Mc 3036 final book plans book

TABLE OF CONTENTS Executive Summary 2

Situation Analysis 3-6 Background & Objectives 7 Research & Methodology 8 Sample Size 9 Key Findings 10-12 Creative Brief 13 Recommendations & Next Steps 14-17 Conclusion 18 Appendix 19-21

Executive Summary

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The American Cancer Society is seeking a new target audience to recruit for its Road to Recovery volunteer program as well as new ways to reach that audience. Last year, the program fulfilled only half of its requested rides. They currently have seven volunteers. Few people are aware of the program outside of its current volunteer pool and users.

In this study, we aimed to find out what target audience best suits the program’s needs and what motivates this audience to volunteer for such programs. To learn this, we conducted secondary research to find out what existing information could help us build a target audience. We found that students ages 18-24 who have majors relating to health and medical professions are inclined to volunteer for programs that relate to their studies.

We then conducted primary research to find out what motivates our selected target audience to volunteer for these programs.

We discovered that these students are motivated by emotion, experience, structure and influencers.

Emotionally, they like to see the difference they make in other peoples’ lives. It’s why they have medical-related career goals. They want to help people. Triggering their emotions in a meaningful way might inspire them to volunteer. They also value experience. They think about their futures.

They are motivated to do things that might help them get into graduate school, medical school, nursing school, etc. They want experience that will help them gain insight on their future careers and aid them in building their resumes. They care about the structure of the volunteer program.

They want organized volunteer experiences, where they can be efficient and useful. We learned that many students find out about volunteer opportunities through school and that students are sometimes required to volunteer for courses.

These students feel various ways about forced

volunteer work. We discovered that our target audience has an underlying association with influencers who volunteer. These students grew up with positive influences in their family, and they look up to philanthropic public figures.

These discoveries lead us to brand Road to Recover as a meaningful opportunity. The program provides experience beyond the classroom.

To get this message out, we will reach students where they spend the most time, both physically and digitally. We’ll advertise on the LSU Tiger Trails Transit System and on local colleges’ and universities’ websites in order to get the word out about the program. Additionally, we will use flyers that detail the program in an organized fashion with an inspirational message. The flyers and pamphlets are for school counselors, professors, students and leaders of schoolaffiliated organizations. This way, the information is out there in the school system, but it is not forced. Once students see the brand on busses and websites, they will have some recognition.

Then, they may hear about the program through their classes or extracurricular activities, or they may seek that information from the leaders of those settings. It’s a connection for the students to have with the program through their schools.

Lastly, we’ll advertise on Facebook to direct people to the American Cancer Society Baton Rouge’s Facebook page. This way, we can reach our young demographic when they aren’t on campus.

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SITUATION ANALYSIS

Company

More than one hundred years ago, the American Society for the Control of Cancer began in New York City at a time when a cancer diagnosis meant certain death. The goal of the organization was to raise public awareness about the disease.

Eventually, the name of the organization changed to the American Cancer Society (ACS), and the mission evolved from solely awareness to also include research, programs and fundraisers. The modern ACS is a “nationwide, community-based health organization dedicated to eliminating cancer as a major health problem,” according to its website.

Through its fundraising and community educating mechanisms, ACS hopes to eradicate cancer and celebrate more birthdays. As one of the world’s largest non-profit organizations, ACS has over $1 billion in resources at their disposal annually for research and programs, according to its website.

Although the national organization boasts a large amount of resources, that does not dissolve local problems. ACS offices attempting to recruit and retain volunteers for life-saving programs often face difficulties when it comes to lesser known programs, according to ACS Baton Rouge Senior Manager Lindsay Turner.

The national organization designs the programs and then gives them to the local chapters, according to the ACS website. This reinforces the magnitude of the organization. If someone is involved with one of the programs in the Baton Rouge chapter, that person can still participate in that program even if he or she moves across the country and continues those activities in another chapter. Despite this connection, there’s still a disruption between the Baton Rouge chapter and the national organization.

The ACS brand is disconnected with its Baton

Situation Analysis

Rouge chapter when it comes to awareness online.

The official ACS Facebook page has over 1 million likes, while the page for the local Baton Rouge chapter has less than 1,000.

According to its website, ACS’s volunteer opportunities include Relay for Life, Making Strides Against Breast Cancer, Cancer Resource Centers, Hope Lodge, Look Good Feel Better and more.

The most popular volunteer opportunity is Relay for Life, said Turner. During the event, teams camp out overnight to honor cancer survivors and remember loved ones by walking or running around a track, according to ACS’s website.

The Baton Rouge chapter currently targets drivers who are older and are likely to be retired for its Road to Recovery program. There are seven volunteers, and they all fit this demographic. ACS uses marketing materials with antique muscle cars to lure in their target. The organization wishes to find a new target because it wants more volunteers. ACS Baton Rouge’s goal is 20 drivers, Turner said.

