outlets folder,
1/20
Continued campaign coverage – elements of campaign
O’Guinn Chapter 18
1/22
In-class assignment and discussion of documentary
Read O’Guinn Chapter 16 first and
then watch documentary (linked on
assignment and RN)
Date
1/27
1/29
Topic & Assignments
Influencer media relations, Social media analytics in the
Social Media Analytics Command Center (2nd floor, Fell, but
we’ll be meeting in our room and walking up).
Communication campaigns 1: ROPE model & goals,
objectives, strategies, tactics.
2/3
Communication campaigns 2: PR models, theory & audience
segmentation
2/5
In-class assignment on objectives (The O of ROPE)
2/10
Research in PR (The R of ROPE), Formative and establishing
research questions
2/12
Research continued , situation analysis
2/17
PRSA and the Silver Anvil Awards
Assign Silver Anvil analysis (SAA) paper
2/19
Choosing tactics (The start of the P of ROPE)
Assign tactics assignment
2/23
Persuasion and message design
2/26
Evaluating campaign effectiveness (The E of ROPE)
COM 377 Syllabus, Spring 2015
Industry readings in folder
Diggs-Brown (2012a & b); Hendrix
& Hayes (2010)
O’Guinn Chapter 6, industry links on
RN
Carnival Triumph readings, see
folder
Weber Shandwick (2013),
Encyclopedia of PR- “Formative
Research”( ebook inked through
library)
Stacks (2010, ebook), SWOT
analysis
PRSA Silver Anvil winners
and PRSA on the Silver Anvils
Twente MRT (2014), Encyclopedia
of PR – “Tactics”
Optional, but totally useful: Smith
(2009)
How to Create a Message Platform,
Willard (2014)
Read all articles linked in the
category of “Evaluating PR’s
Page 5 of 9
Effectiveness & Value”
Howard and Matheson (2012 a & b)
3/3
The Campaign – Campaign assigned, groups formed, client
discussed. DO NOT MISS THIS CLASS.
Assign Section Set #1: Situation Analysis;
Problem/Opportunity; Target Audiences; Key Message
Platform
3/5
Client Visit (Subject to change) – We will be traveling to the
client locally.
3/10
3/12
SPRING BREAK
SPRING BREAK
None
Organize questions to ask client with
your team – review the slides about
this.
SAA paper due
The Pitch
Assign and start: Non-profit pitch problem
Assign Section Set #2: Objectives, strategies & tactics
Work day on non-profit pitches
TBA
Tactics assignment due
3/24
Non-profit pitches
3/26
AAA
EXAM- NO FORMAL CLASS
Non-profit pitch due
EXAM ONLINE, COMPLETE
ANYTIME TODAY
Section Set #1 due for “no-stakes”
feedback (via email)
3/17
3/19
3/31
4/2
4/7
COM
WEEK
4/9
Scheduling & budgeting; Account & client management
Assign Section Set #3: Evaluation
Media relations – Introduction
Assign Section Set #4: Timeline & Budget; Assign Section
Set #5: Executive Summary & Letter of Transmittal.
Howard and Matheson (2012 a & b)
Others TBA
COM Week, attend a presentations, no formal class.
COM Week assignment available on Reggienet.
Section Set #2 due for “no-stakes”
feedback.
Campaign work time, no formal class
4/14
Blogger media relations
4/16
Traditional media relations – Dr. Smudde
4/21
TBA
Planning pitches, scheduling, etc. Pitch dress rehearsal
schedule set
Dress rehearsals. DRs will be scheduled throughout the day
and into the evening to give each time plenty of time.
4/23
4/28
4/30
Week
of May
4
See folder
Client Pitches. Subject to change with client availability
During our scheduled final exam period (not set yet)
Section Set #3 due for “no-stakes”
feedback via email
Section Sets #4 & 5 due for “nostakes” feedback
Campaign Presentations and
Campaign Books due.
Client meets with entire class to
discuss presentations and plans, and
then announces winning team.
