WILL

Strategic Brand Communication Plan

CHIEF COMMUNICATIONS Danielle Dancu Nicole Marszalek Xander Gomez JiaJie Pan Sheng-Han Su

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary Background on WILL & Key Features Current Brand Communication Describing the Brand Competition Primary Research Secondary Research Public Radio Formats, Ranked by Audience Share Target Analysis Objectives Interaction and Involvement Highlight & Engage Paid, Earned, & Owned Media Other Promotional Tactics Media Time Line Budget Allocation Evaluation Techniques

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY PUBLIC MEDIA

Information seekers, community backers, culture consumers, arts connoisseurs. These are just a few titles describing the general public media user. Regardless of age, public media provides purposeful programs and services that informs, educates, involves, and entertains community members. Although the typical audience age tends to be young kids and older adults, GETTING STUDENTS TO NOTICE

Most college students today operate media under convenience, accessibility, and ease. HIGHLIGHT & ENGAGE

If we just shove information in their faces and instruct students to tune in, then what’s the point? Nowadays students need persuasion, reasoning, and personal connections. We must highlight key and relatable opportunities WILL has to offer and engage students through relevant and significant interactions. ACHIEVE AWARENESS

Shape WILL into an irreplaceable media, information, and resources outlet for UIUC students.

BACKGROUND ON WILL & KEY FEATURES

Enriching lives throughout Central Illinois, WILL, also known as Illinois Public Media, is a public broadcasting service of the University of Illinois

KEY TRAITS ■ NPR information programs, including local news ■ Links individuals to NPR and PBS programming ■ High-quality, commercial-free TV PROGRAMS ■ 90th Anniversary WILL-DT: PBS favorites, local affairs, and home & garden topics ■ WILL Create ENGAGEMENT INITIATIVES ■ WILL World ■ Illinois Radio Reader ■ WILL HD ■ Youth Media Workshop WILL-TV ■ Young Learners Initiative ■ Mid-American Gardener ■ C-U Fit Families ■ Illinois Pioneers

RADIO PROGRAMS ONLINE SERVICES AM 580 ■ Live Music Streaming ■ Focus ■ WILL Video Player ■ The Afternoon Magazine ■ IRR Streaming ■ Agricultural Broadcasting ■ Weather Updates ■ NPR, BBC, and talk shows ■ Local News and Events Fm90.9 ■ Agriculture Broadcasting ■ Live and Local with Kevin Kelly ■ WILLConnect ■ Classic Mornings with Vic DiGeronimo

CURRENT BRAND COMMUNICATION

“Illinois Public Media makes a difference by calling attention to people and issues that get drowned out, discoveries that get overshadowed, history that gets ignored, and arts that only have a limited presence in commercial media.”

KEY EFFORTS PROMOTIONAL TACTICS ■ Reaffirming that locally created content is an essential Local: seen on-the-go with a good potential for high frequency value for public media ■ Outdoor ■ Highlighting benefits to families and senior citizens in ■ Transit the community Online: easy engagement ■ Audience interaction: taking calls from community ■ Twitter members, hosting online chats during programming, ■ Facebook listening sessions (talking directly to the community ■ YouTube about stories of interest) WILL Online: educating and interacting with community ■ Improving content accessibility: broadcast, cable, members satellite, online, on demand, and mobile wireless ■ WILL Community devices ■ WILL Education ■ WILL Connect “OPEN UP. SAY AHA!” Events: community outreach ■ DoCha ■ Words in the Wind CURRENT TARGET MARKET ■ Kickin’ It at Kickapoo ■ Radio: NPR – 45 & up ■ TV: women 55 & up; kids Other ■ Patterns membership magazine

presence, to be “We’re available committed to anytime continuing to anywhere for innovate, to you.” becoming a multi-platform

DESCRIBING THE BRAND

Brand Personality 6 SPHERE MEDIA PLANNING MODEL

Educationally Charged Passionate Consumer Deeply Rooted in the Community Reaction Strong Desire to Empower

Brand Identity Vehicle Acquisition access and “Giving voice to local arts, knowledge, experience info acquisition new ideas, and community needs.” HUMAN Brand Image

PBS affiliate Community news and events hub Brand Advertising

Educational for adults and kids meaning access

Occasional boring programming

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COMPETITION

Campus WPGU AM/FM Radio ■ Advertise in the Daily Illini and Buzz News Talk 1400WDWS-AM ■ Host events such as Frattle of the Bands, quad day, U-ROCK 107.9fm football tailgates ■ Hosts and sponsors events ■ Partners with local music venues and the Illinois ■ Holds contests to win various tickets Hockey team ■ 10 song request list The Daily Illini Q96fm ■ Quad day giveaways Champaign ■ Q’ed Up Saturday nights at Joes Brewery ■ MTD advertisements Newspaper ■ Assembly Hall giveaways News-Gazette WEFT 90.1fm