Product

ACS has dozens of programs that assist cancer patients directly. Road to Recovery is one of those programs. It is designed to match volunteer drivers with patients in their community in order for the volunteer to transport the patient to and from medical appointments. The program exists because ACS realized that the only barrier between some patients and lifesaving medical care is simply a car ride.

Patients call the ACS hotline and request rides to treatment through a coordinator. Volunteers go online to sign up to become drivers. Drivers must have a good driving record, a valid driver’s license, a vehicle and proof of insurance, according to ACS’s website. Volunteers complete an online training course that takes about an hour.

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Coordinators match up drivers and patients.

Everything is done through the coordinator.

Drivers communicate with coordinators through the most convenient form of contact for the driver (text, email, call, etc.) according to Turner. Drivers create a profile to submit their available hours to volunteer and information for a background check. Coordinators match volunteers with patients through their profile. When a driver signs up to drive someone, they must alert the patient one or two days prior to the treatment, according to ACS’s website.

Consumer

In a Bureau of Labor Statistics report, research shows that older volunteers were more likely to volunteer for religious organizations than younger volunteers. ACS could be losing its current audience to volunteer opportunities outside of its genre.

Contrastingly, the most popular volunteer opportunities for college students include donating blood, fundraising, participating in cleanups and working with sick and old people, according to DoSomething.org.

A study by the Points of Light Foundation shows that college-age people are volunteering more often and for longer. There was a 14 percent increase in volunteerism in the age group 15-24 from 2004 to 2005. They also found that people who volunteered at a younger age were more likely to maintain a service ethic later in life.

Perhaps their dedication to volunteering comes from their tendency to plan for the future. In “Time perspective and volunteerism: The importance of focusing on the future,” research shows that people who have “future time perspective,” or people who plan, think or write about the future, are more strongly associated with volunteerism than people whose thoughts remain in the present.

Other research shows that college students are motivated to volunteer to gain benefits for their career, which means that they are likely thinking

and planning for the future.

For example, “The rewards of individual engagement in volunteering: a missing dimension of the Big Society” notes that motives for volunteers vary by age group. Younger volunteers are inspired to volunteer in order to gain benefits for a career.

Situation Analysis

Additionally, “The Motivations to Volunteer: Theoretical and Practical Considerations” discusses six main motives for volunteerism.

The most important motives for young people — besides career — are values, understanding, and enhancement.

Because college students are likely to volunteer for career benefits, it’s reasonable to assume that students who pursue medical and health degrees could benefit from volunteering for Road to Recovery.

These students might have a mindset that could benefit them in this volunteer opportunity.

The international study in “Motivations, Death Anxiety, and Empathy in Hospice Volunteers in France” shows that people with high death anxiety are less likely to succeed and less likely to stay committed to hospice volunteering, while volunteers with low death anxiety are more likely to commit long term to the hospice volunteer program. This is notable because there must be some level of death that is related to jobs in the medical or health industry, and students might be preparing for that understanding or already have that understanding. Driving cancer patients may require that understanding.

Of all the potential student volunteers, women might make up the largest portion. The Bureau of Labor Statistics notes, “Across all age groups, educational levels, and other major demographic characteristics, women continued to volunteer at a higher rate than men.” Also, only 14 percent of RN students are male according to the National League for Nursing.

With this research in mind, we target primarily female and some male college students pursuing

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a career in the health industry as our consumers.

Market

The market for Road to Recovery is broad because the program only requires that drivers are 18 years old, are located in East Baton Rouge Parish, have a good driving record, have a valid driver’s license, own a vehicle and have proof of insurance.

East Baton Rouge Parish covers a large area of Louisiana; 93% of this area is urban and 7% is rural. The parish has a total population of 446,753 as of 2015. The residents are mostly African American or Caucasian, 45.5% and 50.2% respectively. The next largest race is Asian, which makes up 3.4% of the population. The targeted age group is people who are 18 years or older, which is 76.8% of the population.

The parish’s median household income is $48,463 and it is above the state median household income, which is $44,164. This means that East Baton Rouge Parish residents are more affluent compared to average. The area’s education rate among people who are 25 years or older with a high school degree or higher is at 83.9%. The percent of people who are 25 years or older with a bachelor’s degree is at 30.8. The parish currently has 45,355 college students.

East Baton Rouge Parish has an unemployment rate of 5.1%. Types of workers include private wage or salary at 61%, government at 10%, and self-employed or not incorporated at 29%.

Baker, a specific area not located within the parish, is the next target area with a population of 13,695 as of 2015. It is 98% urban and 2% rural. The residents are mostly African American at 78.1% of the population, Caucasian is the next largest race at 21.4%, and American Indian and Alaskan Native is the third largest race at 0.7%. The targeted age group of people who are 18 years or older is at 73.4%.

The city’s median household income is $41,573 and it is below the state average. This means that Baker residents are not as well off compared to East Baton Rouge residents. The area has a higher education rate compared to East Baton Rouge

Parish with 84.9% of people who are 25 years or older obtaining a high school degree. Baker had a lower rate when it came to 25 year old’s with bachelor’s degrees or higher. This rate was 18.9%.

