CAPSTONE 2020
Welcome to Capstone, Class of 2020.
Inside, you will find SIX cases. You pick the one you wish to work on. As you know, you will be writing an individual proposal.
The format of your individual report follows the model taught in the Strategic Communications Planning course.
Proposal (please follow textbook format)
Each written proposalmust include information under the following headings:
Formative Research (Steps 1-3)
Describe the need or opportunity that your communication work addresses. Clearly describe the issues the organization faced, outlining any impact on performance, reputation, image, profits, participation, etc. Highlight any formal or informal research findings that support your analysis of the need or opportunity.
Identify your primary and other publics. What is this public’s mindset? Describe the key characteristics (needs, preferences, demographics, etc.) that were taken into account in developing your solution.
Strategy (Steps 4-6):
Outline your goals and objectives. Goals describe what you want to accomplish in a big picture sense. There should be very few goals (two is fine) and they should be broad, future-oriented, and aligned with the needs of the organization. Goals do not need to be directly measurable.
However, objectives should be realistic and measurable by outcomes such as quantity, time, cost, percentages, quality and other criteria.
Outline the solution and the logic that supports it. The solution should demonstrate your thinking, imagination and approach to problem-solving. Discuss how you might involve stakeholders in developing the solution.
Communication and Tactics (Steps 7-8)
Identify the key messages. Present the tactics and communication vehicles you might use.
Discuss the proposed budget. Although it is not necessary to go into fine detail, we must have a sense of your efficient use of money. Discuss timeframes.
Evaluative Research (Step 9)
How will you measure results? Propose an evaluation plan that is legitimate, thorough and convincing. Remember: measurement should demonstrate outcomes, not output.
Standard for Evaluation
The design of the Capstone and the standard for Capstone evaluation is based on the Public Relations Program Standard set out by the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities. According to this Ministry-approved standard, students must have reliably demonstrated the ability to:
write clear, targeted communication materials.
apply knowledge of public relations theories and practices to develop and execute public relations plans.
complete all work in accordance with public relations codes of professional ethics, standards, practices, and relevant law.
apply creative approaches to communications planning, execution, and problem solving.
use research skills to meet specified communication objectives.
develop clear and measurable communication objectives and identify techniques to evaluate the achievement of these objectives.
develop, deliver, and assist in the coordination of a variety of presentations.
work within, and contribute to the development of, a budget.
build and maintain professional relationships with internal and external publics.
use computer hardware and software relevant to public relations. Assist in coordinating the production of, and produce, visually effective print, graphic, and electronic communications.
develop ongoing strategies and plans to enhance personal and professional development and to promote the development of the public relations profession.
A NOTE ON CREATIVITY:
No graphic design is required for this report, nor is the writing of any deliverable. However, note 10 marks for the creative excellence of your CAMPAIGN NAME.
Criteria for Evaluation
There are several components to your overall Capstone grade:
Criteria
Score out of 10
The research findings (secondary) are clearly communicated and make sense for this situation
The target public is clearly identified and analyzed
The strategies are clearly defined and logical given the research findings
The objective is specific, measurable, attainable, results-oriented, and timely (and lines up with the research and strategies)
The tactics support the strategies
The campaign expresses and communicates clear and appropriate messages
The tactics are creative and offer a fresh approach to the problem or opportunity
The evaluation is the right measure for the stated objective
The campaign has a CREATIVE NAME (no other creative required) that will resonate with target public(s)
TOTAL SCORE / 90
A grassroots organization, Sarnia Making Affordable Living in Lambton (SMALL), is working to bring tiny homes to Sarnia’s southwest in the coming years. This is an effort to bring affordable homes to the area and potentially to combat growing homelessness.
As detailed in this article in the Sarnia Observer (https://www.theobserver.ca/news/local-news/tiny-homes-eyed-for-southwest-sarnia), SMALL has partnered with Habitat for Humanity Sarnia-Lambton.
Building bylaws and permits for the Habitat-owned parcel of land being proposed for the tiny homes will need to be changed. That’s in the hands of Sarnia City Council, which has commissioned an in-depth report from city staff.
SMALL and Habitat Sarnia Lambton, in the meantime, want to build up community support for the idea.
