Executive Summary
The Newlandia Education Foundation (NEF) was established in early 1900 by the missionaries. Formerly known as Newlandia Trust of Hope, the charitable organization has grown tremendously since its establishment (Newlandia Education Foundation 2010). Currently staffed with six dedicated members, NEF has been able to live its dream of promoting education in Newlandia.
The Newlandia government has set aside a small allocation from its budget to support the organization. With three schools to support at the moment in south Newlandia, the funds by the government are hardly enough to meet all the expenses. It has therefore been forced to turn to the public for donations to keep the organization and its projects running. In order to raise public awareness, a successful public relations campaign will have to be launched.
Project Overview
A public relations campaign is necessary to raise awareness to the outside world about an existing company. It further helps to raise awareness of the current situation of that particular company (Bobbitt and Sullivan 2008). To understand the problem at hand, it is important to give a brief overview of the project and the need to launch the campaign. Newlandia Education Foundation has been in operation for many years now with its main goal being to provide education to the Newlandians.
It has already established three schools that it is currently supporting in Shalel, Rajan and Calina in the south region of Newlandia. These small schools are proof that the organization is up in hand to provide quality education regardless of sex, religion or even the economic background of the residents. The residents in these villages are struggling individuals who can hardly support themselves financially. Accessibility to these villages is not easy due to lack of proper infrastructure. The roads are in pathetic conditions.
The southerners mostly rely on fishing as their main source of income (Newlandia 2010). The schools are under-resourced and in poor conditions. The reading materials are hardly enough to cater for all the students and the school’s infrastructure is in poor condition. Imagine a situation where children are subjected to sit on a cold floor in a windowless classroom and with inadequate learning materials to gain knowledge from.
It is an un-imaginable scenario but one that clearly portrays the children’s struggle to quench their education thirst. Despite this struggles, one of the school has produced a graduate currently studying teaching at the University of Pacific. This is proof that the education projects undertaken by NEF are not in vain.
The problem being faced by NEF is the ability to keep the schools running to cater for the needs of all the students in Southern Newlandia. With a population of 750,000, the schools are not enough to accommodate all the school-aged children in the region. A project to build three more schools is underway but the project will require support from other communities in Newlandia.
The Northern and Central Newlandia for example do not seem to understand the situation at Southern Newlandia. They need to be made aware of NEF’s existence and its role in the community. The government also needs to chip in more money to support the organization. A public relations campaign will therefore come in handy to raise awareness and to lobby for public’s support.
Objectives Of The Public Relation Campaign
Through an aggressive public relation campaign, Newlandia Education Foundation (NEF) will begin to seek attention from both the members of the public and other donors. A research conducted indicated that only few residents of Newlandia knew about the existence of NEF. Shockingly, it was just a few of them who knew the core business conducted by NEF.
Most people seem to think that NEF is part of Newlandia Children Foundation (NCF) which has gained major popularity among the Newlandians. The campaign will play a huge role to bring out the difference between the two organizations and any other organization in Newlandia that might cause confusion.
The other objective is to win both the public and private support of the organization. The campaign will seek to give NEF the good reputation that it possesses. This will help to shed light on the real intention of the project carried out by NEF for the goodwill of children who are unable to access learning facilities. The establishment of a goodwill and understanding between NEF and Newlandians is the main objective of the campaign.
The campaign will also help to establish and reinforce the professional image of NEF. This helps the public to view the organization in a positive manner hence winning its support. Failure to create a positive image will lead the organization losing its credibility. Positive image helps to create good perceptions of the organization’s good name and the kind of projects that it undertakes.
The general goal of the project will be to raise public and government awareness. The awareness will help NEF raise sufficient funds to run the current and future projects. The public will be inclined to offer any kind of support to keep NEF running. The government on the other hand will be obliged to increase its monetary allocation to support the projects.
Communication Strategy
Any public relations campaign should have a set communication strategy in order to achieve its goals and objectives. It targets the audience to whom the message should be communicated to and how the communication will be done. Communication strategy is very essential for the success of public relations campaign.
The reaction of the audience is determined upon reviewing the communication strategy. Using the wrong mode of communication can render the campaign futile. The key message to be communicated should also be carefully considered. Misrepresentation of words can alter the initial meaning of the message. The communication strategy to be applied by NEF should therefore be simple and straightforward.
Target Audience
The primary target audience will be the general public and the government. The secondary audience will be private individuals, companies and external donors. The campaign should first and foremost target both the Northerners and Central regions. The North East of Newlandia has a population of over 200,000 people. The region is swarmed with copper mines industries. This is an indication that the Northerners have the financial ability to support the Southerners to access education (Newlandia 2010).
The Central region on the other hand has many industries ranging from agriculture to timber processing. With a population of about 15,000, it is the home of the famous Van On Organic Coffee Plantation, one of the leading coffee plantations in Newlandia. The residents of this region have enough financial power to back the ongoing projects in Newlandia (Newlandia 2010).
