Ballet Nouveau ColoradoPR Campaign

Alanna Eaton, Madison Strouse and Shannon Willison

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This summary is an integrated communications plan for Ballet Nouveau Colorado (BNC); specifically, the school of Ballet Nouveau Colorado. This plan provides a thorough process of ways to approach the key publics in order to enhance results and fulfill the goals of BNC.

1. To increase their annual revenue.2. To increase the enrollment rate at their school; specifically for adult classes.3. To increase awareness of the school of Ballet Nouveau

These goals, along with our awarenss and action objectives for our key publics are explained in further detail in the STRATEGY section of this plan.

In the FORMATIVE RESEARCH section our key publics are identified as, women ages 50-75, families with children, and disabled students; all key publics are located with in the North Denver/Colorado area. This section will further explain why these are our key publics, and why this location is specific to the goals of BNC.

The TACTICS section provides a detailed list of how we plan to reach our publics through specific PR tactics. Tactics created included, interpersonal communications, organizational media, news media, and Advertising/promotional media. Here is a small example of four of our central tactics:

1. Offering a free week to all new participants, mandatory survey for new students and current students.

2. Publicity stunts include flash mobs on pearl Street in Boulder and the fourth of July parade in Broomfield.

3. Entering the school of BNC into the Boulder Creek Festival, here they will do a performance and reach a large group of our key publics.

4. Social media; creating new uses for each outlets. For example, making their blog specific to the school and interactions with those who go to the school. A personalized blog containing two way communications with the school, instructors, parents, and students.

After this section we dive into a comprehensive SCHEDULE for the success of this campaign. Among this section we have mapped the costs of each proposed tactic in accordance to the allotted BUDGET. Following the budget we communicate a plan to EVALUATE the success of the campaign. This includes the measuring of revenue, enrollment rates, and engagement.

1. Basis of Research

In organizing our formative research, we focused on primary and secondary research outlets. As a result, we have come to a better understanding of what the Ballet Nouveau Company (BNC) is all about. On February 9, 2011, Alanna met with Ashley Burns, Communication Manager for BNC. From this interview, our group gathered information pertaining to their performances, afterschool programs, and community engagement activities. After the interview we moved on to secondary research. Here we focused primarily on the BNC website and their social media outlets, including twitter, facebook, and their personal blog. BNC has been recognized and printed in major Colorado publications; The Denver Post, Denver Business Journal, The Denver Magazine, The Gazette, and more. These publications gave us a strong understanding on the community’s perception of BNC. Following this secondary research and further communication with the organization we aimed to focus primarily on the school of Ballet Nouveau in this campaign. We conducted a small survey and gave it to current adult students at the school to get feedback about the school and classes. ( See appendices for survey)

2. Situational Analysis

BNC is a non-profit organization founded in 1992. BNC’s company, school, and community programs have the mission of enriching lives through innovation in dance. The company’s vision is to be recognized as an international leader in education, development, and presentation of dance. BNC has become known for presenting work that is artistically rich and accessible. The company values collaboration, creativity, and innovation in all of their pursuits. In relation to the marketing and PR, Ballet Nouveau aims to build awareness about the full picture of who they are as an organization.

  Currently, they feel they do a good job of creating PR interest about their professional

productions but, are lacking interest with their school and community programs.  For the school, Ballet Nouveau’s biggest goal is to build more awareness about the vast variety of dance and fitness classes they offer that reach far beyond ballet.  They have many specialized programs for toddlers through senior citizens that need more recognition. 

BNC serves more than 300 students every year and is committed to every student regardless of age, education, or financial status. The school provides a professional environment for students of all ages. BNC offers classes not just in ballet, but also in pointe, jazz, modern, contemporary, and Pilates. If a student cannot afford to pay for classes, BNC will provide scholarships and tuition to those who cannot pay themselves.

There are also many community programs BNC offers that serve more than 20,000 people annually. BNC has an elementary partnership program that brings year long arts experience to four public schools that are located in high-need neighborhoods. BNC offers 60 performances every year in various elementary schools to entertain children and get them interested in dance and theatre. These performances are an interactive way to get people involved with the company. BNC has many community partners that help to fund and sponsor community events. BNC partners are Kansas City Ballet, Lighthouse Writers Workshop, Cleo

Parker Robinson Dance, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Colorado Ballet, The Washington Ballet, and many others.

