6 degrees of Kappa Kappa Gamma Friday, Apr 24 2009 

1 , , , , brysony 8:57 am

Many people join sororities during their four years of college and then once they graduate, they are lost in the transition.  They move to new exciting places, get new email addresses, and the sororities lose touch with their beloved former members.  Well, Kappa is doing something to reconnect with these lost members.  The six degrees of Kappa Kappa Gamma is spreading throughout chapters like wildfire.

Kappa has sent out an online form with a search engine where you can search for members that you know who have different contact information and/or have simply stopped considering themselves associated with our sorority.  The idea is that we will be able to reconnect with sisters all over the country, possible even the world.  Nancy O’dell, of Access Hollywood was a member of the Clemson Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma and she agreed to send out a video explaining the Six Degrees of Separation theory and how it applies to Kappa Kappa Gamma.

Our national headquarters have been able to get in touch with countless lost alumni since the release of the video.  I think this is great PR for Kappa Kappa Gamma because it shows that we care about the the members of this organization, both active and inactive, and want to create a sense of community with all former and current members.

 

Campaigning For Richard Thursday, Apr 23 2009 

1 and Responses brysony 7:47 am

This past May I was asked to help out with a Student Body Presidential Candidate’s campaign.  I was not close friends with the candidate, but we did have a mutual friend and so I agreed to meet with him and have him share his ideas with me before I agreed to be a part of his campaign.  After our meeting, I realized that I really supported his vision for Clemson University.  His ideas were solid, ones that I would love to be instated here at Clemson, and his ability to lead an entire college community was evident and so I decided to join the campaign as one of his 15 at large members.  I was excited to help him out in any way I could, but was expecting that my help would be needed in the week of active solicitation before elections, passing out fliers, coupons and candy.  Within a week of agreeing to be a part of the effort, I realized that I would be doing a lot more that passing out suckers on the library bridge, I would be put in charge of promoting him to the entire school.  I saw him make requests to the people who were originally in charge, and get no response and his campaign was consequently suffering.  I decided to take matters into my own hands and to take charge of the campaign.  What was originally meant to be a 15 person team, ended up being a tag team effort between the candidate, a couple of loyal members of the team that agreed to help, and his new manager: me.  We created a facebook group, website, and one member created a really cool sign to put up around campus.  It wasn’t as flashy as some of the others, which may have not worked to our benefit, but but put all the signs in front of any designer and I think ours would have won.  One of the most unique things about our campaign was that we sent Richard out to digning halls, and areas where most candidates were not campaigning so that he would be able to have open communication with the students who would vote.  This was one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences I have ever been through.  I was thrown into a position that I never signed up for and had to make the decision to commit all of my time to a cause that I believed in.  Even though we did not win, it was a very close race, and at the end of the day I was honestly able to say that I was proud of the campaign we ran.   I think I got invaluable grassroutes promotional experience!

 

Grassroots PR in Clemson, SC Sunday, Mar 8 2009 

1 and PR examples , , , brysony 2:30 pm

A small outdoors store is Clemson has been using facebook to create hype about the sales that the store is offering, and to get a “Facebook following” if you will, from students at clemson.  Here’s how it worked, I received an invitation about a week ago to join the group for the Clemson Outdoor Adventures Outfitters Shop .  I nonchalantly joined the group and a couple of days later received a facebook message with a challenge.  If the current members of the group got 200 more members to join, we would get a pair of rainbows at half price from the store that friday.  And the group worked.  The owner, who is completely new to the facebook group scene has almost 5oo members in the group, and they all get constant messages about the latest sales at the store, and special offers for the group members.  The sales are GOOD and the specials are even better.  I thought this was a great example of working from the ground up in PR because this guy, an owner of a small business, in a really small town, has figured out a way to create open communication between his business and his customers.  Not only are people able to receive information about the store, but they can post questions and suggestions on the wall of the group.  One guy suggested that they outdoor store should order more fishing gear.  This is not the most elaborate PR scheme, but i think it shows how public relations can be effective even on a small scale.