I am a senior at Georgia College & State University and will graduate in August of 2011. I will have a Bachelor of Arts in Mass Communication with a concentration in advertising. As a creative an innovative thinker I looked for a field that would allow me to express these passions.
I pride myself in being resourceful, learning quickly, and having the ability to motivate others. I give the same level of passionate energy and dedication to all of my work
The fun stuff? Rock climber. Ape about animals. Ecstatic about edibles.
P. Diane Heath
Milledgeville
Georgia
31061
United States of America
pdianeheath_gmail.com
Advertising
Name:
City:
State:
Zip:
Country:
Primary E-mail:
Specializing In:
eu blandit vel magna Fusce nec orci eget tellus sodales vehicula Maecenas condimentum lectus vel eros Donec id felis et metus lacinia gokj
Slide 1- Flyer created for practicum with Big Brothers Big Sister of the Heart of Georgia
Slide 2- Ad created for Ad Sales Representative practicum at the Colonnade
Slide 3- Ad created for project in Advertising Copyright class
Slide 4- Ad created for practicum at the Cononnade
Slide 6- Ad created for practicum at the Colonnade
Slide 7-Ad created for practicum at the Colonnade
Slide 8- Ad created for practicum at the Colonnade
The South El_Paso Mental Health Institution Case Study
BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
The South El Paso Community Mental Health Center is a not-for-profit community service organization that provides mental health services largely to the working and dependent poor. The center focuses many of its efforts on this demographic because a significant portion of the funding comes from the federal government. Because the agency receives funding from the federal government with money intended for serving an area marked by poverty and low-income. They also get funding from the National Institute of Mental Health, the Texas State Department of Behavioral Health Services, and some patient fees. Initially the center was a cooperative effort between Elizabeth Varney Child and St. Johns Hospital, but on July 1, 1974 the center negotiated to become a free agent. They currently provide the following services: three outpatient clinics, a crisis clinic, day treatment, outreach, family planning, and partial hospitalization.
PROBLEM:
The South El Paso Community Mental Health Center needs to decide if they should continue with the advertising program that Karen Scates has launched or change their strategy.
CRITICAL FACTORS:
The company has a budget of $2.1 million. A lot of that budget comes from the federal government. This is important because the money that the federal government gives the center dictates who the target audience is. The center cannot decide that they would like to target only upper class families. They must aim most of their efforts at people below the poverty line. Out of all of the centers patients, only 18 percent of them can afford to pay even a portion of their fees.
In the past the center has identified some communication objectives that they would like to accomplish in order to increase the effectiveness of the center. A main objective they had was to create awareness of the center and the services they provide. They also wanted to build recognition of the center, enhance the centers image to get more funding, and increase credibility. The last objective that they had was to promote the concept of mental health versus mental illness.
After identifying their objectives, the center used television, radio, newspapers, and television talk shows to build awareness. All of this campaign consisted of publicity and free advertising. The use of free promotional activities gives them little to no control over when the messages are released. Because the center had no control over when their message was disseminated they were not able to make sure that their target audience received the message. They also created brochures in order to explain the idea of mental health instead of mental illness.
ALTERNATIVES:
A1: Choose to rely on publicity and public service announcements as the only form of advertising.
The center has tried to rely on free advertising and publicity but it does not seem to reach their target audience. Publicity is typically good at informing people, but it is not usually effective at facilitating doing or action objectives. If we look at the think-feel-do model though, we see that getting a person to think is essential to getting and retaining new customers. Even though this method is free, there is no guarantee who receives the message or when they receive the message, two very important factors in advertising.
A2: Not advertise at all.
This option gives the center no way of communicating any information to the public. It would leave awareness up to word of mouth. This option would not work towards any of the communication goals that the center identified. When the normative model is used, it shows that the opportunity to advertise is there (see appendix A). They have the expertise, emotional appeal, unique qualities, and market potential. This model clearly pushes towards the use of advertising.
A3: Continue with the advertising program that Karen Scates has implemented.
The advertising program that Karen created uses specific radio stations, newspapers, and outdoor advertisements to target specific groups of people. This alternative does warrant the use of part of the overall budget that the center has, but should produce results more quickly and more effectively than some of the other methods since it targets the specific groups of people that the center needs to reach. The use of media advertising in this campaign is a good idea because it is good at building long-term relationships.
A4: Create an advertising campaign with objectives that are measurable and uses media advertising, direct mail, public service announcements, publicity, and brochures.
This alternative uses an array of advertising techniques because there are different types of messages that the center identified in their communications objectives. The objectives that are currently in use have no way to evaluate whether the goals were met. They need to add a time frame so that everyone knows when the goals need to be accomplished. For example, instead of just saying that they would like to create awareness of the center, they could say that they would like to make 80 percent of the adults within the target area aware of the center in 8 months.
To create awareness, all the center needs is to get their message out there. There are usually very few things to explain when creating awareness. One objective the center identified was to promote the concept of mental health versus mental illness. A message such as this requires more of an explanation. People need time to process what is being communicated. Radio, television, and outdoor advertisements do not give people enough time to process complex messages. Direct mail and brochures will give people the time they need to read and reread in order to really understand the concept.
My recommendation would be alternative four. I believe that it does the best at addressing all of the objectives that were developed by the South El Paso Community Health Center. The surveys that the center conducted show a 17 percent increase in awareness after one year of running Karens campaign, which tells me that the campaign is effective in this area. In addition, the surveys show mental health facilities are moving up in importance of funding support. They were 6th out of seven and moved up to fifth. The objective that I am concerned with is promoting the idea of mental health versus mental illness. This objective cannot be overlooked because it is meant to help people to function within their own environment. It is meant to help the whole community. The primary reason why I chose alternative four is because it addresses this objective. By adding direct mail and brochures, we are able to explain the concept of mental health versus mental illness fully.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:
Research shows that sales or increase in customers is not always the best way to measure success in an advertising campaign. The use of the surveys to measure success is a great idea. The center might consider conducting a more detailed survey next time in order to get more information that would be useful.
e-mail: pdianeheath_gmail.com phone: 770-639-8301 twitter: pdianeheath