Bakers unemployment rate is at 4.9%. Types of workers include Private wage or salary at 76.2%, Government at 21.4%, and Self-employed or not incorporated at 2.4% (U.S Census Bureau, Citydata.com).

Situation Analysis

As for the market of local colleges, Our Lady of the Lake College and Louisiana State University have several health and medical students. According to LSU’s College of Science website, about 1,200 LSU incoming freshmen express interest in medicine and dentistry every year. About 350 LSU students apply for admission to medical and dental school yearly. OLOL is a college with a health care emphasis. It has degree programs in nursing, health sciences, humanities, behavioral sciences and natural sciences, according to its website. The current enrollment is 1,860 according to Cappex.

Competition

Four primary competitors of the American Cancer Society within the Baton Rouge target market are Cancer Services, United Way, Susan G. Komen and Volunteer Health Corps. These organizations are similar to ACS in that they are nonprofit and health-related and that they rely heavily on participation from volunteers. These competitors pose the greatest tangible threat for ACS. Other threats that deter people from volunteering include any other time consuming activity that would trump volunteering.

According to its website, Cancer Services is a local, independent nonprofit that serves Ascension, East Baton Rouge, East Feliciana, Iberville, Livingston, Pointe Coupee, St. Helena, St. James, West Baton Rouge and West Feliciana parishes. The organization hosts more than 20 events, which are typically support and exercise opportunities, a month. The nonprofit serves more than 4,000 people a year. It recruits volunteers in the Baton Rouge area for opportunities like phone services, reception services, distributing medical and nutritional supplies for patients, special events,

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health fairs, children’s camps and events and fundraising efforts.

United Way is the U.S. charity that received the most money through private support in 2015, according to Forbes. This non-profit organization aims to help communities and individuals in any way it can, according to United Way’s website.

Capital Area United Way is the Baton Rouge area’s United Way. It serves West Feliciana, East Feliciana, St. Helena, Pointe Coupee, East Baton Rouge, Livingston, West Baton rouge, Iberville, Ascension and St. James parishes, according to Capital Area United Way’s website. Its efforts are aimed toward education, income, health, basic needs and community support. For its health efforts, the organization has programs for education, prevention, treatment and management. United Way’s popular volunteer effort is its Day of Action on June 21st. Each year, thousands of people around the world in 300 cities volunteer through United Way. Each city celebrates by helping people around their community in different ways, according to United Way’s website.

Susan G. Komen is another national non-profit organization with a local chapter in Baton Rouge.

Their goal is to help women fight breast cancer and do whatever they can for them to make feel comfortable. Seventy-five percent of their profits raised goes toward breast cancer awareness and education, breast cancer treatment and breast cancer screening to locals in the Baton Rouge community. The rest of the funds raised goes toward research for breast cancer. Susan G. Komen has many annual events to raise awareness and money, including Race for the Cure, Capitol Day for the Cure, Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Perfect in Pink Luncheon, and Worship in Pink. There are many volunteer opportunities Susan G. Komen provides. They seek volunteers willing to provide comfort for the patients, raise money and awareness for the cause and help with events around the community, according to the Susan G. Komen Baton Rouge website.

Another Baton Rouge non-profit organization

is Volunteer Health Corps. Volunteer Health Corps works to provide care for patients in need.

They strive to improve access to care for urgent problems and help patients get treatment as soon as possible. They also work to provide health care for Louisiana residents that do not have it. Volunteer Health Corps provides health care for those who are not able to get into their primary physician quickly. They work closely with individuals with chronic diseases, providing them with quick follow-ups. They look for volunteers who can help with the patient’s care, help around the office, or provide support for the patients.

Situation Analysis

Overview

Road to Recovery’s current issue is the lack of volunteers it needs to be successful. Last year, 375 rides were fulfilled. That’s only half of what they needed. In order to get more volunteers, we need to figure out what our new target consumers want in their volunteer experiences and what motivates them to volunteer. Once we find this information, we can create advertising messages to get them involved in the program.

Below is the SWOT analysis developed following the completion of the situation analysis:

Strengths

Volunteering your passenger seat can save a life Rewarding Brand credibility

Weaknesses

Cluttered Volunteer market Currently have less than half of what they need in the BR market Low awareness in Baton Rouge Failing target audience

Opportunities

Increase Social media advertising Target a younger demographic Students

Threats

Time consuming Transportation requirements needed Competitors

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BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES The problem that ACS is currently having is a lack of volunteers for the Road to Recovery program. Volunteer enrollment last year was only at seven participants, most of whom were retired. The program and its seven participants completed 375 out of the 800 requested drives last year. With this information as well as secondary research, we chose to target college students aged 18-24 enrolled in a program or pursuing a degree in the medical field. This target meets the program age requirement and is highly concentrated within the market at schools such as Louisiana State University and Our Lady of the Lake College. Following the choice of the target audience, our research objective became to completely understand the target. To develop efficient and successful advertisements, we researched the past experiences, preconceived ideas, current attitudes, and motivations to volunteer of individuals within the target. The key insights discovered within our research guided us to recommend certain advertising and marketing tactics that would be most successful when targeting students studying a major within the medical field. With these recommendations we hope to provide ACS with a realistic plan that will increase volunteers for the Road to Recovery program.