NOTE: I may alter this course schedule and other aspects of this syllabus as the course progresses.
You are responsible for noting any such changes, which will be announced in class and/or
posted on ReggieNet.
COM 377 Syllabus, Spring 2015
Page 6 of 9
Course Policies
Cell Phones, Voice Recorders, iPods, Text Messaging, etc
Please turn off electronic devices while attending class, with the exception of laptops for notes. If your
phone goes off in class, or if you are and there is a good chance I will answer your phone and talk to
your mom or roommate about how adorable you are. See me before class if you must have your
device on because of a legitimate need to do so. You may use a laptop in class, provided it is not
distracting and you use it only to help you in your learning this class’ content and not watch YouTube
cat videos or do any other nonclass-related stuff. Doing so will also result in a 5-point penalty for each
occurrence.
Online Course Material
I use ReggieNet extensively to organize the material for this course, give exams, and make announcements
about our class. If you have problems with ReggieNet, let me know and call the Help Desk at 309-438HELP.
The ReggieNet site for this class contains required reading material for this course. This material used in
connection with the course may be subject to copyright protection. Your viewing of the material posted on
ReggieNet does not imply any right to reproduce, to retransmit or to redisplay it other than for your own
personal or educational use. Links to other sites are provided for the convenience of the site user (staff or
student) or visitor and do not imply any affiliation or endorsement of the other site owner nor a guarantee
of the quality or veracity of information contained on the linked site.
Many files are PDFs and should open easily with Adobe Acrobat Reader to view and print them. If you
don't have this free software, go to http://www.adobe.com to download that software.
Academic Dishonesty
Plagiarism and any other form of academic dishonesty will not be tolerated. Plagiarism (presenting
someone else’s work as your own or without proper acknowledgment) or any other type of academic
dishonesty will be considered justification for failure for that particular assignment or the entire
course, depending on severity. Although you may discuss with each other any assignment and course
material, bounce ideas off each other, and share the university's resources available to you (e.g., media
guides), you cannot share actual work you do with others. All work must be that of the student (or
students involved in a group assignment) and developed during the current semester for this course.
Sources must receive credit using APA style. For information regarding academic integrity and
procedures for academic misconduct, see ISU’s Code of Student Conduct, Section V.B.1, page 8:
http://deanofstudents.illinoisstate.edu/downloads/CodeOfStudentConduct-Revised5.12.pdf
DO NOT REPURPOSE (i.e., copy and paste) other’s words as your own! Doing so will result in
failure of the assignment, and maybe the class, depending on severity. When in doubt, quote per APA
style (totally cool as long as there isn’t too much of it), reword and cite per APA style, or ask me, I’m
always happy to help!
Anytime you use someone else’s exact words, without APA quote style, is plagiarism. Really the only
reason to use exact words is when the person’s words/phrasing have significant impact, or there really
is no way to effectively reword.
Reminder, in-text citations look like this (Hayes, 2015), not “According to the article written by
Hayes…”
COM 377 Syllabus, Spring 2015
Page 7 of 9
Assignment Expectations
If you go into the field of public relations or other field of communication for a career, you will be
paid to be your organization's best communicators in all forms--written and oral, physical and virtual,
interpersonal and public. I designed this course around this premise, and I try to approximate “real
world” problems, pressures and planning that you will need to both enter and succeed in PR. The
assignments (except for exams) are designed with ambiguity built in, which should inspire you to
think analytically about what you know and what you’re learning. So I expect you to have questions
about the assignments, because in the “real world” you do not get precise recipes for everything you
need to do—you’ll have a college degree, probably one or more internships, and a job where you’ll be
paid to figure things out, so build this skill set now.
All assignments are due no later than the official starting time for class unless stated otherwise on the
assignment. Please see late policy, above. Sometimes assignments will be collected electronically
(either via email or ReggieNet File Drop) and you will be given the specific due-time for those.
