recycle - environment - sports - gator nation- green - carbon footprint - beatwaste First in the SEC. UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA’S ZERO WASTE STADIUM WHO IS THE OFFICE OF SUSTAINABILITY? PAGE 8 EXCLUSIVE& INTERVIEW WITH GATOR FANS PAGE 19 &HOW YOUR STADIUM #beatwaste CAN GO GREEN TOO PAGE 20-25 Produced by Karma PR for the UF Office of Sustainability WELCOMECONTENTS 002 WELCOME/ CONTENTS 03 Cover Letter & The Karma PR Team 04 Executive Summary 05 Executive Summary 06 Karma PR 07 Introduction 08 UF Office of Sustainability and Staff 09 Current Services Provided 10 Purpose of #beatwaste 11 Message Platform 12 The Competition 13 Traditional Media 14 Situational Analysis 15 Audience Analysis 16 Data 17 Research: Quantitative 18 Research: Quantitative 19 Research: Qualitative 20 Campaign Plan 22 Campaign Plan 23 Campaign Plan 24 Campaign Plan 25 Campaign Plan 26 Budget 33 #beatwaste 27 Budget Breakdown 34 References 28 Time Line 35 References 29 Time Line 36 Appendices A 30 SWOT Analysis 37 Appendices A 31 SWOT Analysis 38-45 Appendices B 32 Recommendation/Maintenance WELCOME/ A MESSAGE FROM CONTENTS KARMA PR Cover Letter March 26, 2014 Joseph Floyd: Zero Waste Coordinator UF Office of Sustainability P.O. Box 113111 Gainesville, FL 32611’ Dear UF Office of Sustainability, This initiative is crucial to minimiz- senior PR students who have not of our plan will not only establish ing the waste output accumulated only completed four years of rigor- UF as the first school in the SEC to The University of Florida is a top- throughout each Gator football ous studies, but have also applied achieve zero waste, but improve ranked institution known for its chal- season in the Ben Hill Griffin Sta- these practices to internships and the campus environment for fu- lenging academic programs, champi- dium. Each football game produces jobs preparing us to be well-round- ture generations of Gators to enjoy. onship-winning athletic teams, and a large waste stream that can eas- ed public relations practitioners. its dedication to innovative research. ily be composted and recycled into We thank you for taking the time In the Southeastern Conference, UF something new for someone to Karma PR conducted qualitative and to assess our proposed #beatwaste competes alongside its rivals in en- enjoy. Due to the lack of signage, quantitative research to assess the campaign and for your assistance vironmental efforts, and routinely social media presence, and overall strengths and weaknesses of the in developing these concepts. We introduces new ways to increase outreach on behalf of the zero-waste campaign. Based on our findings, strongly believe in the potential the sustainability of the campus. initiative, last year’s efforts to achieve we developed a cutting-edge cam- this campaign holds and hope you However, its efforts to achieve zero zero waste yielded minimal results. paign plan we coined #beatwaste will consider its implementation waste—an endeavour sought by that we believe will effectively en- for the 2014 Gator Football Season. other top-ranked universities such We are Karma Public Relations, a courage awareness and participation as Ohio State—lacks campus-wide student-run PR agency from the in the zero-waste initiative among Best, awareness and participation. College of Journalism and Com- students, faculty, staff, and season munications. We are innovative, ticket holders. The implementation Karma PR Karma PR Team Account Executive: PR Director: Research Director: Research Director: Bettina Looney Becca Dougherty Nathalie McCrate Chastity Serrano [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Copywriting Director: Media Director: Creative Services: Nicole Burket Francie Weinberg Connor Glenn [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] FEATURELAYOUT1 004 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 005 recycling on campus, but only 61 percent of students re- How do you incentivize some- ported recycling in the stadium. Karma PR explored how one to change their behavior? situational variables like the visibility of recycling signage and alcohol consumption on game days could influence Throw it in the student behavior. can Gator fan Research found that the Office of Sustainability’s MOTIVATE THEM #beatwaste current print tactics were not effective: consistent brand- Florida Gators are some of the most intensely ing and more image-centered signage is needed to in- competitive students in the nation. They work hard and crease audience awareness and adherence to stadium play even harder. There’s a very strong sense of pride and waste reduction. The team also discovered that students togetherness behind the University of Florida’s iconic Or- had a robust understanding of basic recycling delineation