Background & Objectives

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RESEARCH METHODOLOGY & LOCATION Types with rationale:

We used primary and secondary research.

In our secondary research, we used existing information from American Cancer Society and similar organizations as well as academic articles and other sources to construct our target audience. For our primary research, we conducted one-on-one interviews with qualitative interviewing techniques as well as a focus group on Facebook with projective techniques. The interviews allowed us to get into the emotional perspectives and motivations of our target audience. We heard stories and feedback from participants, allowing us to dig deeper into their thoughts on volunteering. Using Facebook to conduct our focus group allowed us to pool a larger sample, and it provided convenience for participants.

If we hosted a focus group in person and pro-bono, it we would likely lack participation.

Hosting it online in a closed or “private” Facebook group allowed participants to feel comfortable responding at their convenience.

The projective techniques used in the Facebook group showed us the associations participants have with volunteering.

Questions:

We used a discussion guide for our interviews.

In it, we asked our participants questions about their everyday lives and interests to find out how those factors in their lives play into their perspective of volunteering. We found associations with their majors and their preferred volunteer work this way. We asked participants to discuss specific experiences with volunteering so we could find out

their motivations and mindsets concerning volunteering. We also found out barriers and challenges of reaching the target audience this way. We asked questions to probe into the participants’ emotions to find out how they feel when they volunteer. We asked questions about the participants’ futures and goals to find out if volunteering played a role in those thoughts and motivations. In the Facebook group, we asked participants to personify volunteering. This taught us that our target group has positive influences who volunteer.

We also asked them word association and fill-in-the-blank questions to understand their connections with volunteering.

Research Methodology & Location

Where:

Six interviews took place at the participants’ homes. One interview took place at the researcher’s home. Two interviews occurred at a neutral setting — one at Starbucks and one at the LSU Student Union. We conducted two interviews over the phone.

Time Span:

The Facebook focus group spanned six days (Nov. 10-16) to give our participants plenty of time to respond to our posts.

We spent a little over a month researching through interviews. We conducted interviews from Oct. 11 to Nov. 17. Each interview lasted anywhere from 40 minutes to an hour long.

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RESEARCH SAMPLE SIZE We engaged 16 individuals in our demographic of healthcare students. We conducted nine face-to-face interviews and two over-the-phone interviews. Seven people participated in our Facebook focus group, and two participants also participated in face-to-face interviews.

Students ranged in age from 20-31. However, most were 21. The group consisted of 14 women and two men from seven different healthcare fields and four different schools. However, most participants were either nursing or pre-medical students from Louisiana State University. The group contained individuals in every stage of the academic process. Some students are in their health or medical programs, and others are preacceptance or post-graduation of their programs.

We chose these individuals because they’re a diverse representation of our target demographic.

Our sample size was diverse in age, field, gender and school. We believed any commonality found between fifteen to twenty individuals would be

a fair representation of the whole healthcarestudent demographic, and we hit our target at sixteen. We knew that once we hit a saturation in our findings, or when many of the responses from the sample were similar, we exhausted our research. We found four strong key findings from this research, and we put together several advertisements to target these individuals.

Breaking down the sample: • 16 individuals participated in our research • 9 people participated in a face-to-face interview • 2 people participated in a phone interview • 7 people, including two who were already interviewed, participated in the Facebook focus group • 14 are women and 2 are men • Students in nursing or pre-medical studies • Students attending Louisiana State University, Our Lady of the Lake, Charity School of Nursing at Delgado and Tulane • Students pre- and post-graduation

Research Sample Size

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KEY FINDINGS Motivated by Emotion “If my simple acts can help people, of course I’m going to do it,” Greg said. Participants reported that they enjoy seeing the difference they make when they volunteer. It’s why they’re enrolled in medical and health programs. They want to help people.

Tyler feels that volunteering is rewarding and effotless when he sees the gratitude on someone else’s face. During a past volunteer experience, he didn’t feel like any time passed at all, but in reality, it had been 5 hours. He felt joy when he heard a “Thank you.” He said, “If you can put a smile on someone’s face so easily, why wouldn’t you?”

Jessica’s favorite part of volunteering is seeing the difference she makes in others’ lives. She used to work with children at the YWCA, and she enjoyed the personal and emotional connections developed through her volunteer work. She told stories about kids that approached her crying and confided in her. She loved being trusted by people she volunteered for. It made her feel important.

Her eyes lit up talking about the impact that she made on people. Throughout the interview, she emphasized how much she enjoys helping other people. It’s the main reason she picked her major in healthcare.

Elizabeth also likes to volunteer when she feels that she makes a difference. She compared meaningful volunteer experiences, where she worked hard and made an impact, with easy volunteer experiences, where she didn’t work very hard and only participated just to say that she did it. She preferred the meaningful experience rather than the easy experience. She’s motivated by emotion rather than reputation.

