JANUARY 2009 (PREPARATION AND RECRUITMENT)

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1 Students Love Campus Community Television: NUTV YES Campaign Deanna Cameron Dubuque Royal Roads University, New University Television Society (NUTV) Calgary, Alberta PROJECT SUMMARY / Incorporated in 1991, New University Television (NUTV) is a registered nonprofit society whose primary purpose is to provide University of Calgary students and other members of the community with the opportunity to participate in television production. NUTV is one of three student-run university television stations in Canada. NUTV s operating budget of CDN$251,653 comes from a student levy administered by the University of Calgary Students Union (SU). In 2008, the NUTV fees were CDN$3.50 per session for full-time students and CDN$3.25 per session for part-time students. In 2008, NUTV was approved by the University of Calgary Students Legislative Council (SLC) to put forth a referendum question in the SU General Election to ask for a CDN$1.00 increase in funding for the continued growth and maintenance of the station. After a two-week campaign in February 2008, the students voted 55 percent against the requested fee increase. In 2009, due to financial necessity, NUTV was approved by the SU to again ask the student body for a CDN$1.00 increase in fees. With a new, cohesive strategy to entice student voters, the fee increase passed with 58 percent support. What follows is a summary of the communication actions undertaken by NUTV in order to secure support among the student body for the referendum question. ROLE / As the communication director for the campaign, my responsibility was to plan and implement our communication strategy. I worked with Tinu Sinha, the executive director of NUTV, to create a comprehensive campaign that would highlight key messages while adhering to the SU election bylaws. I designed and produced all the campaign material and comanaged volunteers with the executive director. The following is a summary of my responsibilities: JANUARY 2009 (PREPARATION AND RECRUITMENT) Co-authored the 2009 referendum question to be presented for approval to SLC, utilizing rhetorical theory as a framework for constructing the rationale. Attended SLC meetings to ensure the referendum question approval, fielded questions from the council and provided guidance to the executive director while in session. Assisted in volunteer recruitment and education prior to the campaign period. Performed campaign planning, strategy and development. Performed graphic design, including the physical production of campaign materials. FEBRUARY 2009 (IMPLEMENTATION AND INTERACTION) Ongoing, daily monitoring of campaign in progress, including campaign materials (reprints), bylaw compliance and volunteer management. Public relations functions during the 13-day campaign period, including message framing and creation. Volunteer/supporter appreciation through post-campaign advertising and other incentives. Post-mortem analysis. 1

2 INTENDED AUDIENCES / BACKGROUND AND DEMOGRAPHICS For the academic year, the total number of undergraduate students attending the University of Calgary was 22,539, with an average age of 22.1 years. The majority (53.4 percent) were female. Most students reside off campus (94 percent), with the remainder living in residence (6 percent, or approximately 1,215 full-time students). Multiple visits to MacEwan Student Centre each week were reported by 64 percent of students, with most students claiming they went to the Student Centre at least once a month (90 percent). Across the faculties, engineering students were particularly likely to visit the Student Centre on a weekly basis, while students studying medicine were the least likely. Over the past three years, the average number of undergraduate voters has remained relatively constant at 3,500. I estimated that students who live in residence account for approximately 30 percent of the total votes cast (1,000). AUDIENCES / PRIMARY AUDIENCES The primary audience consisted of campus opinion leaders (specifically, undergraduate students, ages 18 24, who were actively engaged in campus activities), incumbent SLC members, election candidates, members of student clubs, DINOs varsity athletes, University Leadership program participants, and members of the Residence Students Association (RSA). SECONDARY AUDIENCE The secondary audience was made up of all undergraduate students, ages 18 24, who attended the University of Calgary. OBJECTIVES / The objectives of the campaign were as follows: Secure enough votes to ensure the success of the levy campaign. Two conditions had to be fulfilled in order for the results of the referendum question to be valid: (1) At least 10 percent of the undergraduate student population needed to vote in the election (a minimum of 2,025 students based on statistics), and (2) the percentage of votes cast had to be equal to or over 51 percent in favor. Raise awareness of the voting process in order to encourage students to vote in the election regardless of their support for the referendum question through an aggressive public relations campaign. The following targets were set for the official campaign period (January 30 February 12, 2009): 1. 1,750 yes votes: The average of total voters over the past five years was 3,420; however, the number of voters declined on average by 3.5 percent after peaking in A target of 1,750 votes (minimum) in favor of the referendum question would ensure its success across total votes cast. 2. 2,255 total votes: This is the minimum number of votes needed to declare a valid result for a levy campaign. For this reason, a secondary objective of the NUTV campaign was to raise awareness of the election and encourage students to vote in general. 2