Completed assignments may be accepted through File Drop on ReggieNet by the class’s starting time
(as indicated by the time stamp) ONLY if you will miss class or if you believe you will be late to
class. You can totally turn work in early—especially if you are going to be absent the day something is
due.
The writing assignments in this course are meant to (1) apply principles and concepts covered in this
course to realistic problems and (2) build upon and challenge you to improve your current skill level—
to be more consistent with “real world” demands. All written work is expected to fulfill assignments’
contexts, purposes and audiences just as they would if they were to be written to meet actual client
needs. If the writing in any assignment does not meet this expectation, I reserve the right to withhold
any or all points, and/or turn it back ungraded, depending on the severity of the writing’s
inappropriateness/ineffectiveness.
Good writing is both strong in content and technically correct in its presentation (i.e., grammar, style,
discourse conventions, layout, and printing). All written work must fulfill the content requirements
given in the assignments, conform to American Psychological Association (APA) and (where
applicable) Associated Press (AP) styles, and be free of grammar, spelling, style and English usage
errors. One point will be deducted from your final score for each APA and AP error. Yes, it is that
important.
Assignments will be posted on ReggieNet and discussed in class. See the course schedule for details
about all coursework. Please visit with me if you have any questions about any assignment or if you’d
like some feedback about your work in progress.
If an assignment is missed for a reason deemed satisfactory by me, the same or a make-up assignment
of observably greater difficulty may be required. Documentation for absences or late arrivals on days
when assignments are due will also be required.
For your own protection, you are expected to keep digital copies and/or photocopies of all assignments
submitted to me. As you work on any computer remember to save your work frequently, always
backup your work on another disk or other medium, and always protect your files and computer from
viruses. I will not accept work turned in late because you had technology problems and did not follow
these cardinal rules for technology use or couldn’t find a computer to use. This wouldn’t fly in PR and
it won’t fly here.
Keep Your Work for Job Hunting
If you plan to pursue a career in public relations or other field, having a set of solid examples of your
work in a “professional portfolio” will be important for you to get an internship and/or your first full-
COM 377 Syllabus, Spring 2015
Page 8 of 9
time job. So make sure you keep very clean copies of the work you do in this and all COM classes.
Remember: no matter what score you received on any assignment, look for ways to make your
examples even better, if not “perfect.”
Extra Credit Opportunities
There will be a few extra credit opportunities for research participation. The extra credit points will be
added to your final grade, and may not necessarily appear in the gradebook immediately upon your
completion of the opportunity. There are no guarantees for extra credit, and it is each student’s
responsibility to be aware of and take advantage of such opportunities. You may receive extra credit
for participating in any of the studies in the School of Communication’s Research Pool. The Research
Pool is updated as research studies are opened/closed, and it is your responsibility to access the Pool
and be aware of available opportunities. The Research Pool can be accessed via:
https://sites.google.com/site/isucomresearch/
In general, about 30 minutes of participation in an extra credit study will earn you .5 Research Credits
in the pool. Each full Research Credit is worth five points of extra credit in this course (so for every
two short .5 Research Credit surveys you complete, you get five points). You can earn up to 10 extra
credit points participating in research through the pool. Each project listed on the Research Pool site
will indicate the specific number of Research Credits associated with the project.
Participation Bonus! If you participate in a study before February 15 (rather than only during the endof-semester points freak out), you will get 3 additional extra credit points, on top of what you already
earned, and not counting toward your 10 point limit.
I will get a list of participants and the time of participation from the researcher(s) who administer the
research studies at the conclusion of the semester; however, it is your responsibility to make sure that
the researchers have the necessary evidence of your participation at the time of the study. Before
participating in a study, please be sure to have your name, ID (i.e., the part of your email before
@ilstu.edu), instructor name, and course and section number ready, as you will need to provide
these to receive credit. Research Credit can only be applied to one course for each study, unless
specified otherwise in the Research Pool. After the official last day of class (4/30) time there will be no
further opportunities for extra credit or to otherwise improve your grade.
***
COM 377 Syllabus, Spring 2015
Page 9 of 9