Evaluating Public Relations Campaigns Assignment

Evaluating Public Relations Campaigns - Assignment Example nal higher education meeting at which Virginia Tech administrators shared lessons learned; and Public Affairs staff participated in an exhaustive, line-by-line review of the Virginia Tech Review Panel report. Thus, the NIU crisis communications plan that was enacted on February 14, 2008 was greatly informed by the collective wisdom of the aforementioned experts, as well as the generosity of their counterparts at Virginia Tech. The outcome objectives of the campaign included: (1) to keep all audiences, particularly students and parents, as widely informed as possible throughout crisis, (2) to use website to provide updates to all audiences, including the news-hungry media, (3) to treat news media as partners , as they have communication tools necessary to reach primary audiences, (4) to maintain institutional credibility through maximum timely disclosure, (5) to manage the message- Victims and their families are fisrt priority, (6) to re-establish reputation as a safe and caring campus community. Among the output objectives of the campaign were: (1) issuing of a report praising the NIU’s response and excellence in crisis communication by the Illinois Governor’s Task Force on Campus Security, (2) commissioning of a report on the NIU’s incident in which crisis communication is held up as exemplary by the U.S Department of Homeland Security, (3) praising of the NIU institution for â€Å"transparency and candour’’ by the Chicago Tribune. As a result, to evaluate the effectiveness of the campaign, Applications from prospective students continue to rise, and only 19 of 300+ students directly affected by the shooting left the university. NIU Public Affairs staffs are in demand as speakers and consultants for other universities developing crisis plans. No lawsuits have been filed in connection with the February 14, 2008 shooting. Spontaneous and unsolicited gifts for scholarships and memorials total more than $1 million. In turn, an additional evaluation method