We asked focus group participants what words

they associated with cancer. Participants responded “chemotherapy,” “metastasis,” “mutation,” and “bills,” showing they understand the dark reality of the situation due to their medical backgrounds. However, they also used words like “strength,” “hope,” ‘fight,” and “brave,” showing they feel optimistically about the disease.

Triggering their emotions may influence them to make a positive difference.

Motivated by Experience Participants have scholastic and career goals.

They see volunteering as a way to succeed in their endeavors. They’re motivated to gain experience and network through volunteering.

“While volunteering at Our Lady Of The Lake hospital all summer, I became very close with a group of girls in my same grade level and major as me,” Hailey said. Volunteering helped her find connections with people that had the same goals as her. Hailey is now in nursing school with two of the students she worked with over the summer.

They are constantly helping each other balance their workload and stay on track.

Key Findings

Some students are confused and unsure of what medical path they want to take. Volunteering helps them get hands on experience and decide what is right for them. At first, Elizabeth volunteered to help build her resume in order to get into medical school, but as she continued volunteering, she fell in love with the work she was doing. “That’s when I knew becoming a doctor was the right thing for me,” she said.

Julie majored in communication disorders at LSU and is applying for graduate school to study occupational therapy. During her time at LSU, she volunteered at The Emerge Center, a non-

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profit organization that helps children with issues in communication, behavior and development.

She loved doing this because she worked with therapists, who hold jobs that she wishes to have one day. She also worked with children, which also gave her insight on what her job will really be like in the future. She also likes having this experience on her resume because she thinks it will help her get into graduate school.

As a pre-med student who will be applying for medical school in the future, Tyler saw the benefit of volunteering as both a learning experience and a career boost. He discovered that getting firsthand experience in dealing with people was crucial to success in the medical field. “You can study and get all the good grades you want, but it doesn’t matter if you can’t treat your patient as a person,” He concluded.

Motivated by Structure Structure and organization play a role in how the target audience approaches volunteer work.

We see this in the participants’ experiences with volunteering through school and in the organization of the volunteering itself.

Many schools, classes and organizations require our participants to volunteer. Some participants liked the structure of being forced to volunteer.

They felt it offered benefits, and it encouraged them to volunteer in the future. Other participants did not like being forced because it sacrificed the emotional motivation, which is seeing a difference, and risked the overall organization of the volunteering.

Kylie volunteered at a health clinic as part of her school’s volunteer requirements. She enjoyed volunteering there. Even after she completed the required 20 hours of volunteer work, she continued to volunteer at the clinic. Having the structure and motivation of a school requirement set the framework for her to become a habitual volunteer at the clinic.

Julie only had to volunteer for one class at LSU. The class was a clinical class, where students met at The Emerge Center a few times a week instead of in a classroom for the entire semester.

She didn’t feel like she knew of other volunteer opportunities at LSU. Looking back, she wishes that she knew of more opportunities because she would have done them. Her experience at The Emerge Center helped her tremendously with her major and figuring out what she wanted to do. She said she would have liked more clinical classes or classes that pushed volunteering. Some graduate schools look into students’ resumes, but others just take transcripts and applications. One reason she liked doing the clinical class was that the volunteer hours showed up on her transcript so all the schools could see it. It gave her an advantage when submitting a resume wasn’t an option. She wishes she had more classes like this.

While Kylie and Julie like the structure of volunteering through school, Elizabeth and Jessica have different views on it. Elizabeth is forced by her sorority to volunteer at the Louisiana School for the Visually Impaired. She volunteers at a local hospital by her own choice. She prefers volunteering at the hospital because it is a better fit for her. She is a pre-med at LSU and wants to be a dermatologist. Volunteering at the hospital gives her a glimpse into what her future will be like, and it gives her experience for her resume. She would rather do this than volunteer at LSVI. She likes having control over her volunteer work because she can pick what volunteer opportunities fit her lifestyle and benefit her career path.

Key Findings

Many of Jessica’s classes at OLOL College require service hours. Service is part of the college’s mission statement. She said that she doesn’t like being forced to volunteer, especially when she is busy with a full schedule of rigorous courses and work. She said she doesn’t enjoy doing things that she is forced to do because it shifts her focus to that rather than feeling good about the volunteer work. Last semester, she was required to volunteer 15 hours for a class. In addition to feeling forced, she also felt that it took away the opportunity to make a significant impact. HE

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She said that there wasn’t enough time allotted to see the difference she made in the people she volunteered for. She didn’t get that satisfaction.

Sometimes, she was forced to volunteer alongside her classmates, which meant that there wasn’t as much volunteer work left for her to do, creating an unorganized and inefficient experience.

Overall, Jessica would rather decide to volunteer on her own. However, she likes that there are opportunities to volunteer related to her major at OLOL College. She finds out about volunteer opportunities that she’s interested in from OLOL Hospital’s website, OLOL College’s website and word of mouth through classmates. OLOL College has community partners that it serves. Some partners she mentioned are hospitals, senior living facilities and disability services. Jessica noted that she likes having connections to those partners because it could help her get a job when she graduates.