They particularly need support in the surrounding neighbourhood, as they see this as only Step One before buying up more land on which to build more tiny houses. Naturally, some in the neighbourhood in question will have reservations.
Habitat for Humanity Sarnia/Lambton has set aside $20,000 to begin laying the groundwork for this to be well supported by the community when it comes back to Council for further discussion, presumably in December. They have asked you for a proposal to help gain a groundswell of support for this innovative initiative.
Please note that even though this is a real organization, this is a fictional
Proposal request. Outreach to the organization is not permitted. You may refer to the client’s site for some assistance in tone, language and logo. Using credible secondary PR research and the planning process outlined in Ronald D. Smith’s Strategic Planning for Communication text, you must create an original PR campaign.
You wouldn’t know it, as massive 24-wheelers crowd you on the 401 highway, but Canada is facing a critical shortage of truck drivers. It was already short 22,000 in 2019 and was on course to hit 34,000 by 2024 (https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/canada-ontario-truck-driver-trucker-shortage-1.5400992). Thanks to the pandemic, it now may have an even more critical shortage.
Trucking companies need to recruit young people and women. Both groups are proving to be very difficult to woo. Young people may be put off by the steep cost of training, as well as the lifestyle. Women, who comprise perhaps five per cent of truck drivers, have their own roadblocks.
The Ontario Trucking Association (ontruck.org) has held events to try to entice females, with limited success.
Dan Einwechter, founder and CEO of Challenger in Cambridge (www.challenger.com), is a can-do kind of guy. He launched Challenger over 40 years ago when he was in university. It’s now one of Ontario’s largest firms. Concerned that the pandemic and problems at borders will be even more of a deterrent to recruiting, he is ready to take steps of his own.
He has set aside $20,000 for a fall campaign to raise awareness among young people and women in particular that trucking can be a lucrative, safe and even fun career. He wants more applicants and he wants them yesterday.
Please note that even though this is a real organization, this is a fictional case/proposal. Outreach to the organization is not permitted. You may refer to the client’s site for some assistance in tone, language and logo. Using credible secondary PR research and the planning process outlined in Ronald D. Smith’s Strategic Planning for Communication text, you must create an original PR campaign.
They staved off the onslaught of the big-box bookstores. They survived the never-ending construction of King Street in front of their store in Uptown Waterloo. But just when they thought their beloved 36-year-old store had turned the corner to more profitability … Coronavirus shut them down again.
Nine years ago, when long-term employees and bibliophiles David Worsley and Mandy Brouse bought the Uptown Waterloo fixture, they had big plans. They did realize the first step: they relocated the store one door down. Last year, they celebrated the store’s 35th anniversary. And they were managing well, thanks to an extremely loyal local following. They’re even squeaking through the pandemic through online sales.
But that’s a fear: what if the online sales remain (www.wordsworthbooks.com) and the people do not return when this crisis has passed? A bookstore is a brick-and-mortar entity; it has a soul. It is a gathering place. Worsley and Brouse have poured their savings and hearts into WordsWorth. They need to revive it, and quickly, when social-distancing protocols end.
Working with the assumption that they will be open by the fall, the co-owners have earmarked $20,000 to somehow regularly draw people of all ages back into 96 King Street South throughout the remainder of 2020 and into the future.
Please note that even though this is a real organization, this is a fictional case/proposal. Outreach to the organization is not permitted. You may refer to the client’s site for some assistance in tone, language and logo. Using credible secondary PR research and the planning process outlined in Ronald D. Smith’s Strategic Planning for Communication text, you must create an original PR campaign.
When Michael Longo complained of a pain in his back, his mother, Kathryn Blain, thought little of it. He was a healthy 19-year-old. Perhaps he had pulled it gardening the day before, she thought. However, within hours Michael was gravely ill with what turned out to be meningitis. He was dead in four days.
That was 1995. In 1997, after another meningitis outbreak in Kitchener-Waterloo, Blain channeled her grief into forming the Meningitis Research Foundation of Canada (meningitis.ca). Few know that this successful national foundation operates out of Kitchener-Waterloo, funding critical research in the fight against this fast-moving killer.
World Meningitis Day is April 24, 2020. However, due to the current pandemic, any and all public activities have been cancelled.