BNC wants help bringing more awareness about all of these programs and also about the level of quality they provide.  The situation with the school right now is that not enough people understand that BNC is trying to provide people of all ages with a place to harness their creativity though dance. It allows people to express themselves in an innovative way furthering the organizations vision to become a leader in the organization and presentation of dance. Many students within the organization go on to be students in some of the top ballet and dance academies around the country. Recently, two of their advanced ballet students were accepted to one of the countries’ top dance programs at Harid Conservatory in Florida.  Doing more promotions and advertising about their events could bring more students to BNC and help stimulate revenue.

Ashley Burns aims to use PR to help generate more students to come from around the country to BNC’s advanced summer intensive program. She would like students on a local level to come as well. She wants to get students of all ages and ability to come to BNC’s programs, even if it’s just for their adult fitness classes. BNC needs this PR to help generate revenue.

With their school and community programs, their goal with PR is to build awareness and find people, corporations, and businesses that want to donate to the cause. 

Overall BNC wants more awareness and recognition from people/businesses around their area that can help. Every year $70,000 worth of tuition is given to students who cannot afford the school otherwise. There are 4,700 classes offered in 1 annual year. BNC offers free dance and fitness weeks as well as various summer camps and programs. PR will be used to raise awareness about all BNC has to offer and all the good it brings to the community.

3. Organizational Analysis

Strengths

Performances

Current PR for the company alone.

Community engagement-Serving

more than 20,000 individuals

annually.

Elementary school programs

Free ticket programs

After school Dance classes

Pre-post production discussions

(allows community to engage with

professional dancers).

Website – informative, contains

testimonials, emotional appeal is

good.

Facebook page- very active, and

contains frequent updates

The summer “free week” event

Weakness

Twitter posts

Not focusing on the school

programs as much as the company.

Outdoor marketing (flyers and

posters)

The BNC dance school site- more

informative

Awareness- people don’t know who

they are besides a dance company.

Blog -exactly the same at their

Twitter account-needs some spicing

up.

Opportunity

More cross partnerships

Gaining awareness of all their

community engagement.

The school of BNC – has great

offerings, like a summer

intensives, and Day Off Day

Camp

Enhance the blog

Enhance twitter

End of year Gala

Target audience beyond

mothers

Threats

Their tight budget with

marketing(internal)

Staff capacity (internal)

Free after school programs that

already exist

Appeals to younger girls vs.

boys and girls.

Other dance schools- there are

over 50 dance studios in the

market they are reaching.

Other well –known dance

companies in Denver. The

Colorado Ballet.

Critically speaking, BNC is an established organization. They are a well-rounded not for

profit organization that impacts the fitness and well-being of their target community. With their

after school programs, and their free services, BNC does a good job accommodating a varied

amount of incomes and lifestyles. They have strong social media activity (Facebook) and their

website is well branded. The website contains tutorials that have a strong emotional appeal.

BNC has a lot of potential that they are not taking advantage of. There is a lot of opportunity

for the organization once they reach out to the specific audiences and markets they are trying to

incorporate into their school. The have their social media set up but there is a lot to be done with

it in terms of personalization, and two way communication with followers. They also have a lot

of events and performances through out the year; gaining awareness for them will create

opportunity for the school opportunity and will help fill up audiences, increasing revenue.

BNC has two key weaknesses. First, their outdoor marketing is weak; they’re currently

relying on posters and flyers about the company, not the school. They want to increase

awareness, and part of doing that would be improving their outdoor display. Second, they are

using the same posts for both their twitter and blog accounts. This depicts a lake of interest in the

use of social media, even if that is not the case. We want to give specific roles to each of the

social media outlets, this way they reach out to the consumers that are active on those specific

outlets. Last is their website, though their branding is good, it represents the BNC company more

than the BNC school. Since the school is what brings in the most revenue, they should make it a

little more prominent on the site.

With BNC being a small organization, they are facing a few threats, some of which are

internal. First, they don’t have a large staff; this can put strain on the time it takes to implement a

solid PR campaign. Internally, they are also dealing with a very small communications budget;

this makes the campaign less malleable because it has to be budgeted tightly. Externally, BNC

offers free after school dance classes, but they are still competing with other afterschool

programs. After school dance classes seem to appeal more to younger girls, verses other

programs that include or appeal to both sexes. On top of that there are many other dance studios

in their area. We have to make our target see why BNC is the dance studio to choose. The last

real threat would be other ballet companies, such as The Colorado Ballet, who have similar

community engagement programs. Currently BNC is ranked number three when it comes to

ballet companies in Denver, following Cleo Parker Robinson, and the Colorado Ballet. They are

however the only professional ballet company located in Broomfield, which could be used to

their advantage.