The government of Newlandia should also be notified of the situation at the Southern region of Newlandia. The campaign will especially target Mr. K.L Gupta who is currently serving as the Finance Minister and Infrastructure. He is also the chairman of the Newlandia Conservative Party and is actively involved in the politics.
Private individuals include accomplished businessmen in Newlandia such as Mr. Rohan Singh and Mr. Bill Klempf. Mr. Rohan has great influence in the business sector and can easily influence other business owners. Mr. Klempf on the other hand is one of the most powerful business people in Newlandia. Born in an equally powerful family, he owns major booming businesses in Newlandia. Though he rarely gets involved in community organizations, the campaign can lure him to support NEF and the Southerners.
As a businessman, he will be keen to learn the current situation at the Southern region and discover the untapped potential of the region. In a bid to establish himself in the region, he is bound to support NEF’s project initiatives to win over the hearts of the Southerners. The industry organizations are other audiences that should be targeted. Newlandia has established industries and organizations such as the Newlandia Organic Coffee Growers Association and Newlandia Garment Industry.
External donors will also be key targets. The WorldHelp for example is one of an external donor that should be targeted. A multi-national organization based in Atlanta, it is deeply involved in charitable programs all over the world. With a keen interest in such projects being initiated by NEF, WorldHelp will be following the implementation of the projects at a very close range (WorldHelp 2010).
Media and Events
The other important stage of the campaign is to establish the appropriate channels that will be used to deliver the message to the target audience identified above. This includes media activities and events that will help promote the campaign. Use of lobby groups or individuals is also another avenue to gain publicity.
The main channel that the campaign will use is Newlandia Broadcasting Corporation Television (NBC) which is a public media. The television has wide media coverage. The other public media that will be utilized is the Newlandia Times newspaper. The paper reaches many people who don’t have visual means of receiving news and information. Another form of print media that will be used is the Newlandia Tourism Authority Newsletter.
The newsletter can be used to cover the tourism attractions in Southern Newlandia. With fishing as the main activity in the region, the newsletter will help to attract tourists in the region hence increasing public awareness and support. Lobbyists will also be used to deliver the intended message to the target audience. Newlandia has avid campaigners such as Lakshmi Shankaran, married to Henry Abalone, who is also a campaigner and a journalist.
The couple will provide a fantastic avenue to take out the word of the suffering children at the Southern region. Active involvement in media events held by the Newlandia Business Development Authority will also be an appropriate channel to gain public awareness. Lastly, it will be important to involve the south region local newspaper to highlight the situation at the South. The Mouth Of The South will be utilised for this purpose.
The Key Message
The main message to be communicated to the audience will be the need to support the education programs initiated by NEF. It will also differentiate NEF from other organisations that have initially been confused with. The core business of NEF will also be brought to the public.
The audience should be notified of the hardships being experienced at the South and the need to support the schools currently running. They should also get involved in the future project of building more schools in the region that will be implemented within 18 months.
The Communication Models And Theories To Be Applied
The campaign will apply the public information and the two-way asymmetric models as opposed to the press agentry/ publicity and two-way symmetric. In the public information model, it is used to convey correct and true information to the audience. The press agentry/publicity model is full of propaganda and will kill NEF’s credibility.
The two-way asymmetric is also favourable to communicate to the target audience. It will help the organisation to get a feedback from the audience to enable it apply the appropriate theories to convince them. This model is better as it will allow the audience to see the logic from NEF’s point of view. The aim of the campaign is not to negotiate with the public hence the reason to disregard the two-way symmetric model.
The appropriate theory to be applied is the accommodation theory as opposed to the cognitive dissonance theory. The accommodation style allows the speaker to adjust their communication style to accommodate different classes of audience. It is therefore ideal in our project to gain social approval from all the audiences targeted. In cognitive dissonance theory, the audience tend to avoid views that seem not to support their own feelings (Jamieson 1985).
Conclusion
The public relations campaign will not only be used to win over the public’s support but also to make it aware of NEF’s existence. The organisation requires monetary support and learning materials that will help the students excel just like one of their student, Rangi.
The learning conditions are harsh, yet the children are willing to go beyond all means to gain that academic knowledge. Their efforts can only succeed if the people of Newlandia can join hands to make their dream a reality. That will be the main task of this public relations campaign, but one that is sure to succeed.
Reference List
Bobbitt, R. & Sullivan, R. (2008) Developing the Public Relations Campaign: A Team Based Approach. USA, Pearson College Div.
Jamieson, H. (1985) Communication and Persuasion. New York, Routledge.
Newlandia (2010) Central Region. Web.
Newlandia (2010) North East Region. Web.
Newlandia (2010) South Region. Web.
Newlandia Education Foundation (2010) Our Background. Web.
WorldHelp (2010) Organisation Profile. Web.