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TRANSCRIPT
Bundle Up 1
Goodwill: Bundle Up this Holiday Season
A Public Relations Campaign to Bring Gifts of Donations
Ariana Babcock Laura Cramer Betsy Harmsen Eli Plunkett
Halle Klingman Communication 304 Professor Lok Pokhrel December 8, 2015
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Executive Summary:
The Bundle Up campaign is focusing on helping people in need throughout the
FargoMoorhead area during the holiday season. We wanted to create a campaign that wouldn’t only
raise sales, and social media traffic for the company, but also give back to the community. One problem
we found prominent in the metro was homelessness. Our Bundle Up campaign is the answer. Our client
of interest, Goodwill, will be working in conjunction with United Way. Through Goodwill, we created
a donation campaign to get people to donate their extra clothes. These donated clothing items will be
made into bundles that families in need can collect at our holiday dinner event. The Bundle Up event
will bring families in need together, and provide them with opportunities to grab a bundle of winter
items to help stay warm during the cold season. Families will be given a bundle of essential winter gear
including hats, jackets, mittens, and boots. On December 17, families can come to the Fargo Civic
Center to celebrate the holiday season by enjoying a hot meal and receiving warm apparel. At the
dinner, families and people in need will also be able to take pictures with Santa Claus while enjoying a
festive environment.
For the Bundle Up campaign we used a survey to find out what people wanted to see at our
event. The survey was our primary research, and it showed us what people would like to see
incorporated into our event. The survey wasn’t to find our target audience, or a demographic, but to
simply see if this would be an event people would be interested in. The survey helped us gauge
attitudes and public opinion to help us know what we needed to include in the event to make it as
successful as possible. We weren't concerned with a demographic, because homelessness knows no
face. Although, there may be certain races that have higher rates of homelessness, we thought asking
people for that information may hinder their response to what should be an easy question. We
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conducted secondary research mostly online. This research gave us exact numbers and statistics about
the prevalence of homelessness in the FargoMoorhead area. These facts showed us how many people
could benefit from the Bundle Up campaign. We took into consideration that not only homeless people
could benefit from the donation drive and event, but also low income families who can't afford winter
clothing.
Rationale of the campaign:
Our rationale behind the Bundle Up campaign was to help our community give back to others in
need, and provide them with sufficient clothing that other people simply weren’t using. With the winter
season approaching, the best way to serve the community at this time of year is to provide needy
families with winter apparel. Winter apparel won’t only help keep families in need and the homeless
population warm, but can even save people’s lives in dangerously cold conditions.
Denise Anderson, Fargo’s Goodwill manager, said during the holiday season the store is most in
need of winter apparel, men’s boots, and clothing. We want our target audience to donate any items
they don’t use whether that includes hats, jackets, mittens, boots, and scarves. The Bundle Up
campaign targets four main audiences: homeless and needy families, FargoMoorhead residents, local
news media, and other local organization’s administrators. Also, the campaign is aimed at bringing the
community together, raising awareness of homelessness in the FargoMoorhead area, and giving
Goodwill positive exposure in the community. According to Lattimore, Baskin, Heiman, and Toth
(2012. p 236), W.J. Peak said community relations is a public relations functions that increases
participation and enhances its environment to benefit both the institution and community. The Bundle
Up campaign would not only benefit Goodwill, but also help the community in creating a mutually
beneficial event for everyone involved. Also, the Bundle Up campaign will instill the importance of
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helping less fortunate families, especially during the holiday season. Our goal after the campaign is for
local families to get in the habit of donating to Goodwill at least three times a year.
Pairing with United Way will help us fundraise for the Bundle Up event, and offset any cost
with the meals. We will be using our partnerships with other organizations wisely to help reduce the
cost of the event. We have allotted $1,000 in our budget to rent the Civic Center, pay a Santa Claus
impersonator for the evening, and have extra money set aside for unexpected expenses along the way.
This event will be taking place in the Fargo Civic Center. We plan on negotiating a rental cost with the
Fargo Civic Center’s employees, in hopes of receiving a discounted price on the space. Goodwill’s
upper management will explain to the Civic Center employees the purpose of the event, how other local
organizations have contributed, and how participating in the event can benefit their image as well. We
will be spending as little money as possible by getting meals from United Way and volunteers from the
Salvation Army.
Our goals can be measured by monitoring how many families pick up bundles, and how many
clothing donations we receive. Any extra clothing can be put back into the Goodwill inventory to be
sold in the store. Our goal is for donors to use the hashtag, #BundleUp, and post a picture of themselves
and their donations on Facebook or across any of their preferred social media platforms. This hashtag
will help raise awareness of the event online and hopefully encourage FM residents to look through
their closets to find any extra winter apparel to donate. To ensure a successful clothing drive, we must
be prepared with enough items to give away. Anderson said the store is in dire need of boots and
jackets during this time of year. Using Goodwill’s inventory for the drive will take more effort on the
store’s part to keep a steady stream of donations coming in through the door for their regular clothing
supply as well. It will be very important for Goodwill to get enough donations from the community
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members to ensure Goodwill will have enough clothing items to continue satisfying it’s customers
needs. Goodwill needs to collect at least 1,000 articles of clothing to host a successful event.