Lite Rock 97.5 WHMS fm New Media “There’s more choice, more chances for conversations and OTHER curation, more collaboration with media-makers and much ■ Cable channels offering children’s, educational, cultural more creation by users.” and documentary programming

■ Websites offering news and information instantly, TV News Stations globally, on demand

WAND

WICD

WCIA WILL Fox 55/27 Illinois

PRIMARY RESEARCH Radio Consumption Survey

Music Preference Preferred Contents on Radio

100 Community Events Anouncements 80 Talk Show 60 Entertainment 40 數列 1 News 20 Political 0 Classical Jazz Rock Pop Rap 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90

Consumption of Radio Genders Not Often at Extremly All Often 19% 6%

Very Often Female 21% 44% Slightly Male Moderate Often 56%

Often

26% 28%

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Television Consumption Survey

Outlets for television programs Consumption of television programs

Preferred Contents Gender

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SECONDARY RESEARCH

“To become more inclusive, public service media should make inclusiveness a priority. This means increasing diversity in news and information staff at both the national and local levels, engaging a wider variety of communities, partnering with journalism schools to engage young people and creating a Public Media Corps to promote digital literacy.”

“Consumers want to interact, to share, to comment, and to provide original feedback.” Don’t just produce public broadcasting content; do public media with a network of publics.

In general, a higher percentage of men than women listen to public radio. News/Talk continues to be the dominant public radio format.

Build on what newspapers are already doing, by collaborating with the local public TV station to start a daily news program.

Incorporate digital media into every aspect of public media at all levels.

88% of adult ages 18-29 go online wirelessly through their mobile device; 66% being smartphone users.

Social media sites must be used to engage in dialogue with consumers.

Home background tends to influence the students' desire for education/motivation.

Millennial: feel connected, highly protected/sheltered by parents, motivated/goal-oriented, assertive, team-oriented, high achieving, accepting of lifestyle, racial, and ethnic differences.

College students’ music preference: “Upbeat and Conventional” and “Energetic and Rhythmic” music like pop and rock are

preferred through the year while “Reflective and Complex” music like classical music is less preferred.

College students tune into radio for music and entertainment in order to expel boredom.

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Public Radio Formats, Ranked by Audience Share

50.00%

45.00%

40.00%

35.00%

30.00%

25.00% 44.80% 20.00%

15.00%

10.00% 21.20% 15.40%

5.00% 5.60% 5.90%

3.70% 3.50%

0.00% News/Talk News-Classical Classical Music News-Music Adult Album Jazz Other

Alternative WILL

TARGET ANALYSIS UIUC College Students

■ Majority from the Chicago suburbs and neighboring Central Illinois towns

■ Potential dissonance between the mindsets of the current audience and the mindsets of college students

■ Defined by easily accessible knowledge

■ Ever-increasing attachment to technology, particularly smartphones

■ Always connected to peers and groups; social media encourages this unity

■ Constantly flooded with information and choices

■ Low radio usage, aside from online and while on-the-go

■ Accustomed to most things being centralized on campus for their convenience

■ Financially dependent, yet independent in most all other aspects

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OBJECTIVES

Increase public media awareness among groups of the campus community

Expand online presence

Incorporate students into programs

Assert a presence in the minds of UIUC college students

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INTERACTION AND INVOLVEMENT

“To Whom”: Seeing as though WILL is essentially invisible to UIUC college students currently, we will target UIUC students particularly interested in local and world-related issues, culture, and fine arts

Note: we decided to utilize a broader, umbrella target audience, while still encorporating specific majors and RSOs

“For what”: Their incentive for tuning in…

Relatable content

(Students will only pay attention if they are interested)

Uses and gratifications: select media to fit their needs. WILL has the potential to fulfill information

and knowledge needs.

WILL must place emphasis and draw attention to the programs of potential appeal

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HIGHLIGHT & ENGAGE Point out what WILL has to offer to students and get them involved

ISSUES Choose Lack of awareness Online media takeover Unappealing content FEEL SOLUTIONS

Bring WILL to campus through club involvement & Commit Share strategic planning Optimize WILL’s online presence Emphasize WILL’s worthwhile and target-fitting programming

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PAID, EARNED, & OWNED PAID Transit ads and promotional sponsorships Aims to perpetuate earned and owned media Easy control/immediacy

EARNED Word of mouth, buzz, viral Consumers absorb the message and respond Most credible/long-lasting

OWNED Website, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook Build long-term relationships with potential customers Can be tailored to niche audiences, cost-efficient, and versatile