Internal Environment

The school of Ballet Nouveau Colorado is currently offering classes in ballet, point, and jazz,

modern, contemporary, capoeira, and pilates. Among those styles they offer specialty classes,

highlighting, Dance with me, Ballet Expressions, and adult specialty classes. Dance with me is a

program designed for toddlers and their parents to come to class together. It promotes family

involvement and interaction not only with the school, but with the classes as well. Their Ballet

Expressions class is a class geared to students and children of all abilities. The teacher is trained

in special education physical movement and tailors the class to the abilities of those involved.

The also offer over 11 adult classes, all of which are geared towards dance and fitness.

As of right now the school has 300 returning students, however only 25 of these students are

adults. As a result to such a low number of adult students, most of the adult classes have an

average of three to five people, besides the more popular classes like ballet and jazz, which

contain 15-20.

Internally the school has a good amount of instructors. Some of which are performers in the

company. The organization has a small staff and would highly benefit from comprehensive PR

plan. With such a small has little staff capacity, the only individual that does the communications

is Ashley Burns. She is in charge of the marketing, PR, and advertising for the entire

organization, and because of this, it is very difficult to do certain campaigns and projects. The

company rarely has interns, which would benefit them given their close proximity to the

University of Colorado Boulder campus.

Ashley also mentioned that their budget is very small. With a tight budget we are limited in what

we can do to meet our PR objectives. Most of their costs are in printing of flyers and posters.

Currently they do most of their communications through social media, websites, email blasts,

and word of mouth

Public Perception

In our small sample survey we concluded that current adult students are happy with the school of

Ballet Nouveau. When asked on a survey to rank their experience, 95% ranked between a 9 and

10 on a scale of 1 to 10. The majority of the participants would not change anything about the

school and feel it is worth the price of the classes.

Through secondary research, we are finding that overall people are very happy with the school

and company. They are well loved with in the community and have a solid reputation as both a

ballet company and an organization.

When it comes to their reputation, we get the perception they coming out of a rocky phase. A

Denver Post online article uncovered that the company was under financial scrutiny in the

summer of 2010. To relieve their financial stress they sent out an email blast, over the summer,

to the community of north Denver that has been apart of the organization or has shown interest in

the organization. This includes donors, families, friends, students, audiences and more. In a sense

this entire effort was considered a bailout and did get a bad wrap from some of the media.

However, it did have two-way communication and addressed measures they were taking to make

sure they were never in that financial position again. It seems that their honesty and bond with

the community paid off; at their fundraising performance over that same summer, they were able

to raise enough money to stay functioning.

Their current reputation is strong, they are very well recognized with in their community through

their pairings with elementary schools and tuition assistant programs. The Denver Magazine

wrote an article about their 8th annual luncheon, and praised the organization for their passion for

dance and audience participation.

External Environment

Their supporters included donors, customers, partnerships, and community members. BNC is the

second largest ballet company in the Denver Metro area. The largest is the Colorado Ballet, who

is celebrating their 50th anniversary this year. Both companies are very similar in their

community engagements. They both have schools for student dancers, after school programs,

scholarships, and they are both non-profit organizations. The big differences are their dance

styles and reputations. BNC has a much more modern and unique style of dance. They appeal to

a large audience base, and welcome all levels of dancers.

Through research no real opponent has been disclosed. I have been unable to find any real

opponents. BNC is an organization devoted to enriching lives through innovative dance. I have

not uncovered anyone who has harsh feelings for the organization and feel

When it comes to external competition BNC is fortunate the only organization of its kind in the

northern Denver region such as the Broomfield, boulder, Arvada ect. They do however compete

with other Denver companies which are, The Colorado Ballet and Cleo Parker Robinson.

The Colorado Ballet has been present for over 50 years and has a long standing reputation with

in the state of Colorado. Their mission, similar to BNC’s, states, “Colorado Ballet's mission is to

present superior quality classical ballet and innovative dance through performances, training and

education programs that enhance the cultural life of our community while remaining financially

sound.” The Colorado Ballet reaches their audiences in very similar way as BNC. They are also a

not for profit organization, they engage with the community, and run a well-known ballet

academy. As a result, it is vital that we target the specific north Denver community for BNC to

reduce competition with the biggest company in Colorado.

Cleo Parker Robinson is also a we known Dance Company that is located in the five

points area of Denver. Their mission states, “Cleo Parker Robinson Dance is an international,

cross-cultural, dance-arts and educational institution rooted in African American traditions, and

dedicated to excellence in providing instruction, performances and community programs, for

intergenerational students, artists and audiences.” The organization is really devoted to cross

cultural dance arts. It engages with schools with in it community as well , and is devoted to the

arts. They are a for-profit organization, which separates them from BNC, and they have a very

diverse use of dance. This competition doesn’t seem to have the potential to be as significant as

the Colorado Ballet, but it is in the top three dance companies in Colorado.