Situational Analysis:
Goodwill is an organization that sells items such as clothes, furniture, accessories, shoes,
kitchenware, and more. Goodwill Industries is one of the biggest national thrift store operations. While
they sell items, employees are hoping they are providing many more opportunities to the community
than just objects to purchase. Goodwill agencies are selling the donated clothing and household items in
more than 3,000 stores and online to fund job placement programs. They dedicate most of their efforts
on hiring employees, and providing them with education and skills training. They have programs to
help employees succeed regardless of their background. Goodwill has programs for veterans, youth,
seniors, people with a criminal background, and people with disabilities. Goodwill works to give their
employees enough guidance and resources to improve their lifestyles.
When researching Goodwill we found their mission statement to be extremely important and
valid to our campaign. Their mission statement reads:
Goodwill® strives to enhance the dignity and quality of life of individuals and families by helping people reach their full potential through education, skills training and the power of work.
Their mission statement expresses their sincere desire to improve other people’s lives. We
found this especially important in researching a type of campaign to conduct. If their mission statement
makes it clear they wants to help others, it is important they express this to the community. A donation
drive would not only express their desire to help others, but provide people with an opportunity to
contribute. The donation drive for Goodwill can prove how serious the business is about helping others
as much as they possibly can.
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On Goodwill’s website they promote their social media accounts with a headline stating
“Connect with us on social media.” They provide links to Goodwill’s social media accounts on
Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+, and YouTube. They use each of these platforms to promote
their organization and inform the public about how they can help others in their search for a career path.
While the overall theme is similar across Goodwill’s social media accounts, they also use each platform
to focus on different areas of the organization each day. We monitored, analyzed, and evaluated how
these platforms are being used, and how they can be improved to reach our target audience throughout
our campaign.
On May 2, 2015, Goodwill conducted a campaign in partnership with Uber. Goodwill and Uber
teamed up to make mobile donations possible for a day. People could take all of their clothes they
wanted to donate, call an Uber, and have the drivers drop it off at the nearest Goodwill location, free of
charge. This was a nationwide campaign in more than 50 cities around the United States.
On August 17, 2015, Goodwill hosted a public relations campaign to celebrate National Thrift
shop day. In this campaign, Goodwill encouraged people to shop at the stores to help provide
employment, education, and training skills to help people who need it in the community, nationwide.
Some Goodwill stores used the campaign to offer discounts to shoppers. Other Goodwill locations were
offering customers gift cards to the store through a social media campaign. One social media campaign
encouraged shoppers to take pictures of their favorite Goodwill purchases and post them to Facebook.
We will be using aspects of this campaign in our Bundle Up efforts. Our campaign will encourage the
public to take pictures of their donations they bring in and post them to Facebook. Anyone who posts to
Goodwill’s Facebook page will be entered into a chance to win a $250 gift card to their nearest
Goodwill location.
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Goodwill had an advertisement campaign two years ago using rapper Mackelmore’s lyrics to
his song “Thrift Shop.” Goodwill used the song as an ad and public relations campaign to promote their
stores. They put lyrics on posters at the stores saying “20 dollars in my pocket,” and “this is flippin’
awesome.” While it was an advertisement campaign aimed at increasing Goodwill’s sales, it was also
helping build a positive image of the company. Goodwill realized the popularity of the song and used
the lyrics to support and promote their store as a hip and trendy place to shop. International Business
Times Author, Maya Shwayder, found that the thrift shop song didn’t actually increase revenues for the
organization. The song did however bring more attention to the trendiness and popularity of thrift shops
among young adults.
Goodwill and United Way will be partnering for the Bundle Up campaign and donation drive.
United Way has a successful history of social media campaigns like their #Igavehere campaign they ran
earlier in the year. It would be beneficial for both organizations to work together for the greater good of
the community. Earlier this year in South Carolina, United Way launched a campaign where donors
could text “UWGC” (United Way of Greenville County) and would be sent a link to an online pledge
card. United Way then asked donors to share their support on social media using #Igavehere. United
Way had a goal of reaching $17 million, but fell short at $16.6 million. Although they didn’t reach their
campaign goals, they received a lot of positive feedback because of this social media campaign. We can
use tactics from their research by encouraging people to take pictures with their donations and then post
them to social media. As United Way did in their social media campaign, we can encourage donors to
use #BundleUp with their pictures and posts to help share their support of Goodwill on social media.
Competitive Analysis:
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After examining the secondary research we started digging further into how the company
presents itself across all of its social media platforms. After careful analysis of our survey we found that
people would most like to hear about the Bundle Up campaign through Facebook. 96.97 percent of
participants in our survey said they have seen between one and two Goodwill posts on social media in
the past week. This feedback made us recognize the need to make Goodwill more active and present on
people’s social media accounts.
After considering the data we found a good way to make Goodwill more present in people's
everyday lives was by creating a #BundleUp campaign motto to promote the organization through. The
hashtag slogan will hopefully start a trend and attract friends, families, and neighbors to join in on the
donation drive. If even one person starts posting pictures of themselves donating, hopefully others will
want to contribute as well. Our survey shows us that 51 percent of participants have more than 10 items
at home they can donate. If there are many people who have donations they could give and just aren’t,
this will hopefully prompt them to join in on the trend and help others before the holidays.