ange and Blue. When a UF student graduates, they don’t (separating plastics from trash) but struggled with under- just join some alumni association, they remain a vibrant standing which items they could compost. It is clear that part of the Gator Nation. future communications tactics must focus on composting education. Karma PR’s #beatwaste campaign taps into a Gator’s sense of school-spirit, driving participation in The Office of Sustainability achieved 72 percent the UF Office of Sustainability’s stadium waste reduction average waste diversion (or nearly 60,000 lbs of com- goals. Karma PR will rally students around a race to be- postable waste) in a stadium pilot test last football season. “IN ALL KINDS come the very first college to achieve a zero-waste sta- On its most successful game day, it achieved 78 percent dium in the Southeastern Conference (SEC). waste diversion. OF WEATHER By tying environmental education to Gators’ natu- Karma PR’s overarching campaign purpose is to in- WE’LL ALL ral sports rivalry, Karma PR will magnify the campaign’s crease stadium waste diversion by 15 percent for the 2014 effect on our target audience: UF football stadium visitors. Gator Football season--educating stadium visitors about STICK TO- the mission and laying the groundwork for UF to achieve GETHER FOR The Karma PR team conducted extensive primary a zero waste stadium by the end of 2015. research to determine students’ understanding of waste F-L-O-R-I-D-A reduction behaviors like recycling and composting. The team collected 89 survey responses and led a focus group GO GATORS!” with ten undergraduates. WE ARE THE BOYS FROM OLD FLORIDA Nearly 80 percent of surveyed students reported 006 KARMA PR Gators Go Green #beatwaste Who We Are: Karma Public Relations is an innovative, student-run PR agency from the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida. The team comprises of seven sen- ior-level PR students enrolled in the capstone course PUR4800, a challenging program that provides students with the oppor- tunity to apply practical skills to real-life public relations cam- paigns. The #beatwaste campaign was designed to encourage education, awareness and participation in UF’s zero-waste initiative in the Ben Hill Griffin Stadium. These efforts first launched in 2013, but depicted a strong need for recognition among its audiences. 007 INTRODUCTION The average American throws away 4.38 pounds of individual trash every day, according to the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2012 municipal waste report. Now let’s imagine that number accumulated over 365 days and multiplied by the entire population of the United States. That’s 251 million tons of trash! Of that waste, only 34.5 percent gets recycled. Suddenly, seemingly inconsequential decisions like walking the extra few yards to compost a napkin, or using a canteen instead of a water bottle have far-reaching impacts on our country’s waste stream. Minimizing the world’s waste stream through recycling and composting is critically important for resource efficiency and environmental integrity. The University of Florida currently recycles nearly 40 percent of its waste—or more than 6,000 tons of material annually (UF Zero Waste). With a faculty population of 15,000, a graduate population of 16,272 and a undergraduate population of 32,008, UF has the potential to not only save thousands of tons of natural resources through its zero waste campaign--but to lead by example and teach the next generation of leaders how to make a tremendous differ- ence in the world. Karma PR’s vision is to help UF take advantage of its unique authority as a leading educational institution to foster a culture of environmental responsibility on campus and achieve zero waste by 2015. 008 WHO IS THE OFFICE OF SUSTAINABILITY? THE STAFF: Joseph Floyd - Zero Waste Coordinator Allison Vitt- Outreach and Communications Coordinator Joseph is the Zero Waste Coordinator for the University of Florida’s Allison is the Outreach and Communications Coordinator for the Office of Sustainability. He is tasked with creating and implementing Office of Sustainability. She is responsible for promoting sustain- the Zero Waste Plan encompassing waste prevention, reuse, recycling, able practices through a variety of educational outreach and composting and environmentally preferable purchasing policies engagement programs, public relations efforts and communi- and programs covering all materials and products. Joseph holds a cations campaigns that promote sustainability within the Univer- Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Georgia Southern sity of Florida campus community and the community-at-large. University. The Office of Sustainability works with 88+ campus departments and student groups