3 Facebook supporters: Due to SU Election bylaws, all campaign activities had to take place between 30 January (18:00 hours) and 12 February (14:00 hours). Failure to comply with the bylaws could result in fines and/or the results of a given race being declared invalid. A Vote Yes for NUTV Facebook event restricted to members of the University of Calgary Network was preprogrammed to be in effect during this period. KEY MESSAGES / The critical message of the election campaign was Vote YES for NUTV. Utilizing an integrated approach, three main platforms were used to convey this message with varying levels of complexity: Visual (simple Vote YES for NUTV ) Consistent messaging on campus: posters, hand-painted banners, blackboard messages, sidewalk chalk. Campaign video uploaded to the official SU election site, NUTV.ca and YouTube. Interactive (simple and student benefits) Information tables staffed by volunteers and overseen by a campaign leader (myself or the executive director) to answer questions and hand out candy with promotional messages. Facebook support group with the title A YES vote for NUTV is a YES to more great experiences for U of C students! Visits to six class sections to encourage students to vote using short, three-minute speeches based on speaking points from the referendum question rationale. Call-in segment on the campus radio station. Written (complex and student benefits) Campus newspaper: article, endorsement, formal referendum rationale, free classified ad. of referendum rationale sent to University of Calgary sanctioned clubs asking for support from their members. Unlike in 2008, detailed rationale to support the increase was included within the referendum question itself, which appeared in the 2009 SU Election Supplement and electronically for voters before they cast their vote. RATIONALE / The visual representation of the campaign s strategy was straightforward and designed to convey the most information using the least amount of words. The University of Calgary campus is large, and students are constantly walking from place to place; hence, the posters and banners only contained a simple graphic and essential information (for example, Vote YES for NUTV or A YES vote for NUTV supports student athletics ). The purpose of the simplicity was to consistently associate YES and NUTV through repetition with the hopes that the association would carry through when the student voted. Banners were handpainted, and posters limited to black and white photocopies on colored paper in order to demonstrate to the electorate that NUTV does not frivolously spend funds received from students. The interactive elements of the campaign were the most labor-intensive, but the most successful in fulfilling both objectives of the campaign. We had promotional tables set up during the 3

4 campaign period for four days to answer questions regarding the levy increase and to encourage students to vote in the election regardless of their support. By adhering Vote YES for NUTV stickers to hundreds of heart-shaped lollipops, we were able to circumvent the election bylaw prohibiting bribery by turning the candy into campaign material to be given out at the tables. Additionally, we were able to capitalize on the heart-shaped lollipops as a subtle signifier of NUTV s regular, year-around message, NUTV s students. The Facebook group created for the election was called A YES vote for NUTV is a YES to more great experiences for U of C students! The title was specifically chosen to take advantage of Facebook s features, specifically, newsfeeds, status updates and message notifications, since the key message and the rationale was displayed in full. Furthermore, the messaging contained in the title was visible to the group member s friends via the newsfeed function, so even if they were not part of the NUTV support group, they were still exposed to the key messaging via their friends. I had been quietly collecting friends for the NUTV Facebook group for several months in anticipation of the campaign. By February 2009, NUTV had over 1,200 confirmed friends within the University of Calgary network, hand-picked by me because of their membership within certain campus-centric Facebook groups and their likelihood to be campus opinion leaders, who were identified as the primary audience for this campaign. Targeting this core group resulted in numerous supporters for our election-specific campaign group on Facebook. Although many of the written elements of the campaign, such as media coverage, were beyond our direct control, great care was taken in crafting NUTV s messages to ensure the most accurate translation. For example, in direct contrast to the failed 2008 referendum rationale, the 2009 rationale used the rhetorical theory to highlight what services and accomplishments define NUTV as an organization and how all students, not just members, would benefit from the levy increase. RESULTS / The 2009 NUTV levy campaign was a victory on all fronts. The targets outlined as necessary to ensure the success of the levy prior to the campaign period were exceeded in terms of yes votes required (+91) and overall total votes required (+933). The 2009 referendum question passed with 58 percent support (as opposed to the 2008 referendum question, which failed with only 45 percent support). Comparing the vote shares over the two years revealed that the number of no votes remained constant, but the number of supporters increased dramatically, by 737 yes votes. This increase in support of the referendum can be attributed to consistent and strong messaging along with the overall goodwill generated by our interactive campaign initiatives. In order to level the ground for elections at the University of Calgary, SU election bylaws restrict the budget of campaign groups to CDN$300. As a campaign group, we were required to report our campaign expenses as part of the election process. In 2008, NUTV produced two large color banners which cost almost the entire allocated amount; conversely, in 2009, we produced 30 banners using a combination of color paint on over-sized enlargements of our posters, which resulted in substantial savings. In fact, because printed materials only made up half of NUTV s election expenses, the remaining funds were allocated toward creating edible campaign material for information tables. NUTV exceeded its budget by CDN$11.72 because supplies were needed to replace campaign material that had been removed by custodial staff. 4

5 The overall time frame of the NUTV levy campaign was eight weeks in total; four weeks of preparation, two weeks of campaigning and mobilization, and two weeks of outcome assessment and volunteer/supporter appreciation. A time allotment of one month was sufficient for preparation; however, the official election window of 29 January to 12 February was ill-timed with respect to the academic schedule, as it fell directly within the mid-term examination period. This created challenges not only for scheduling volunteers but for me as a full-time student. Fortunately, either the executive director or I was always able to be present at outreach initiatives to ensure consistent messaging. Additionally, for the majority of the interactive campaign on Facebook, I was able to frame messaging and monitor the progress of the campaign on my laptop at convenient times. Lastly, as a direct result of my success in the leadership role of the levy campaign, the NUTV board of directors offered me the staff position of publicity and promotions director in September By capitalizing on the momentum generated from the campaign and the additional funds from the levy (approximately CDN$52,000 annual increase) NUTV has experienced an unprecedented period of growth and renewal, with current student membership numbers almost doubling from