Tyler is currently in Alpha Epsilon Delta, which is an organization for LSU’s pre-med students. This group requires its members to go to volunteer events, whether it be an event the group runs itself or one it sponsors. He enjoyed how well an event the club setup for cystic fibrosis was organized. Tyler was okay with being required to go to volunteer events because it was what the club stood for. It made him go through enjoyable volunteer experiences that he might not have heard of otherwise. Alpha Epsilon Delta presented opportunities to volunteer that were already set up, this allows participants to focus on helping others and not how the event should be run.

worries her. She wants to be helpful.

Motivated by Influencers Focus group participants have positive associations and influences relating to volunteer work. When asked what family member comes to mind when thinking of volunteering, most participants named a maternal or paternal figure.

For example, Hailey answered, “My dad. Ever since I was little he has always encouraged me to help others and not take my life for granted.”

Renee answered, “My mom because she is always dedicating her time towards helping others.”

Several participants answered this way. This leads us to believe that the target audience grew up with strong family influences that taught them ethics and motivated them to volunteer.

Similarly, when asked what celebrities come to mind when thinking of volunteering, participants eagerly named several positive influences.

Participants commented Angelina Jolie, Miley Cyrus, Oprah Winfrey and Ellen DeGeneres, noting their volunteer work and missions. Participants notice influencers for their volunteer work. They have strong associations between volunteering and positive influences.

Key Findings

Our target audience is more than familiar with volunteering. They were raised to know the impact of volunteer work. They’re led by example of parental influences. They remember and reflect on the volunteer habits of others.

Participants like being in organized situations.

They like being used and being effective. This is evident in Jessica’s testimony, as well as Greg’s, Elizabeth’s and Tyler’s. Greg described a time he volunteered to help collect litter for the Keep Baton Rouge Beautiful program as “the most unorganized, longest, and hottest days” of his life.

It is clear he looks for volunteer options that are well organized and interactive. He wants to be able to see that he is doing something beneficial to others. Elizabeth said that she doesn’t like to volunteer if she feels like she’s in the way. It

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CREATIVE BRIEF Objective

Effectively establish the Road to Recovery program as a beneficial volunteer opportunity for the target audience.

Target Audience Demographics

Students ages 18-24 who have majors relating to health and medical professions.

Target Audience Psychographics

Our target audience is very concerned about their future career path and the necessary steps to reach their goal.

They enjoy helping others and like seeing that difference first-hand. They have positive influences in their lives, like maternal and paternal figures who teach them the importance of volunteer work. As students with rigorous academic schedules, they have limited time to offer. Their time is precious, so they want to make sure they use the best of it when helping others.

Current Thought

Few people in our target know of American Cancer Society. If they do, they typically only know of Relay for Life. Our target does not know about Road to Recovery.

Desired Thought

Road to Recovery provides a meaningful experience that will help you get a job and/or get into graduate school.

Rationale

The target feels gratified when they see the difference they make when they volunteer. Volunteering is an opportunity for the target to gain experience for their future career because they can learn to treat people not just a disease.

Creative Brief

Single Most Important Thought

Experience beyond the classroom.

Tone

Motivating, inspiring, determined

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RECOMMENDATIONS & NEXT STEPS Based on our research, we know that our target audience is inclined to volunteer for medicalrelated organizations that may help them gain experience for their future careers. We want to establish Road to Recovery as a beneficial opportunity for these students. In order to do this, we need to reach our audience where they spend the most time — both physically and digitally.

The first touch point is local colleges and universities. Although connecting with a professor to become part of a class requirement is tempting and might result in a large volunteer pool, we do not recommend that short-cut approach based on our key finding about structure. In our research, forced volunteerism resulted in varying opinions and responses. Rather than a push marketing approach through teachers, we should use a pull strategy by putting information in the school system. We recommend handing out flyers to school counselors, professors, students and school-affiliated organizations, like fraternities, sororities, leaders of major-specific societies and clubs. This way, students have the opportunity to find out more information with some influence or on their own terms. The flyers will detail how the program can benefit both the student and the patient. The flyers will present a structured and organized program that creates a meaningful experience for volunteers.

Through our interviews, we learned that Our Lady of the Lake has a counselor dedicated to connecting students to volunteer work.

Additionally, we want to reach counselors and advisors at LSU’s pre-nursing, pre-pharmacy and pre-medical programs as well as its School of Kinesiology and Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders. We learned about the advisors in these programs through LSU’s

websites. Some research participants are in these programs or were in these programs. Professors in these programs are also a great avenue for reaching students through flyers. Students in our research are part of extracurricular activities, like LSU’s Greek Life and pre-medical societies, like Alpha Epsilon Delta. We recommend providing flyers to the presidents and other leaders of these organizations so that they can influence their members.