4. Identifying and analyzing publics

Customers: Families with small children interested in ballet Adults interested in keeping in shape Families with disabled children Adults with limited movement abilities (ex: bad hips, joints) Targeted toward elder adults (ages 40+), also smaller children (preschool, elementary

school) Women who want to be active & healthy, alternative ways to exercise

Producers: Employees of the company: professional dance teachers, marketing team, office support,

etc… Volunteer parents/people of community helping with events, etc… Families of already enrolled children in dance school

Enablers: Professional dance companies (set examples/influence) Professional dance schools (set examples/influence) Butterfly Pavilion – cross promote each other Local media General media availability Print media: newspaper, mailers, magazine ads, newsletters Electronic media: e-newsletter, e-mails, social media (blog, FB, Twitter)

Limiters: Other competitive dance studios

o Ones that offer classes, schools, day camps, etc… Other professional dance companies

The key publics for BNC are disabled students, older women (50-75) and families with children. With these key publics, BNC will be able to fully meet their goals as an organization.

1. Disabled Studentsa. Opinion Leaders/Intercessory Publics

i. This key public’s opinion leaders are mainly their parents or caretakers. These people highly influence this key public because they are around them during their day-to-day activities. Their

intercessory public would be the media because their parent or caretaker would most likely be influenced by the media to engage with BNC.

b. WINs (Demographics/Psychographics/ Geographics)i. The wants, interests and needs for this key public are to have the

ability to feel a part of an activity no matter their ability and to broaden their interests as far as activities go in their lifestyle. The age for this group ranges from 5 to 21 and the socioeconomic status of this public is middle class. There aren’t any specific gender/cultural/ethnic/religious traits among this public. The geographic area for this key public is Brighton, Thornton, Northglenn, Arvada, Westminster, Boulder County, Louisville, Superior and Lafayette.

c. Benefiti. The benefit for this key public would be that BNC would provide

an opportunity for disabled students to participate in an activity not usually offered at other ballet schools.

2. Older Women, ages 50-75a. Opinion Leaders/Intercessory Publics

i. The opinion leaders for this key public would be people who are friends with these women that aren’t in this specific group. They may influence and encourage them by word of mouth about the programs that BNC offers. The intercessory public for this group is definitely the media.

b. WINs (Demographics/Psychographics/ Geographics)i. The wants, interests and needs for this key public is that they want

and need to know about a different way they could exercise. It would also be an interest to them as well because of the other classes offered that is specified to some of their needs. The age range of this group ranges from 50 to 75 years old. The socioeconomic status of this group is middle class. There aren’t any specific gender/cultural/ethnic/religious traits among this public. The geographic area for this key public is Brighton, Thornton, Northglenn, Arvada, Westminster, Boulder County, Louisville, Superior and Lafayette.

c. Benefiti. The benefit for this key public is that BNC has the ability to offer

programs and classes for these women who are looking for alternative, fun ways to exercise that won’t jeopardize their health in any way.

3. Families with children

a. Opinion Leaders/Intercessory Publicsi. The opinion leaders for this key public would be other families

involved with BNC and also those who aren’t among the key publics but use word of mouth. The intercessory public would be the media as well.

b. WINs (Demographics/Psychographics/ Geographics)i. The wants, interests and needs for families with children would be

the want to have their children involved with some sort of activity that they would like. The interest to be involved with other families and have an impact on the community. And the needs to have their family socialize with other families that have similar interests for both their children.

c. Benefiti. The benefit for families with children is that BNC is able to offer

classes and programs that will enable familial involvement year round.

POSITONING STATEMENTBNC aims to be the leaders in innovative dance in Colorado. With their passion for community and education, they engage their audiences in the discipline and benefits of dance. They are dedicated to enriching lives through dance.

GOALSBased on BNC’s mission and vision the organization has three main goals. The first two are task management goals, followed by a relationship management goal.

1. Their first goal is to increase annual revenue. From our primary research we found that the BNC School earns the majority of the organizations revenue; grossing approximately $374,000 over the last twelve-month period. In the next 12 months we want to increase the school revenue by 10% or approximately $35,000. This advances their desire to be recognized as an international leader in the education, development, and presentation of dance, as stated in their vision.

2. Their second goal is to increase the enrollment rates at the BNC School; specifically for their adult classes. Currently, according to current rates, the BNC School has 300 students and only 25 of them are adult students. They are currently offering 5 regular adult classes, and 6 power hour classes. Ultimately, we want adult students in each adult class. This will continue the organizations desire to enrich lives through innovation in dance, as stated in their mission statement.