Responses to another one of our survey questions caught our attention to how this campaign
should be promoted. 70 percent of participants told us that they would like to see our campaign and get
most of the information through social media. Goodwill promotes multiple social media accounts on
their website including Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, and YouTube. We found it a crucial question to
ask our audience what platform they would like to see the campaign promoted through, and 88 percent
of respondents said Facebook. We found it important to monitor and analyze all of Goodwill’s social
media accounts to ensure we are effectively targeting our audience.
❖ Facebook:
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➢ Goodwill Industries International Incorporations Facebook page states that it is a
consignment store, offers disability services, and educational programs. Goodwill’s
Facebook page has 133,067 likes, and they keep the page updated by adding new content and
posts almost everyday. Their posts encourage people seeking employment by posting tips to
help individuals succeed in the job market. They give links to other websites to help people.
Their Facebook posts get around 50 likes. During our campaign we plan to get at least 2,000
more likes on Facebook and 750 photos posted with the #BundleUp hashtag.
❖ Twitter:
➢ Goodwill use their Twitter page to advocate for career services to people with challenges to
employment. Their Twitter page is called “Goodwill Advocacy.” Their tweets focus on
political figures, legislative decisions, and events that encourage people to support others in
pursuing careers. Their Twitter page focuses on bringing awareness and informing individuals
about barriers of employment, ways they can help, and how to contribute to Goodwill. They
have a large audience on Twitter with more than 24,000 followers while they are only
following 602 accounts. They have tweeted more than 5,500 tweets and seen around one to
five retweets on each post.
❖ YouTube:
➢ Goodwill’s YouTube page uses videos to show testimonies of those who have found jobs
because of Goodwill. They have more than 1,200 subscribers on their YouTube channel. One
video that was posted 8 months ago has more than 3,300 views, as it discusses tips to job
training and employment. Goodwill keeps their account very updated. On November 5, they
posted 16 videos about one minute in length that discussed resume development, job
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shadowing, and transitioning from military to careers. They use links on their YouTube
channel to promote their other social media accounts as well. They have received roughly
90,096 views on all of their videos they have posted since October 9, 2009. Throughout the
years, they have had a handful of videos receive more than 1,000 views.
❖ Pinterest:
➢ Goodwill uses their Pinterest page for mostly fashion tips, Do It Yourself projects, and home
decor ideas. Their Pinterest account seems to target a more niche audience with people looking
more into their consignment stores. Compared to their Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube accounts,
their Pinterest is more about their sales aspect of the organization. They spend less time
informing people about tips to help educate people with disabilities and disadvantages into the
right career path on this social media platform. They promote their YouTube videos on their
Pinterest account as well. For example, one board was made for Halloween and they pinned 245
creative ideas for their audience. If they get any repins on their posts, there seems to be about one
for their Halloween board. Although they have a lot of followers on their Pinterest account, it
seems the audience is not always engaged on their boards.
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Goodwill’s strengths on social media were easier to identify than their weaknesses. We
identified their strengths by monitoring feedback to their posts on a daily basis. We monitored their
Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and YouTube accounts and analyzed what type of feedback they get daily.
Goodwill is keeping each of their accounts updated by posting at least once a day on Facebook,
Twitter, and several times a week on YouTube. By keeping their pages updated they are keeping their
audiences more aware and updated on the company's happenings. Goodwill seems to take an effective
approach by posting frequently on their social media platforms, as it will make people think about the
store more often and possibly want to come in.
Another one of Goodwill’s social media strengths is their posts are constantly targeting many
different audiences. From Halloween makeup tutorials to posts thanking Veterans, they work to please
a large variety of audiences. This can help keep more than one specific demographic pleased by
reaching out to people of all different interests. When Goodwill takes the time to personalize their posts
they get more likes because it shows their genuine care for others rather than just their desire to get
more donations or raise their foot traffic through the store. Goodwill has a large following base across
their social media accounts, but it doesn’t seem like the audience is always necessarily engaged. For
example, they have more than 133,000 likes on their Facebook page, but they don’t even have
comments on a lot of their posts. If the audience was being effectively targeted, it would be more likely
you would see more feedback and activity in the comment box. If Goodwill does receive a comment, it
usually is positive. Most of the negative comments were on Goodwill’s YouTube channel where people
complained about their pricing and how they treat their employees. Facebook and Twitter steered clear
of most of those negative responses.
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Goodwill could improve its social media presence by responding to those negative comments.
They favorite positive tweets directed at the company, but if there is negativity they don’t seem to
respond. Goodwill could heal some of these wounded relationships by trying to reach out and at least
letting customers know their voices have been heard. Even if the person who commented negatively
isn’t satisfied with Goodwill’s response, it shows other customers employees are making an effort to
listen. They could improve their public relations by responding to the negative feedback as well as the
positive feedback to get the social media community more engaged and hopefully more willing to
donate one day.
Another local store that accepts and even pays people for clothing donations is Plato’s Closet.
We looked at the competitor’s Facebook page and it seems they have a lot of negative comments on
their wall. People are negatively commenting about the store saying they don’t give customers enough
money for their clothing items they turn in. Plato’s Closet doesn’t seem to be as much of a threat on
Facebook because of negative comments that seem to arise on each of Plato Closet’s posts.
