Promotions groups raise awareness

One in three people will contract HPV, a sexually-transmitted infection, in their lifetime.

This daunting statistic was advertised through posters and e-mails around campus as part of a marketing campaign for students in the promotions management class.

The goal: to pick a cause relevant to some portion of the Doane population and create comprehensive marketing plans, business professor Kathleen Zumpfe said.

The class of more than 20 students was split into groups and five marketing events were developed.

“The plan was designed for them to practice skills of creating awareness of a cause, gathering interest from the Doane population and encouraging students to attend the event,” Zumpfe said.

Various marketing strategies were used to promote these events. Facebook groups were formed, along with the use of billboards, radio and TV public service announcements and buzz marketing.

The success of each promotions strategy was tested by the number of Doane students who attended each event, Zumpfe said.

Senior Sara Thiry, part of the HPV awareness group, said her group picked an issue that is important for women and students in general.

To market their awareness campaign they developed posters, a Facebook group, sent campus-wide e-mails and also started a Polaroid campaign, Thiry said.

They will also be giving away two $100 gift cards at the event at 6:30 p.m. on May 7 in the Great Hall in Perry Campus Center.

One promotions event, Buzz Driving, informed students of the dangers of buzz driving through an event held Wednesday at Common Grounds.

At the Tiger Takeover Event, another marketing campaign, members of the promotions group gave away 75 ice cream bars to students who attended the softball game, Zumpfe said.

The Sunday Steal event tripled the attendance at a baseball game and more than 48 seniors and juniors attended the Finical Planning session, said Zumpfe.

“These kids are doing a fantastic job,” Zumpfe said. “I am so pleased at the effort they are putting into these. The outcome has been tremendous.”

Be the first to comment on this article!

Add comment


I am not posting spam. I understand posting spam or other comments that are unrelated to this article will cause my comment to be flagged for deletion and possibly cause my IP address to be permanently banned from this server.

Enter the characters in the image above:

log out