3. Their last goal is to increase awareness of the BNC School, to continue their pursuit for leadership and desire to enrich lives, as stated in both their mission and vision.

OBJECTIVES1. Awareness

a. To have an effect on the awareness of North Denver women ages 50 –75 toward the BNC School; specifically to increase their understanding of the benefits the school offers for adult students. (Evaluate through measured reach; frequency of media impressions and social media)

b. To have an effect on the awareness of North Denver disabled students; specifically to increase their knowledge about the opportunities BNC has for disabled students. (Evaluate through measured reach; frequency of media impressions and social media)

c. To have an effect on the awareness on families with children in the North Denver community; specifically to increase their understanding of the BNC school. (Evaluate through measured reach; frequency of media impressions and social media)

2. Actiona. To have an effect on the action of North Denver women ages 50-75; specifically

to increase the enrollment rate of adult students and increase school revenue. (Increase adult enrollment rate by 50 % in the next six months; 13 new adult students).

b. To have an effect on the action of North Denver Disabled students; specifically to for more disabled students to enroll in the classes specified to their needs. (Increase the number of disabled students by 5 over the next six months)

c. To have an effect on the action of families with children in North Denver; specifically to increase the family involvement at the BNC school and increase enrollment in all classes. (15 % enrollment increase in six months; totally 45 new students.

STRATEGYBallet Nouveau Colorado’s key message is to appeal to our key publics and to ensure they are getting the care and services they deserve. Our main three key publics are families with children, disabled students who need scholarship and older women (50-75).

Proactive StrategyProactive strategies for BNC would be the best approach to achieve their ultimate goal. BNC’s goal is to increase revenue, increase enrollment in their adult classes as well as build an overall awareness of who BNC is to the public.

In order to accomplish these objectives, BNC should participate in some of the suggested tactics that we have provided. For instance, Ballet Nouveau Colorado should use organizational, interpersonal, advertising and news media to increase the overall awareness about their organization. After utilizing these important tools, adult participation in classes should increase and BNC’s revenue should increase as well.

Another great tool for BNC to use is a mandatory survey to give at the start of their involvement with the school of BNC. By handing out these surveys, with basic questions geared towards students, students will be able to affectively think about their experience with the school and have a voice concerning what they would like to see don’t differently. In accordance to giving student a voice, the BNC School will be able to adjust their programs to the liking of their key publics and eventually increase enrollment in their programs.

SpokespersonChristin Crampton Day is the new executive director at Ballet Nouveau Colorado as of January 2011. Not only has Day operated her own business for twelve years, she has danced professionally for 25 years of her life. She is experienced in the public relations field; with credentials ranging back two decades. Day has received many awards such as being named the Denver Business Journal’s “Power Book” as one of Denver’s top newsmakers in 2007, and the “Forty under 40” business leader’s award. Day’s enduring passion of dance has led her to this position at Ballet Nouveau Colorado and hopes to bring to life the company’s mission and vision. With her specific experience and solid credentials she would be a great spokes person for women aging 50-75. She is relatable and passionate about BNC.

Julia Wilkinson Manley, the school director, is highly recognized by the BNC community. Parents of students state she is “personally invested in the growth of each dancer.” Julia’s extensive background in dance includes performing in many professional ballet companies; she is also an award winning choreographer. Her charisma and passion for dance make her a great spokesperson for families with children in the north Denver community.

For our last public, disabled students in North Denver, the spokesperson would be Heather Sutton. She instructs a class called Ballet Expressions that is designed to meet the ability level of all students participating. She has registered dance/movement therapist and with degrees in Special Physical Education & Development and Somatic Counseling Psychotherapy. Her class offers a therapeutic dance experience; designed to increase body awareness, help to develop fundamental motor skills, build self-esteem, learn focus, and have fun expressing themselves creatively; as stated in the class description.

EndorsersOur most affective external endorsers will be third party advocates for each of our publics. Specifically, for families with children, testimonials from parents or children who attend class at the school is the best way to appeal to other parents and children. This kind of endorsement could take place in video form or just merely a quote on their website. Currently they have a testimonial posted stating;

“We keep coming back to BNC (5 yrs) because we’re part of the family. The talented and experienced BNC staff can keep my 7 yr old ballerina focused and my 49 year old body in shape. They really have something to offer everyone. We also LOVE the professional company and see every show. You can feel their synergy when they dance. They are all beautiful and excellent role models for our children.” – Adult student and parent of a Ballet A student

We want to continue getting testimonials like theses but we want to personalize them with the actual names and ages of the students they are quoting.