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OTHER PROMOTIONAL TACTICS

MTD Advertisements ■ Push media where students will best take the time to WILL Concert on the Quad note internal advertisements ■ Bringing the orchestra concert outdoors ■ Interior and exterior space ■ Sponsor and broadcast this event, aiming to drawn ■ Use to promote contests & upcoming events as well viewership and campus attention

Chalking the Quad RSO Relationship Contest ■ Free, easily generates buzz, and can be seen on-the-go ■ Friend WILL on Facebook, post a comment in 100 ■ Hire UIUC art students to design messages words or less on how the RSO coincides with WILL, and the post with the most likes will win $1000 to be “Props for Podcasts” Contest spent within their RSO ■ Students can design their own podcast to be featured ■ Aims to increase interaction and awareness among on WILL groups of interest in WILL services ■ Encourages students to get creative, spread the word among friends, and engage with WILL Brand Ambassadors ■ 1st place: $1500, 2nd place: $1000, and 3rd place: $500 ■ Internship offered both Fall and Spring semesters to carry out specific guerilla marketing efforts on Quad Day and Flash Mobbin’ campus ■ Classical music flash mob, including music students ■ I.E. small events, promotional giveaways, even and their instruments impromptu (& respectful) WILL interruptions

th

■ Sponsor live stage in honor of WILL’s 90 birthday, handing out 90 shirts and 90 campus gift certificates

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MEDIA TIMELINE We feel as though this timeline best considers and accommodates student schedules and media consumption habits. MTD/Chalking the quad were mostly based upon seasons, while PR events were

designed to mainly hit early on in the semester when students typically have lighter workloads.

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BUDGET ALLOCATION

OUTLETS COSTS

MTD $2,480

PR $5,500

Social Media $0

Chalk the $500 Quad

Total 8,480

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EVALUATION TECHNIQUES

Online traffic measurements

Track Daily Effective advertising Circulation revenue/ROI Measurments

EVALUATION TECHNIQUES

Total potential Post-Campaign

audience Awareness

counts Survey

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Reference

Brei-Aspenson, Allasia. Email interview. 7 Mar. 2012.

Don Schultz, Beth Barnes, Heidi Schultz and Marian Azzaro, M.E. Sharpe. “Customers and Brands.” Building Customer-Brand Relationships. 2009.

Don Schultz, Beth Barnes, Heidi Schultz and Marian Azzaro, M.E. Sharpe. “Interactive or Pull Communication Delivery System.” Building Customer- Brand Relationships. 2009.

Don Schultz, Beth Barnes, Heidi Schultz and Marian Azzaro, M.E. Sharpe. “Customer Consumption of Communication.” Building Customer-Brand Relationships. 2009.

Don Schultz, Beth Barnes, Heidi Schultz and Marian Azzaro, M.E. Sharpe. “Identifying Customer Needs, Wants, and Desires.” Building Customer-Brand Relationships. 2009.

Don Schultz, Beth Barnes, Heidi Schultz and Marian Azzaro, M.E. Sharpe. “Touching Customers with Communication.” Building Customer-Brand Relationships. 2009.

In Touch With Student Services. “Meeting the Needs of Millennial Students.” Web. 4 April 2012. http://www.csulb.edu/divisions/students2/intouch/archives/200708/vol16_no1/01.htm. Laskowski, Josh. Email interview. 27 Apr. 2012.

Longfellow, Dawn. Email interview. 6 Mar. 2012.

NASPA Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education. “Media Consumption.” 2008 Profile of the American College Students. Web. 4 April 2012.

Pan, Jiajie. “Radio Consumption.” Survey. March 2012.

Pettijohn, Terry, Greg Williams, and Tiffany Carter. "Music For The Seasons: Seasonal Music Preferences In College Students." Current Psychology 29.4 (2010): 328 345. Academic Search Premier. Web. 10 April 2012.

Raymond A. Mulligan. “Social Characteristics of College students.” Web. 4 April 2012.

Su, Sheng-Han. “Television Consumption.” Survey. April 2012.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “2012 MFA Exhibition opens Saturday April 14.” Web. 13 April 2012. http://www.art.illinois.edu/.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “Culture Policy.” Web. 13 April 2012. http://www.arch.uiuc.edu/about/studio%20culture/.

University of Illinois Extension. “Hort Corner.” Web. 13 April 2012 http://urbanext.illinois.edu/hort/. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences.” Web. 13 April 2012. http://nres.illinois.edu/about/profile.

WILL WILL-AM-FM-TV-Online Illinois Public Media University of Illinois." Web. 15 April 2012. http://will.illinois.edu/site/programs/.