To get the word out on campus, we’ll advertise on LSU’s and OLOL’s websites. We also recommend advertisements on the LSU busses.

Lastly, we’ll advertise through social media to reach our young demographic. This way, we can reach our audience when they aren’t on campus.

We will use Facebook advertisements to send our message to our target audience.

Our message focuses on the experience gained through Road to Recovery. While career experience is essential for this campaign, we must not ignore the other experiential factors that our audience seeks. The audience chose their career goals based on their desire to change lives. Our ads must not fall short on emotional motivation.

This is why we’re branding the program to be a meaningful experience. Our tone is inspiring and motivating.

Recomendations & Next Steps

Road to Recovery is more than volunteer hours; it is a connection and an opportunity to grow. It’s experience beyond the classroom.

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Informational Flyer

Recomendations & Next Steps

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Social Media Post

LSU.edu Advertisement

Recomendations & Next Steps She wonders how she will get to treatment.

She’s worried about getting into nursing school.

ROAD TO RECOVERY CAN HELP cancer.org

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Interior Bus Advertisements

Recomendations & Next Steps

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CONCLUSION Key Problem:

Low awareness but most importantly a lack of volunteers. The Road to Recovery program needs about 800 rides, but last year only 375 rides were filled. We need to figure out how to motivate our target to volunteer.

Methods:

We wanted to advertise to a target audience who would use the experience that comes with the Road to Recovery Program in their future while also benefitting from the emotional side of the program.

We gathered 18 participants who are interested in a medical career in the future. These participants enjoy helping others first-hand and seeing the difference they make on other people’s lives.

To better understand our target audience we used two research types: secondary and primary research. Using secondary: We researched the target the the theories of volunteer motivations.

Using primary research: We conducted one on one interviews both face to face and over the phone.

We also coordinated a facebook focus group that included word associations, projective techniques, and discussion questions.

Key Findings:

We found that our target audience was motivated to volunteer in four different ways: • Motivated by Emotion: Participants indicated that they enjoy seeing the difference they make when they volunteer. They want to help others.

Their chosen career path is a huge indication of this.

• Motivated by Experience: Our target was motivated to volunteer to gain experience and network. They saw volunteering as both a

learning experience and a career boost. Medical schools look for volunteering on applicants resumes.

• Motivated by Structure: Many organizations, classes and schools require our participants to volunteer. Participants liked being in organized situations where they don’t have to focus on setting up the event. They liked being useful and effective.

• Motivated by Influencers: Focus group participants have positive associations and influences relating to volunteer work. When asked what family member comes to mind when they they think about volunteering, most of the focus group named a maternal or paternal figure. This leads us to believe, our target grew up with strong family influences that taught them the importance of volunteering and helps motivate them to do so.

Recommendations:

We want to establish Road to Recovery as a beneficial opportunity for our target. Our message will focus on the experience gained through this program. While emphasizing career experience is essential for this campaign, we must not ignore the other experiential factors that our audience seeks. The audience chose their career goals based on their desire to change lives. Our ads must not fall short on emotional motivation.

This is why we’re branding the program to be a meaningful experience. Our tone is inspiring and motivating.

Conclusion

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APPENDIX Online Sources: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Turner, Lindsay. 2016, September 8. Interview.

American Cancer Society, Inc. 2016 http://www.cancer.org/ Cancer Services, http://cancerservices.org/ Susan G. Komen Baton Rouge 2016, http://komenbatonrouge.org/ Volunteer Health Corps 2014, http://volunteerhealthcorps.org United Way 2016, https://www.unitedway.org/ Capital Area United Way, 2016 http://www.cauw.org/ Our Lady of the Lake, https://www.cappex.com/colleges/Our-Lady-of-the-Lake-College Our Lady of the Lake, http://www.ololcollege.edu/about LSU College of Science, http://www.lsu.edu/science/student_resources/future-students/premed-predent-welcome.php Image in Digital Ad, http://www.123rf.com/photo_28010399_female-student-reading-a-book-for-finding-informationyoung-african-american-woman-sitting-at-table-.html?fromid=clZsTHBLNk5kdjhTMUcxLzRwZGlsUT09 Image 2 in Digital Ad, http://www.giveforward.com/p/cancer-fundraising Image in Bus Ad, http://www.masstransitmag.com/product/11625206/high-five-advertising-llc-advertising-handles Image 2 in Bus Ad, http://www.akronmetro.org/metro-bus-advertising.aspx Moore, E., Warta, S., & Erichsen, K. (2014). College students’ volunteering: factors related to current volunteering, volunteer settings, and motives for volunteering. College Student Journal, 48(3), 386-396.