These same kind of endorsements are vital for our two other publics, women (50-75) and disabled students. Relating to the specific publics through personal experiences of others with in that same public is significant for obtaining the goals of BNC. Specifically, a disabled student is more willing to attend Ballet Expressions after hearing another student similar to him/her speak highly of it. The same goes for women; if they can relate to the women who love the adult classes they are more likely to sign up for them.

Beyond students, we can look at possible third party endorsers who participate in the North Denver dance community. Below is a list of seven possible endorsers with in the greater Denver area

1. Bethany Cagle director of Denver Independent Choreographers Project- an organization aimed to reveal unique technique and choreography in Denver.

2. Jane Monreal- TV Newsperson/Host. She is a local dance expert currently does a radio segment called “morning after’, providing expert feedback on the hit show So you think you can Dance.

3. Shalee Horstman - created a company called Dance for the Soul, Inc . She believe in therapeutic healing through movement; a one woman company.

4. Onye Ozuzu – she is the Director of Dance at UC Boulder and an associate professor.5. Chelsea Pierotti is the poms Varsity head coach at Broomfield High School.6. Pamper yourself Denver - is a beauty blog that recommends fitness places and salons in

the greater Denver area. 7. The Denver Mom’s Blog - a blog for moms around Denver. They discuss ways to get fit

in 2011.

Rational appealThe rational appeal presented in this campaign has three different propositions; factual, conjecture and value. The factual proposition is based on primary research, a survey, conducted to discover current client satisfaction or dissatisfaction. The conjecture proposition is based on the notion that there needs to be more adult students to fill the adult classes. The value proposition is based on the fact that all of the main three key publics will be fully serviced to their needs no matter age or disability.

The rational appeals for women

o A factual representation of the school;

fair cost

fun

good exercise

adaptive programs

Nice people

Flexible class schedule

Large studio space

First week free

o Conjecture proposition;

Increase adult students

good environment

Comfortable for all levels

The rational appeal for families with children

o A value proposition asserting the schools best interest is for the students;

Safe

Whole family involvement

Repeat customers

Individual growth

Recognition

Self – confidence

Self –expression

motivation

A rational appeal for disabled students

o A factual representation of how the school incorporates disabled students;

Therapeutic practice

Learning

Engaging

Increase motor skills

trained instructors

adaptive

peer support

family engagement

Emotional appeal

There are two important emotional appeals involved with our message: love and virtue. Our message contains an emotional appeal because it provides the key publics comfort in knowing BNC is flexible to each client’s needs, no matter what disability or what age. The love appeal will encompass feelings of family togetherness, nostalgia, compassion and sensitivity. All of these feelings may be evoked by participants involved with the different types of classes. The virtue appeal is involved with the message because of the societal values embedded within. For instance, the Ballet Expressions class that’s offered helps disabled children have the ability to participate in a dance class, no matter their disability. Also, for older women or women with injuries, there’s a class offered that will tailor itself to medical need with in the class, which provides more opportunity for older customers.

Love appeals

Families with children

1. Family togetherness- a mother and her little girl getting their hair in dance buns in the mirror. Dad walks in and says “look at my two beautiful girls” then we next see mom and daughter walking out of house in their ballet attire holding hands. They are leaving to go to the Dance with Me class featured at the BNC School for parents and toddlers to dance together.

2. Nostalgia- a mother looks at her 18 year old daughter and drifts back to her first dance recital. The little girl has a wide smile and big bright eyes; she is glowing on stage. We see moms eyes focus on the young woman in front of her now and her eyes water with memories.

3. Love- an image of a dad hugging his daughter after a dance recital. His face appears relaxed and prideful, the daughter is around 6 years old and has her entire body wrapped around her dad. Her eyes are closed tight she seems relieved by her dads embrace.

Disabled students

1. A warm image of a disabled child engaging with the instructor of the dance class. The image is of the two dancing together, the teacher showing the student with one hand, while her other hand holds on to the disabled student’s hand. Both are smiling and activity engaged in what they are doing.

Women ages 50-75

1. Togetherness -Pleasant image of older women in dance attire warming up on a ballet bar and on the floor. Some are stretching while others are doing technique. They are all smiling and looking towards each other as if they are engaging in conversation. Everyone appears relaxed and comfortable.

Virtue Appeals

Families with children

1. Esteem appeal - this image depicts two parents watching their younger daughter dance through the looking glass outside of the studio. The mother is pointing at the daughter, and the dad is watching with pride as his little girl does a double pirouette.