It is extremely important to monitor competitor’s sites to see what people are responding
positively and negatively to on their accounts. By monitoring competitors sites Goodwill can decrease
threats by taking similar or different approaches to how they conduct themselves online depending on
the feedback. Although the negative comments usually aren't a representation of the full population, it
does reinforce that Goodwill’s Facebook page is receiving some more positive feedback than other
competitors. In the clothing and donation industry there are not too many threats from technological
advancement. The only threat Goodwill could face with technology is falling behind on managing
social media accounts, which can lead to upset customers. Goodwill employees can effectively
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overcome this challenge by further developing skills, ideas, and practices to improve their image across
all social media platforms.
Research Plan: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6)
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7) 8) 9) 10)
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Surveys are an essential part of conducting public relations campaigns to ensure practitioners
are properly targeting their audience. If practitioners fail to target their audience, a campaign is almost
guaranteed to fail as well. Nearly 100 percent of public relations practitioners target their audience
before they conduct a campaign. That is why we found it crucial to use the survey method to gather,
analyze, and evaluate input from the public to properly target our audience to ensure a successful
campaign.
According to Dan Lattimore, Otis Baskin, Suzette Heiman, and Elizabeth Toth (2012, p. 103)
the survey method is the most common type of research process. Lattimore, Baskin, Heiman, and Toth
define surveys as the most effective way to analyze the public's characteristics in a way that allows data
to be used in planning and evaluating public relations efforts. Surveys gauge a sample of the public's
knowledge, perception, attitudes, and opinions. This type of research method is essential to a campaign
that will specifically be asking for community members help. We chose the survey method in our
Bundle Up campaign because we must know exactly what our audience knows, wants, and will
contribute to make the donation drive a success.
The survey we put together for the Bundle Up campaign was through SurveyMonkey. We
posted the survey on Facebook and received 100 responses. We analyzed these responses on
SurveyMonkey later to determine how we could most effectively conduct our campaign to target our
audience. The feedback was useful to show us what we could do to make the event benefit both
Goodwill and the public.
We conducted primary research by interviewing Fargo Goodwill manager, Denise Anderson.
Anderson is the manager of the two Goodwill locations in Fargo. One Goodwill store is located at 1525
32nd Avenue South in Fargo. The second location that she manages is at 4325 13th Avenue South in
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Fargo. Denise said Goodwill is doing well as a company in the area, as they have opened up two
locations in the past year and three months.
Anderson said that during the holiday season they are always looking for more donations on the
floor. The most common donation items that Goodwill seeks during the fall months are men’s clothing
and winter boots. Anderson said they could really use winter clothing items. She said the donations are
important to be able to assist people through their partnerships programs. One of the partnerships they
have is with United Way.
According to Goodwill (2015) there are four Goodwill retail stores in North Dakota and in 2015
they received more than 2,956,800 pounds of donations and recycled more than 1,674,140 pounds of
goods. Although this may seem like a large amount of donations, it is necessary when serving the many
lives that Goodwill aims at helping each year. Goodwill (2015) said that in 2015, they impacted
305,865 children, adults and families through their programs and services. Anderson said donations are
so crucial this time of year because they need to provide people with clothing who are receiving social
work. Goodwill uses their donations to partner with United Way to provide people with clothing.
United Way is an organization aimed at creating better opportunities for individuals and their families
by inviting them to give, advocate, and volunteer in the community.
We conducted more primary research using the survey method. Through our survey we asked
participants what they would like to see if they went to a dinner to give back to the community. We left
this questions as an open response and saw Santa Claus and Salvation Army volunteers as valuable
feedback. Salvation Army already partners with United Way creating another realistic opportunity for
organizations to gather and give back to the community through the same event. The Salvation Army
works to serve USDA approved hot meals three times daily in certain locations. Having Salvation
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Army volunteers at the event would make for a more organized and professional dinner, as these
volunteers specialize in this type of serving. By United Way, the Salvation Army, and Goodwill
uniting, it would make for a more beneficial and successful campaign for all of those involved.
We felt it would be beneficial to keep this survey anonymous and focus on how survey
participants would and can help others rather than focus on participants demographic information. It
wasn’t necessary for this survey to know participants gender, race, or income level, as our campaign is
more focused on simply what people know about Goodwill and their social media presence. Our survey
aimed at getting feedback how we could make the campaign the most successful in our participants
opinion. Identifying people’s income level, gender, and race in this survey would have been unrelated
and could have affected how people chose to answer the rest of the questions.
Secondary research on homelessness in the FargoMoorhead area was a crucial force in
determining our goal for our campaign. The City of Fargo finds that there are approximately 760
people affected from homelessness on any given night. In 2012, The Study Committee for the Wilder
Research conducted interviews to determine the significance of homelessness in the area. On October
25, 2012, researchers interviewed 369 men and 202 women in emergency shelters, housing programs,
and nonshelter locations. They found that since 2000, there was a dramatic increase of homelessness in
the area. Between 2000 and 2012, Moorhead’s homeless population had more than doubled for most
groups including men, women, youth, and children.
The Study Committee's key findings included:
● Onenight count of homelessness increased 15 percent since 2009
● The majority of homeless adults are men
● Children represent 17 percent of the homeless population in Fargo and Moorhead
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● The homeless population is mostly made up of people of color and especially American
Indians.
