Individual Campaign Reflection

Emily Kratz
12/8/15
Prairie Woods 5K Run/Walk
On November 7th, the Prairie Woods 5K Run/Walk was put into place. Our
Communication Management class teamed up to create a public relations campaign to implement
what I believe was an overall successful event. Our efforts, including what I put into the
campaign, increased awareness, attendance, and overall success of this years Prairie Woods 5K
compared to other years prior and I have learned valuable public relations strategies and tactics
that will help me for the future.
When analyzing the effects of the event as a whole, there were 141 participants compared
to 72 last year. The event made a net profit of $2,235.08, not including donations received from
the raffle. The event was also a success based on the responses we got back from people who
participated. The majority of people enjoyed the race, refreshments, and the raffle. These facts
help to justify the success of the event.
In looking back on our finalized goals and objectives, we got both the outcomes we
wanted but also fell short in some too. In goal 1, have at least 100 people participate in the 5K.
We had 141 participants at this years event, which definitely exceeded our goal. This was 100%
an outcome we wanted and we predicted we could do this. One part of goal 5 was to obtain at
least 3 business sponsorships, in addition to the current sponsors. This was an overwhelming
success from what we wanted to achieve. We had at least 8 sponsors from different local gyms,
being the majority of who our sponsors were. That was an outcome I dont think we expected but
welcomed with open arms. The signage we created for the event was very well done. It had all 8
sponsors on it and was displayed in the entrance of the nature center and around the course. In

the future, where we display the signs should be different than tied around trees and it wouldnt
hurt to make them bigger. Another goal that went okay was creating hashtags. They worked for
our event but we needed to use them more and that goes along with other goals we didnt
accomplish as well, the social media goals, 2, 3, and 4. We were short on how many people liked
the Pringle Nature Center Facebook page. We had very little followers on both Twitter and
Instagram. These were not the outcomes we wanted in social media. On Facebook, we were only
40 likes away from our goal of 900 likes. I believe if we had a little more time we couldve
achieved this objective by posting more information about the Nature Center and the 5K and by
inviting more of our friends to like the page. On Twitter and Instagram, for the future, it would
be smart to overload the posts to get more awareness and followers in this medium.
There were some other areas where we didnt accomplish some of our general strategies
and tactics. We didnt have music in the nature center on the day of the event. That would be
great to have in the future. We also didnt have specific signs that people could take pictures with
the day of so they could post the picture and use one of our hashtags. In the future we should
encourage people to do that because it will get more awareness of the 5K for future races. There
was no response or results from reaching out to KUSD, which was unfortunate, and not the
outcome we expected. We figured it was at a time where the district was already pretty busy.
Reflecting back on the different teams that worked on their own specific objectives, everyone
accomplished their tasks but some unfortunately succeeded more than others. Despite these
drawbacks, the Prairie Woods 5K Run/Walk still was very successful.
To dive further into the reflection of the teams, something I learned to be true about our
public relations campaign is the importance of going around the community and personally
asking for sponsors and donations. The team that worked with this was very successful in doing

so and I thought that was a huge aspect to our campaign. They received t-shirts, gift cards, and
businesses that would want to continue to participate in helping this event. This strategy of the
campaign taught me that if you want your campaign to be successful you have to be willing to do
the grunt work and it will pay off. Because of this teams efforts in receiving these sponsors, we
were able to create visually pleasing sponsor signs at the 5K event. We predicted only getting
two but we ended up with over eight sponsors like stated above so to reiterate, this teams efforts
resulted in over exceeding our expectations.
When personally reflecting on my contributions to the campaign, I learned a lot through
the process. I worked with getting the event information out around Carthage. I took the event
flyer to the Office of Student Life to see where we could hang it. This outcome was not as
successful as I would have wanted because we were only able to hang the flyer in the TWC on
the bulletin board right next to the bathrooms. The reason this was the only place that the flyer
could be hung up was because it wasnt a Carthage event, just an event promoted by Carthage
students. That was why this planned action was prevented in successfully getting the information
out around campus because this location doesnt get that much traffic so most likely there was
not that many people that saw the flyer.
Another task I was given was creating a bridge event. In the post, I included information
about the 5K, so basically the who, what, when, where, and why but I also included how
Carthage students should want to support their fellow communication and digital media
department students. I created the event on November 2nd so that gave the Carthage community
five days to see the post on the bridge. It was listed under student news because that was the
main audience I wanted to target. When reflecting back on this strategy, the only thing I would

do differently is to post the event earlier to have more time for the Carthage community to find
the event.
From this campaign, I learned many things about myself. In my personal skills
assessment we completed in the beginning of the semester, I listed my skills to be a good listener
and communicator, organized, and a team player. From reflecting back on the accomplishments
we achieved, I have found that all of those skills I perceived about myself were very applicable
for our campaign. When we would meet for class I communicated to everyone what I planned to
do to get the word out around Carthage, the process of that, and the final results of doing so. I
also communicated with you when I had any questions or if I needed any feedback on what I was
doing to try and post the flyer around campus and the bridge. I also listened well when other
teams discussed what was happening with the objectives they were trying to accomplish. I was
very organized through the semester because I was on track with every due date and task that
was needed during the campaign. All of these skills combined demonstrate that I was a good
team player in our class. Other skills that I learned I possess from this campaign are that I am
very reliable and a self-starter. I learned I possessed these skills because I never missed class, I
did my part of the campaign, and I was willing to help in any other areas if it was needed. This
also goes along with what I learned about what attitudes I had during this process. I was very
excited to finally get to put the information we were learning about public relations into real life.
I was enthusiastic, determined, and passionate to help the Pringle Nature Center. I will be able to
use these skills and attitudes for my future endeavors in hopefully a public relations internship.
Reflecting back on our successes and failures of our campaign for the Pringle Nature
Center, it gave me a small glimpse of what the public relations field is like. I especially liked
learning and having a real world example of what we were reading and getting tested on. Our

class, as individuals and as teams, worked really well based on the results we had from the event.
I think we accomplished more than we thought we did. It was really exhilarating to see the
actions we did result in helping out the Pringle Nature Center. I am excited to use everything I
learned from this experience and apply it to my future in the public relations field.