Disabled students

1. Social acceptance- a disabled student is at the front of the dance studio bowing, the rest of the students in the class are looking his way; their faces exude excitement, they are cheering and clapping. The bowing student at the front is smiling and seems thrilled by the acceptance and peer support he is receiving from the class.

Women (50 -75)

1. Esteem- An image of an older woman posing in the studio mirror. She is prepping for a pirouette in her stance. Confidence exudes her as she watches herself; her back is upright, pelvis is tucked under and her feet are turned out. She is in perfect form.

Tactic Details Public Type ObjectivesAdult classes survey

New Student Survey

Students fill out a general survey about what they want to see more of from BNC. Gives insight to the faculty on new ways of teaching/programs to implement.

We want every new participant at the school to also fill out a survey. Each new student will receive a free week after doing so. This will allow the school to learn where their consumers are hearing about the school and why they chose the school, enhancing opportunity for growth and stability.

Women (50-75), and families

Organizational media

O2, a

Promote free adult weeks

Offer free adult classes 2 X’s a year to get potential students to visit BNC. Organization can oversee deliverance of this message. Provides a direct way to promote BNC. The adult free weeks will be advertised by email notifications as well as be included on the BNC home page two months prior to when the free weeks take

Women ( 50-75)

Interpersonal media

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place. These free weeks will also be tweeted and blogged about as well as mentioned and encouraged on facebook.

Social Media interaction; Blogs

Facebook

Twitter

Blogs on news, videos and photos of BNC students/performances. News will include upcoming performance information and student achievements in dance. Videos will be posted of students rehearsals so that parents and students can go on the blog and check it out. Highlight one student every week to tell their story on the blog to make the page feel more personal.

BNC will join facebook causes, a place for non-profit fundraising. Here they can talk about the events coming up and the fundraisers taking place which will generate more revenue. This will be a place for BNC to talk about the classes they provide and the new classes that will be opening.

Use twitter to talk about BNC promotions, spur student, potential student, and community interactions. BNC will use twitter to promote their company and start conversations with their followers. Their goal is to get feedback from the people following them to better understand their audiences. BNC will encourage students to between about special offers.

Women( 50-75), families, and disabled students

Organizational media

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Boulder Creek Festival special event

Student performance during the Boulder Creek festival. Take BNC to a family public to convenient showcase the company to its audience. This event brings in 450,000 people and BNC will take place in the event in 2012. The event takes place in late May every year and application forms are due by the February prior to the event date. The event allows local talent to perform on one of five stages. BNC will submit an application this next February with a $250 application fee to be entered and advertised in the festival. The $250 dollar fee will be raised through company performances put on throughout the year.

Women( 50-75), families, and disabled students

Interpersonal media, Promotional Media

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BNC shadow Invite potential students to shadow a BNC Families Interpersonal O2- b,c

day student for the day. Will be effective in generating future audiences. There will be an email blast encouraging students to get involved in the shadow day by handing out goodie bags for those participating. Potential students can pick 3 classes that they would like to shadow someone in for the day. These shadow sessions can take place all in one day or, the potential student can do the three classes on separate days and shadow someone different each time. These will appeal to families who have children but also disabled students because there is a lot of opp

with children, and disabled students

media

Brochure/flyers

Families with children

Women 50-75

Disabled students

Promote company awareness, membership services, and feature to generate support for the organization. The flyer and brochure will be redone quarterly to allow the company to update any classes or summer programs being changed. These materials will be placed in public school offices, coffee shops, grocery stores, restaurants, Targets, salons, and children’s hospitals in the Broomfield and Boulder areas.

The example brochure and flyer appeal specifically to the entire school and what it has to offer to everyone.( see appendices)

Beyond the broader versions of flyers and brochures that we have examples of, we recommend creating a flyer and brochure to appeal to each of the public’s. For women the brochure would flyer and brochure would highlight why women should come to the school of BNC and depict the qualities of the organization through images of women just like those we are trying to reach.

With this target it is important to have separate brochure and flyers that appeal to their needs. We want to show images of disabled students dancing in studios and having a good time.

Women( 50-75), families, and disabled students

Organizational media

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Dance-a-thon Press release

Highlight an event put on by the company that benefits the community and the company. Dance-a-thon to raise money for a BNC student scholarship fund. This event will be a fun competition for students to see who can dance the longest. Parents will sponsor their child by agreeing to donate a set amount for each hour their child dances. Those left dancing at the end of the night will receive prizes such as tickets to a BNC company show, movie tickets, mani/pedi gift certificates, etc.