Meriem Garbay, Marie-Claire Gay and Stephen Claxton-Oldfield (2015) “Motivations, Death Anxiety, and Empathy in Hospice Volunteers in France” Geoff Nichols and Rita Ralston (2012) “The rewards of individual engagement in volunteering: a missing dimension of the Big Society” Alexander Maki, Patrick C. Dwyer and Mark Snyder (2016) “Time perspective and volunteerism: The importance of focusing on the future” National League for Nursing Percentage of Students Enrolled in Nursing Programs who are Male by Program Type (2014) www.nln.org Bureau of Labor Statistics news release “Volunteering in the United States, 2015” Clary, E. Gil and Snyder, Mark, “The Motivations to Volunteer: Theoretical and Practical Considerations” (1999) Lee, Christopher “63.8 Million Total Up 6% From Year Ending September 2002,” www.washingtonpost.com/ (2003) Jorgensen, Helene, “Does It Pay to Volunteer? The Relationship Between Volunteer Work and Paid Work,” Center for Economic and Policy Research (2013) DoSomething.org “Index on Young People and Volunteering” 2012 https://www.dosomething.org/sites/default/files/ blog/2012-Web-Singleview_0.pdf

Interview Discussion Guide:

Interview Protocols: one-on-one in depth interview (30-60 minutes), each group member is interviewing one additional member of the target (total 12 separate interviews) Introduction (3 min)

•Explain the purpose and details of this interview.

•Let them know that information gathered during the interview has no right or wrong answer.

•They are the experts and we want to hear their honest responses.

1. Understand the current life/daily routine (5 min)

•Tell me about yourself

•What does your daily routine consist of?

•Are you involved in anything outside of school?

•How much free time do you typically have during a school week?

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•What do you do for fun on the weekends?

2. Understand the existing perceptions/mindset of volunteering (8 min)

•Have you ever volunteered before?

•Was this encouraged or decided on your own?

•Tell me a little bit about the places you have volunteered for and why?

•Did you enjoy it and would you be interested in going back?

•How does volunteering make you feel? (During & after)

•Do you picture yourself volunteering again in the future? Why or why not?

3. Understand specific experiences with [Cancer, American Cancer Society, Cancer Treatment] (12 min)

•Do you have any personal experiences with cancer?

•If so how has this affected you?

•Do you feel educated on the disease?

•Are your familiar with any Cancer organizations? If so which ones?

•Have you ever heard of American Cancer Society?

•Are you aware of what they do and offer? – If not explain what ACS is.

•Have you ever heard of the Road to Recovery Program?

•Would ACS be something you could be interested in? Why or why not?

4. Understand the Specific barriers/challenges getting target audience (6 min)

•What encourages you to volunteer more? Why?

•What prevents you from being able to volunteer? Why?

•If volunteering weren’t mandatory or encouraged would you do it as much?

•Tell me about a specific experience you had volunteering, good or bad

•How did this experience make you feel about volunteering?

•Tell me about some challenges and barriers you have when volunteering?

5. Explore potential messaging areas/creative ideas that could shift current perceptions. (8 min)

•Road to recovery is a organization that is helping safe people’s lives by just simply lending your passenger seat,

Would you be willing to lend your passenger seat to help a patient get to treatment?

•The program is very flexible with its hours and days and can work with practically anyone’s schedule, what

would be a reason for not wanting to get involved? Why?

•This program not only helps save patients’ lives but it also allows you to form bonds with people while doing so.

It is a very unique volunteer opportunity what are your feelings towards that? Why? 6. Role/Benefit Road to Recovery could play in their lives moving forward? (5 min)

•Could you picture yourself volunteering for Road to Recovery? Why or why not?

•Do you think that Road to recovery is an effective program? Why or why not?

•Is this something you would recommend to your friends to join with you?

7. Wrap up interview (2 min)

•Is there anything else you would like add? If you think of any questions or opinions, you would like to add later

you have my number so please feel free to call! Thank you for your time!

Facebook Focus Group :

Protocol: Each group member recruits one to three people to add to our Facebook group. We use projective techniques and stimulus materials to garner reactions from participants.

Sample message to participants We’re doing research for American Cancer Society’s Road to Recovery volunteer program for a class project. The program connects cancer patients to volunteer drivers in Baton Rouge so that they can get to their cancer treatments.

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We’re interested in finding out what students in medical and healthcare related majors think of volunteering. We’ll be posting questions and pictures in this group to help us understand what motivates you to volunteer or what obstacles might prevent you from volunteering.

The research we gather from this group will be recorded confidentially. No identifiable information will be shared about you in this project. There are no right or wrong answers to any of the questions. You’re the expert. We just want to learn about your perspective.

Completion techniques: People would post comments in response to completion statements.

“I would probably volunteer because…” “My neighbor would probably volunteer because..”

Personification techniques: We asked participants to relate a family member as well as a celebrirty to the idea of volunteering.0 Word Association techniques: “When you see the word volunteer, what other words come to mind?”

Day 1: What made you pick your education field?

Please describe the last time you volunteered. (What you did, why you did it, etc.)

What motivates you to volunteer?

Day 2: Completion: My friend would volunteer because ______ I would volunteer because _____ I wouldn’t volunteer because ______ What words come to mind when you think of cancer patients?

What words come to mind when you think of volunteering?

What celebrity comes to mind when you think of volunteering?

What family member comes to mind when you think of volunteering? Why? (shown to the right)

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