● A majority of homeless have completed high school, and about one third have jobs.
Our role in this campaign is to make people unalarmed by these facts and statistics. Goodwill
specializes in helping educate people on how to get jobs. The finding that one third of the homeless
population has jobs is a fact that was highly considered in our campaign. This event can provide the
homeless population with a chance to meet people at Goodwill, and possibly get connections,
information, and advice on landing a job.
We collected data from a survey of 100 people, and 51 percent of them said they had over 10
clothing items to donate. If people were informed how, where, and when to donate their used items,
there could be numerous beneficial outcomes for the community. This response helped us know how
many people have the potential to donate. The fact people have the clothes to donate, encouraged us to
market the campaign in a trendy way to make people want to take the step to donate.
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Our research found the public is unaware of the prevalence of homelessness in the
FargoMoorhead area. It was crucial to ask a question that would help us measure how aware people
are about the issue of homelessness. Fourteen percent of respondents answered correctly that there are
more than 700 homeless people in the community on any given night. This was a significant indication
that our campaign needs to provide people with facts and statistics to inform them on the issue.
Research Findings: ● Santa Claus and the Salvation Army volunteers will be a beneficial way to create a festive
environment while saving money. ● By United Way, the Salvation Army, and Goodwill uniting, it will make for a more beneficial
and successful campaign to have more organizations involved to create more opportunities at the event.
● 760 people are affected from homelessness on any night in Fargo. ● Since 2000, there was a dramatic increase of homelessness in the area. ● 51 percent of survey participants said they had over 10 clothing items to donate. ● The public is unaware of the prevalence of homelessness in the FargoMoorhead area. ● Educating the population is necessary to make a change. ● Only 14 percent answered correctly when estimating amount of people affected by
homelessness in Fargo area. ● Children represent 17 percent of the homeless population. ● In 2015, Goodwill in North Dakota received more than 2,956,800 pounds of donations. ● Facebook has enough likes, and not enough interaction. ● YouTube has negative interaction that needs to be addressed. ● Social media platforms are all frequently updated. ● Goodwill is doing well as a company in the area, as they have opened two locations in the past
year and three months. Campaign Plan:
a. Objective #1: Raise awareness for homelessness in the FargoMoorhead area by 40 percent.
i. Strategy:
Goodwill will create Facebook posts and videos for YouTube that will raise
attention to the current amount of homelessness in the area. Goodwill will create a video
testimonial of someone in need who has received help from the organization. Their
personal journey will be made into a couple minute video and posted on YouTube. This
video will also be shared on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. These video testimonials
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will all be driving home the message that with locals and Goodwill working together,
the community can help bring an end to homelessness.
ii. Tactics:
We will encourage donors to take pictures while giving clothes to Goodwill and
post it to Facebook with #BundleUp. People who participate in using the hashtag will be
entered in a drawing to win a $250 Goodwill gift card to their nearest Goodwill location.
If any company has the expendable income, radio, television, and newspaper ads would
give the event more recognition and credibility. Also, we will create a homeless
awareness PSA to be aired over the radio and on television. We will send this PSA to
KVRR, KVLY, WDAY, and KFGO to try and get more air time and spread awareness
of the event.
iii. Key Messages:
We will work to spread the message that homelessness is a critical issue
throughout the FM area that is affecting many lives. It is important our campaign
educates community members and makes them aware that the number of homeless
people in the area is growing. It is important to bring awareness to this issue, especially
during this time of year where being outside for extended amounts of time without
proper clothing can be life threatening. Our goal is for the Bundle Up campaign to
become a beacon of hope for men, women, and families in need this holiday season.
This campaign will show those in need that they don't need to face the winter alone, and
the community is here to offer them support. Hopefully this campaign will not only help
those in need physically, but mentally by showing them the community cares about
improving their quality of life.
b. Objective # 2: Host a successful clothing drive for those in need by receiving enough
clothing for 300 people.
i. Strategy:
Bring in at least 1,000 items of clothing items through our donation drive. United
Way and Salvation Army volunteers will come together with the same mission, to
increase awareness of homelessness in the area and help improve organization's relations
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with the community. We will post flyers to publicize the event. The flyers will be posted
in popular places that will be most visible to the public such as libraries, the mall, and
local universities. News releases will also be sent out to a national newspaper and
magazine. We will also send the news releases to the Fargo Forum, WDAY, KVLY,
KVRR, the Star Tribune, and ABC Newspapers. We will measure the effectiveness of
the news release by seeing how many times a story aired, was printed, or talked about
through any mediums.
ii. Tactics:
We will use Facebook posts to bring attention to the event for at least a month
and a half prior to the dinner, increasing interaction on social media platforms. This will
increase the awareness of the opportunity people have to bring in donations and
participate in the clothing drive. The clothing drive is necessary in order for Goodwill to
provide fully equipped bundles for those in need. If need be, Goodwill can take
shipments from other stores that may not need the winter clothes as much.
iii. Key Messages:
The community and companies involved must publicize their involvement to
draw in more donations and participation. The event will improve community relations
by showing the public's willingness, effort, and desire to help those in need. Goodwill
will be improving their image in the public, while also helping those who are truly in
need in the community. This donation drive and campaign will hopefully encourage
more individuals to donate to Goodwill in the future as well.
c. Objective #3: Partner with United Way and the Salvation Army to create a positive image
for Goodwill by increasing donations by 12 percent.
i. Strategy:
Goodwill’s social media contest called #BundleUp will get people to post pictures
of their donations on Facebook, and will encourage individuals in the community to
donate for the chance to win a $250 Goodwill gift card. This contest should ignite a
competition in the community and get more people to want to donate, raising the stores
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donations by 12 percent in December.
ii. Tactics:
The social media posts, PSA’s, and YouTube video testimonials will publicize
the event and increase the number of donations that are sent through Goodwill’s doors.