Women( 50-75) and families

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Flash Mob Students will correlate doing a flash mob at different local sites. Middle school aged students will do a flash mob at Broomfield’s 4th of July parade and BBQ. They will be wearing a BNC shirt with a pink tutu and will get up and dance when a certain song comes on at the BBQ. The older, high school aged students will perform a flash mob in downtown Boulder in the high traffic area of 16th street mall. One student will walk down the mall with a boombox gathering other student followers and the students will perform when they reach the most crowed area of the mall, at 13th and Broadway.

Families with children in the boulder and Bromfield area.

News Media

Entertainment section ad

Adult free week

Disabled class

Place an advertisement in the local Boulder county paper highlighting current classes and performance updates.

One ad should be specific to the adult free week. Highlighting the event and the classes offered.

On should be geared to the class that is offered to students with disabilities.

Women( 50-75), families, and disabled students

Advertising and Promotional Media

Print Ads (optional)

Women 50-75

Collateral to put in local magazine and news papers.

An Ad that displays our target women dancing and enjoying their time. This ad will stress the concept of “getting fit while having fun.”

Families w/ Children

Disabled students

This stresses the family environment that takes place at the school. It depicts children from 3-18 performing and being a part of the school.

This ad directly illustrates what we want the multi-ability classes to look like. We want to stress that “ability is limitless” at the school because they offer this kind of opportunity.

BUDGET/SCHEDUAL/EVALUATIONSchedule

The adult class survey was conducted by the PR team and took us about a day to do. The social media tactic is planned for April 16, will be administered by Ashley Burns (Communications Manager) and is expected to take about 3 days to do. The BNC Shadow Day is expected to take place on April 23, will be carried out by one of the school’s dance teachers and will take one day. To promote the free adult weeks, we expect this to be done by May 1, to be executed by the PR team and will take about a week to carry out. We would like to see the brochures and flyers out by May 14 which will be handled by the PR team and is expected to take about a month. The Dance-A-Thon press release will be handled by the PR team and is expected to take two days to execute by May 14. The entertainment section ad will be conducted by the PR team and is expected to take one day to be finished by May 14. The Boulder Creek Festival falls on Memorial Day weekend and we have chosen May 29 to be a part of it. A team of students will perform at the festival and this performance is expected to take about a month to prepare.

BudgetPersonnel Cost (assumed) N.A

Estimated Materials (paper, printing, postage, etc…)

$750-2000

Media (advertising rates) $350

Online 50Magazine 200Newspaper 100

Miscellaneous $100-900

TOTAL $1,200-3,250

The total project cost will be between $1,200 and $3,250. Let’s assume at our Dance-A-Thon event and at the Boulder Creek Festival, that we get 65 donors that donate $50 each. That will be our break-even point. If we assume that we receive about 57 new adult students from this campaign, that take 1 class a week at $57, then we would also reach our break-even point.

Evaluation

To measure our campaign’s success, we will take several steps to evaluate each of our presented objectives.

Our primary objective is awareness. First, we want to have an effect on the awareness of North Denver women ages 50-75 towards the BNC School; specifically to increase their understanding of the benefits the school offers for adult students. Second, we want to have an effect on the awareness of North Denver disabled students; specifically to increase their knowledge about the opportunities BNC has for them. Lastly, we want to have an effect on the awareness of families with children in the North Denver community; specifically to increase their understanding of the BNC School.

There are several different techniques to use to measure this first objective. One of the main techniques is to focus on the message exposure. A way to do this is to assess the amount of hits BNC receives on their website, Facebook page and blog. Another way is to track the possible size of the audience, analyze the message content in our advertising and to survey customers about the message recall.

Our second objective is action. Initially, we would like to have an effect on the action of North Denver women ages 50-75; specifically to increase the enrollment rate of adult students by 50% and increase school revenue. Then, we would like to have an effect on the action of North Denver disabled students; specifically to increase the number of disabled students by 5 to enroll in the classes specified to their needs. Finally, we would like to have an effect on the action of families with children in North Denver; specifically to increase the family involvement at the BNC School by 15% and increase enrollment in all classes.

The techniques that will be used to measure our second objective are audience participation, direct observation and relative media effectiveness. For audience participation, we will figure the number of people who acted on the relayed message about the programs at BNC. From there we can figure to see if we made our increased enrollment goal. For direct observation, we can observe at an event, Boulder Creek Festival for example, to see how well the audience there receives a student’s performance. We can observe if the crowd is asking for more information about BNC and their offered programs. For relative media effectiveness, we will measure how the newly enrolled students at BNC heard about the classes being offered. We will ask them how they heard about us and from there we will know whether they heard about it from social media, news media or from advertisements.