Blain believes that this pandemic will, in fact, heighten people’s awareness of how quickly a disease can spread. This tragedy might be something that can be parlayed into some good for public health.
Meningitis often strikes college and university students, particularly in dorms, and it spreads through sharing drinks, kissing, etc. Because the Foundation is in a community with three post-secondary institutions, she has opted to allocate $20,000 for a local pilot project to raise awareness and prompt Conestoga, WLU and UW students to get vaccinated against meningitis.
The MRFC’s board has reached out to you for a proposal. The operating assumption is that students will be returning to campuses this September. The $20,000 is earmarked for this year’s (2020) budget, year-end December 31, 2020.
Please note that even though this is a real organization, this is a fictional case/proposal. Outreach to the organization is not permitted. You may refer to the client’s site for some assistance in tone, language and logo. Using credible secondary PR research and the planning process outlined in Ronald D. Smith’s Strategic Planning for Communication text, you must create an original PR campaign.
We’ve all heard about the decimation of the bee population. Colony collapse disorder (CCD), first reported in 2006, has been attributed to pesticides, climate change, disease/varroa mites, starvation, or a combination thereof. Losing bees, eight species of which are now listed as “at risk” by Canada, would have a devastating impact on our lives. They pollinate 70 of the 100 crops that feed 90 per cent of the world.
Everyone seemed to be at a loss about how to save our precious pollinators. Then cannabis came along in sufficient amounts to show scientists something fascinating: bees love the bud. No, it doesn’t give them a buzz (bees don’t have cannabinoid receptors), but it certainly adds a kick to human’s honey. Researchers at prestigious Cornell University have shown that bees love marijuana’s sweet pollen.
Could cannabis and hemp help save the bees? That is the question. And the Ontario Beekeepers’ Association (www.ontariobee.com) in Guelph, Ontario, thinks it’s one well worth exploring. At the very least, it could not hurt. The OBA is considering undertaking a program to encourage Southern Ontarians to plant their four cannabis plants per household, to help the bees.
While four might not seem like much, a city full of four per property could add up quickly to resounding relief for beleaguered bees.
Using relatively eco-friendly Guelph as its pilot town, the OBA has set aside $20,000 to test the waters on getting residents – even those who do not use cannabis or want “canna-honey” – to consider planting their allocation of four marijuana plants. They have asked you to submit a proposal.
Please note that even though this is a real organization, this is a fictional proposal. Outreach to the organization is not permitted. You may refer to the client’s site for some assistance in tone, language and logo. Using credible secondary PR research and the planning process outlined in Ronald D. Smith’s Strategic Planning for Communication text, you must create an original PR campaign
A Kitchener environmentalist who was a key player in Ontario’s legislation to ban pesticides years ago has moved on to a new project. Susan Koswan wants to make our burial practices more eco-friendly. She wants to move beyond a typical “green” burial (no embalming, a shroud, no coffin) to composting human remains, or “recomposition.” Essentially, the body is put in a special vessel with some sawdust and soil. In about a month, the remains become nutrient-rich mulch which can be used for planting a tree or scattering in a meadow. (www.goodgreendeathproject.ca)
Needless to say, this notion can give people pause, whether for religious or psychological reasons. However, Koswan’s meetings with everyone from funeral directors to cemetery managers and city officials give her hope. They are interested – or at least have not said “no.” Composting human remains has come to fruition in Washington (www.recompose.life). Koswan has met with Recompose’s founders and team in Seattle. Colorado and California are both looking at legislation to follow suit.
Koswan believes it is time for Ontario to act. As “recomposition” would require new provincial legislation, she plans on meeting with area MPPs on October 16, 2020. What politicians will need is evidence of community support. They will need to see that this is indeed an option worth putting forward at Queen’s Park.
Koswan has set aside $20,000 of her own personal funds to prepare her grassroot organization’s case for this all-important mid-October meeting. That is how passionate she is about the Good Green Death Project. She has invited you to submit a proposal.
Please note that even though this is a real organization, this is a fictional case/proposal. Outreach to the organization is not permitted. You may refer to the client’s site for some assistance in tone, language and logo. Using credible secondary PR research and the planning process outlined in Ronald D. Smith’s Strategic Planning for Communication text, you must create an original PR campaign.
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