At the end of the campaign, each clothing item that was donated will be counted in the
month of December, and compared to the amount of donations collected in November.
The success of the event should also encourage people to give to Goodwill next year and
continue to increase their monthly donations. At the end of December, the number of
times the PSA’s aired on the radio and television will be measured to evaluate the
effectiveness of the message.
iii. Key Messages:
This event is more than a charity event where Goodwill gives clothing and sends
people on their way. With the combined efforts of Goodwill, the Salvation Army, and
United Way, the organizations can all work together to ensure happiness, comfort, and
help to those who need it this winter season. Hopefully, people attending the event,
helping, and running the dinner will increase people’s desire to host more events for the
homeless population in the area. This can give Goodwill more opportunities to partner
with other organizations in the future. Partnering with other organizations can lead to
ample opportunities to improve Goodwill’s relations with the community, while
genuinely helping those in need by involving the public.
d. Objective #4: Increase awareness of homelessness by getting more than 2,000 likes on
Goodwill’s Facebook page and 750 photos posted with the #BundleUp hashtag.
i. Strategy:
The hashtag #BundleUp will increase Goodwill’s publicity by 30 percent on
Facebook by getting the organization tagged in more posts. This increased visibility will
get more people to see the page and hopefully begin to follow the organization for an
extended period of time. More people will see Goodwill on their feed, as the hashtag
will make it a trending topic that may make followers want to interact, comment, or
even participate in the trend by donating and posting.
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ii. Tactics:
Starting with simple awareness posts on Facebook, such as local and previous
years’ statistics, can make the issues of homelessness known to other organizations and
the general public. Goodwill will start a weekly blog where a dedicated employee writes
about how Goodwill serves the public each and every week, starting with talking about
this campaign. These blogs will encourage the public to join the #BundleUp campaign
on Facebook, and explain its benefits to the community as a whole. These Facebook
posts, tweets, and blogs with information about the event would be a calltoaction for
the community. Goodwill will hopefully inspire other organizations to get involved and
ask them to post one article on their website explaining the prevalence of homelessness
in the area, and how the Bundle Up event can make a difference. Creating these
partnerships in the community will lead to more community events and help the public,
which will benefit each organization’s image .
iii. Key Messages:
FM area homelessness is a problem that without a large amount of participation
and awareness, is going to continue to be an issue. The key message is to get as many
people involved to show that homelessness is a prevalent issue in the community, make
people care, and aware of how they can help. Participation is key in drives like this. The
more donations received, the more successful the event will be, which will hopefully
make more people willing to participate in the future. The more people involved in the
event, the more likely future campaigns, donation drives, and events will be hosted in
the future. These events would continue to help those in need while strengthening
relationships between organizations and community members.
Campaign Timetable:
78 weeks before ∙ Establish a campaign committee ∙ Review/Analyze last years campaign ∙ Meet with United Way representative ∙ Obtain support of campaign
6 weeks before ∙ Conduct meeting of campaign committee to set
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goals, establish timeline, and plan events ∙ Establish place of event ∙ Develop publicity and donation plans
34 weeks before ∙ Confirm meetings with United Way ∙ Confirm meetings with ‘Santa’ and photographer ∙ Request campaign supplies
12 weeks before ∙ Begin campaign promotions ∙ Assemble all donations ∙ Apply marketing strategies to spread the word
Day of campaign ∙ Distribute donations and food ∙ Assemble photographer station ∙ Obtain publicity for campaign
Campaign wrapup ∙ Followup on donation success ∙ Test percentage of results ∙ Conduct final meeting with campaign committee ∙ Prepare written evaluation and recommendations for next year’s campaign
Instruments/Methodology:
The wording, the question types, the structure of the questionnaire are all important
details that must be carefully planned in order to have a reliable survey instrument at the end.
During our campaign, our main instrument involved was our survey we conducted through
SurveyMonkey. This allowed for us to see how FargoMoorhead locals viewed certain issues
regarding homelessness. The results showed that many people are unaware of the seriousness of
homelessness in our area. Having social media and news coverage was a helpful aid during our
Bundle Up campaign.
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We also used secondary research by gathering, analyzing, and evaluating key statistics
from the City of Fargo (2015) about homelessness to inform our target audiences with. It was
important to conduct the secondary research before sending out the survey, to ensure we were
knowledgable on the topic and could create the most important questions for our surveyed
audience. We also found it crucial to use the research to craft focus group questions and conduct
a focus group to gain even more insight on individuals public opinion of Goodwill. The more
information gathered and time spent on learning other people’s opinions, the less time wasted on
properly targeting an audience to ensure a successful campaign.
It was our campaign’s goal to spread the word and address the issue of homelessness
head on by creating an event, getting the community involved, and distributing our work around
the Internet. The research methodology is a way to find out the result of a given problem on a
specific matter or issue, that is also referred to as the research problem. In the methodology,
researchers use different criteria for solving the given research problem. Different sources use
different types of methods for solving the problem.
The methodology and thought process behind our campaign was to tackle the problem of
homelessness in our area. If we can make the problem aware locally, eventually we can spread
awareness nationwide with the help of marketing. To make our campaign successful, we had to
create a list of shortterm and longterm goals we wanted to achieve throughout the campaign. A
list of objectives were designed to help us achieve these goals. We wanted to set a brand voice in
order for Goodwill to be perceived as a caring company to our audience, this was done by
backing everything up with facts and figures. A public relations campaign is all about doing
what you do best, and letting your community know about it.
Campaign Evaluation Plan:
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At the end of the campaign, we will be able to analyze the success effectively through
various focus groups, social media analytics, measuring news coverage, counting the number of
donations at Goodwill and customers who came to the store. To successfully analyze the
campaign we will look at media coverage and how many articles, pictures and videos were
published and aired mentioning the campaign. It will also be important to conduct a followup
interview with Goodwill’s manager to see how she thought Goodwill had improved throughout
the campaign. While it’s essential to ask her about the strengths of the campaign, it will be even
more important to ask her about the weaknesses to help in future public relations efforts. The
focus group of customers will help us understand how community members feel Goodwill’s
image is perceived in the public. In order, to evaluate the improvements of Goodwil’s interaction
across social media platforms we will measure new followers, count the average number of likes
during the campaign and evaluate the comments on each post.
In order to effectively evaluate our campaign, it was important to establish these steps to
identify where Goodwill started and measure where they were at the end of the campaign. The
steps we will take to successfully evaluate the campaign include:
● Establish the Mission Statement ● Determining the Present Situation ● Determining Threats and Opportunities to Reach Goals ● Researching and Selecting Your Target Audiences ● Developing a Theme for the Campaign ● Developing the Objectives for the Campaign ● Creating Strategies to Accomplish the Objectives ● Developing Tactics to Implement Strategies ● Creating Evaluation Techniques ● Developing a Budget
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● Working out a Timetable
By covering each of these aspects of a campaign through the above goals we can
effectively evaluate the success of the campaign. In our future campaigns, we would talk to more
Goodwill employees to fully get the stores feedback and opinions about how we could improve
the store's image and efforts to help the community. These would be the results that we hope to
see during the evaluation stage in our campaign:
Business Objective: Position Goodwill as best in its class
● Part of the recent success with the campaign was credited with a 12 percent increase of
donations in local Goodwill stores in December.
● The success of the campaign led to the process of expanding to Goodwill opening its
third store in Fargo, to hold excess donations.
Social Objective:
● Goodwill’s Facebook page had a 30 percent increase in viewers during the Bundle Up
campaign.
● 3,500 photos were posted to Facebook with the hashtag #BundleUp.
● There was an increase in 1,000 YouTube views and 2,000 visits to the North Dakota
Goodwill website.
● Goodwill got more than 2,000 likes on Facebook and 750 photos posted with the #BundleUp
hashtag.
The donation drive in December supplied men, women, and children in need of winter
clothing. The bundles were given not only to homeless people, but also to low income families
that can’t afford warm winter clothing. Thanks to our partnership with United Way,
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FargoMoorhead residents in need had a hot meal, along with a bundle of warm clothes this
holiday season. The children were thrilled to see Santa, and parents were overjoyed to see their
children so carefree. The free photo gave families a souvenir, to ignite memories that they will be
able to look back at for years. People who were being helped this year will hopefully be able to
spread the word, and maybe even be a volunteer for next years event.
Our campaign positioned Goodwill as a company that cares. The donation drive exceeded
expectations as measured by pre/post campaign research. The local campaign delivered
substantial results, including higher than expected increases in instore donations nationwide.
Both news media and social influencers applauded Goodwill for leveraging it’s industry
leadership to help the homeless. We called Fargo’s Goodwill manager several times and sent out
multiple emails for feedback on the campaign (see Appendix A for email sent). After multiple
tries and different communication channels, we never received a response from the Goodwill
organization about the Bundle Up campaign.
In future campaigns, we would reach out to more Goodwill employees to get their
feedback on how we could improve Goodwill’s image internally and externally.We also found
we could improve other donation drives by encouraging people to post more on Instagram as
well. The Bundle Up campaign taught us the importance and prominence of social media in
people’s daily lives and how it can be used as an extremely successful marketing tool. We
learned it will be important to utilize all social media platforms including Twitter, Instagram,
YouTube, Facebook, and Pinterest to send out information and publicize future campaigns.
The program’s significant outcomes underscored the brand’s continued dedication to
donations and enhanced its reputation as a whole. All of our longterm and shortterm goals were
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met including our business and social objectives. Our campaign also increased United Ways
presence in the media, whom we hope to be working with again for future campaigns.
Appendix Volunteer form:
Focus Group Process: Date: November 13
Time: 3 pm
Location: MSUM Memorial Union
The focus group will take approximately 45 minutes.
There will be free pizza served for anyone who attends.
We will allow 3 minutes for each question, so every gets the chance to think about their answer.
There will also be ten minutes in the beginning for introductions and getting situated, as well as 5
minutes at the end to wrap up.
Moderator: Laura
Note Takers: Ariana and Betsy
Greeters: Halle and Eli
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Focus Group Questions:
Survey Questions: 1. Who do you think are the majority of homeless adults in the FargoMoorhead area?
● Women ● Children ● Men
2. Approximately how many people in the FM area does homelessness effect on any given night? ● 100300 ● 300500 ● More than 700
3. How big of a problem do you think homelessness is in the FargoMoorhead area? ● Not a significant issue ● Not a significant issue ● Fairly significant issue ● Significant issue ● Very significant issue
4. How many clothing items do you have that you could donate to Goodwill? ● 12 ● 35 ● 510 ● 10 or more
5. How many posts on social media have you seen from Goodwill in the last week? ● 12 ● 35
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● 510 ● 10 or more
6. How often do you go to Goodwill? ● 12 a week ● Every month ● Once a year ● Never
7. How would you like to hear about how to donate to Goodwill? ● Email ● Social Media ● Posters ● Phone calls
8. What reasons would make you most likely to donate to Goodwill? ● A reward ● To get rid of items ● To help others
9. What social media platform would you prefer to find information about a donation drive for Goodwill on?
● Facebook ● Twitter ● Instagram ● LinkedIn
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Flyers:
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Facebook Page:
Twitter Page:
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References: Easter Seals Goodwill of North Dakota. (n.d.). Retrieved November 12, 2015, from
http://www.esgwnd.easterseals.com/ Goodwill® and Uber Team Up for Nationwide Mobile Donation Campaign | Goodwill Industries
International, Inc. (n.d.). Retrieved November 12, 2015, from http://www.goodwill.org/pressreleases/goodwillanduberteamupfornationwidemobiledonationcampaign/
Goodwill Industries (@GoodwillIntl) | Twitter. (n.d.). Retrieved November 12, 2015, from
https://twitter.com/GoodwillIntl Goodwill Industries International, Inc. Google+. (n.d.). Retrieved November 12, 2015, from
https://plus.google.com/107707144105212871410/posts Goodwill Industries International, Inc. (n.d.). Retrieved November 12, 2015, from
http://www.goodwill.org/ Goodwill Industries International, Inc. (n.d.). Retrieved November 12, 2015, from
https://www.facebook.com/GoodwillIntl Goodwill Industries International, Inc. (n.d.). Retrieved November 12, 2015, from
https://www.youtube.com/user/GoodwillIntl
Goodwill Industries International on Pinterest. (n.d.). Retrieved November 12, 2015, from https://www.pinterest.com/goodwillintl/
Homelessness in Fargo City of Fargo. (n.d.). Retrieved November 12, 2015, from http://www.cityoffargo.com/CityInfo/Departments/PlanningandDevelopment/Homelessness/
Homelessness in Fargo, North Dakota and Moorhead, Minnesota, (2013). Retrieved November 11, from http://www.cityoffargo.com
How We Help United Way of CassClay. (n.d.). Retrieved November 12, 2015, from
http://www.unitedwaycassclay.org/howwehelp
Lattmiore D., Baskin, O., Heiman, S.T., Toth, E.I., J. (2012). Public Relations: The
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Profession & The Practice, Eds. McGrawHill Publishers, New York, NY. 289. Partner with Goodwill | Goodwill Industries International, Inc. (n.d.). Retrieved November 12, 2015, from http://www.goodwill.org/partnerwithgoodwill/
Local Statistics and Research on Homelessness City of Fargo. (n.d.). Retrieved November 12,2015, from http://www.cityoffargo.com
Macklemore’s “Thrift Shop” Has Had No Effect On Actual Thrift Shop Revenues. (n.d.).
Retrieved November 12, 2015, from http://www.ibtimes.com/macklemoresthriftshophashadnoeffectactualthriftshoprevenues1114394
Plato’s Closet. (n.d.). Retrieved November 12, 2015, from https://www.facebook.com/platoscloset/
United Way launches #IGaveHere mobile giving campaign : unitedwaygc.org. (n.d.). Retrieved
November 12, 2015, from http://www.unitedwaygc.org/unitedwaylaunchesigavehere.php
United Way of CassClay. (n.d.). Retrieved November 12, 2015, from http://www.unitedwaycassclay.org/
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Appendix A Client Feedback: Email to client Hello Denise, This is MSUM student Ariana Babcock, and we talked on the phone earlier about you looking over our class project, which was to design a public relations campaign for Goodwill. There are still a couple of small details and edits we plan to make, but this is the overall concept we are supposed to get feedback on. If you could just send a paragraph or two of a response, we would beyond appreciate it. Questions we are looking to get answered about the project are for example: Would Goodwill actually conduct this campaign? What are strengths in the Bundle Up campaign? What are some of the campaigns weaknesses? Do you think this would improve the company's image and be a practical campaign for Goodwill to carry out? These are just some examples if you were wondering what we were looking for. I am already so grateful for the help and feedback you gave us already to make this project work. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions please let me know. Thank you so much, Ariana Babcock [email protected] 6512857441