Table of Contents

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

BACKGROUND AND FORMATIVE RESEARCH

EXTERNAL DATA AND INTERNAL DATA

SWOT ANALYSIS

5
15

GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

17

RESULTS FROM PRE-TESTING

18

REVISED CAMPAIGN MATERIALS

22

IMPLEMENTATION PLAN

45

STRATEGIES

45

GANTT CHART

50

PROPOSED BUDGET

62

EVALUATION PLAN

65

PROCESS EVALUATION

65

OUTCOME EVALUATION

66

Background
Formative Research
The Student Office of Sustainabilitys (SOS) overall goal is to make UW-Eau Claire a
more sustainable campus. The SOS is in charge of utilizing the Green Fund, a $200,000 budget
that comes from student segregated fees, to fund various programs, projects, promotions, and
events. In order to help the SOS allocate its budget, an online survey was distributed to 779 UWEau Claire students. The findings show that many students are unaware of the SOS and their
strides to a greener campus. Only 58.2% of participants of our survey knew of SOS and 30.3%
were unsure if UWEC has an office dedicated to sustainability. In order for the SOS to succeed in
making UW-Eau Claire a more sustainable campus, it is important that students know that efforts
are being done to ensure this.
In addition to knowledge about SOS, researchers tested student participants on their general
attitudes toward sustainable behaviors. This was measured on a 7-point semantic differential scale
where values closer to 7 indicated a more positive attitude. Using a one-sample T-test, researchers
found a significant finding where students indicated they had a positive general attitude towards
sustainability with the mean being 6.67. This finding is a vital strength to the campaign because it
is easier to promote sustainable methods if students have a relatively positive attitude towards it.
However, attitude-behavior correlations are influenced by several factors, including inconvenience
and personal factors such as habits. It is important that the SOS constructs a campaign that aims to
lower these threats. One possible threat for students who live off-campus is that they live further
away from the places SOS messaging is being displayed. Therefore, proximity could be an
influence on attitudes and behaviors.

Besides analyzing data gathered from students, researchers looked at internal and external
data to further help SOS. For external data, researchers looked at what other universities are doing
to sustain a sustainable campus and how their students feel about sustainability in general. By
looking at how other campuses address this issue, UW-Eau Claire can compare with other
universities findings in order to find the best approach to utilize in the campaign. For internal
data, researchers looked at how SOS is currently communicating to students about their cause. It is
important to explore communication channels the SOS utilizes to better understand where their
messages need to be implemented and how to better tailor them to produce a more sustainable
campus.
External Data
Along with UW-Eau Claire, the topic about attitudes and behaviors of undergraduate
students toward sustainability has become more of a pressing issue in many other campuses
nationwide. A variety of campuses have conducted studies to measure the comprehension and
current perceptions of students in order for universities to help society achieve a more sustainable
future. Various studies have measured the attitudes that the students have on sustainability and
sustainability efforts.
Surveys have been conducted by university campuses to evaluate students attitudes,
behaviors, and knowledge of environmental issues. Overall, the surveys conducted by Macalaster
College and other academic institutions, such as the University of South Carolina and Michigan
State University, indicated a level of concern for the environment among students. The students,
however, were only taking small steps to do their part in protecting the environment. Many
students were only performing sustainable activities that were easy and convenient for them.

(Loprinzo, 2009). A survey conducted by Florida State University naturally conveyed interest and
support from students for sustainability as a concept, but found that the rate for participation and
awareness for programs and initiatives provided by the university was relatively low. Aside from
convenience and self-efficacy, students at FSU expressed time constraints as one of their concerns
with involvement in sustainability programs on campus (Sadusky, 2014).
Similarly, the research conducted at UW-Eau Claire revealed that students had a positive
attitude toward sustainability but lower self-efficacy, so there must be other factors that affect their
sustainable behaviors. With further research, perception of convenience can also be tested to
demonstrate how it influences sustainable behaviors of students.
Although students from FSU generally showed an interest and positive attitude toward
sustainability issues, overall, they indicated that unless encouraged to support the cause, they had
little regard for the issues. Additional studies have also indicated that attitude-behavior correlations
are assisted by several factors, including conditions such as inconvenience and personal factors
such as habits. The intention to change also correlates with their altered behavior, which is strongly
influenced by several environmental factors. This can include peers, media and family members
(Arbuthnott, 2008).
Many colleges are trying to obtain a campus culture of environmental sustainability. For
example, the University of Michigan is analyzing current ways they promote an eco-friendly
environment. In their study, they found five dominating factors that influence students to be more
sustainable: knowledge of issues, knowledge of procedure, social incentives, material incentives
and prompts and reminders (Levy & Marans, 2012). Since humans differ on what motivates them,
it would be strategic if the SOS based their campaign off a combination of several of these factors.

The University of Michigan has concluded that sustainable efforts around the US have not
been very comprehensive or carefully assessed. Just by using technical adjustments, although these
adjustments are only short-term, they may help keep the sustainable efforts ongoing, leading to
reducing waste, energy use and resource depletion. If these efforts were to be obtained worldwide
there could be a showing of vital long-term progress for environmental sustainability (Levy &
Marans, 2012).
One university in particular that is implementing these adjustments is The University of
Utah. It allocated its sustainability budget to launch a new solar program that allows students,
faculty and community members affordable access to solar energy for their homes. Overall, the
program saved over 1 million watts of energy, which could power over 600 average homes for free
(USA TODAY, 2015). The sustainable initiatives that UW-Eau Claire has implemented on campus
over the years that affect short-term and long-term sustainable efforts on campus are the SCORE
program and the solar panels built on Davies and McIntyre library. The SCORE Program allows
students to reduce their carbon footprints and reduce their cost of living by using CFL light bulbs,
low-flow shower heads, and insulating window wrap. In addition, Davies Student Center is
currently powered by 100% renewable energy.
Researchers surveyed Alabama and Hawaii college campuses to see their perceptions on
sustainability. The researchers concluded that the students were aware of the sustainable efforts
that they should be doing, and that they are responsible for the sustainability around their
campuses (Emanuel & Adams, 2010).
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire conducted a similar campus wide
survey including 779 students, to test the knowledge and attitudes toward sustainability that UWEau Claire students have. Our findings were similar in the fact that the majority of the students

knew that littering was against the law, and 82.8% of the students survey indicated that they have
not littered on campus in the average month. Also students had a relatively high perceived severity
when it came to sustainable efforts. In addition to this, research showed that students hold a high
understanding of what the term sustainability entails. The students were asked to place a
checkmark next to each term that they felt encompassed what sustainability entailed. The terms
provided to the students were renewable energy resources, conservation, recycling,
environmentally friendly land development, water management, waste disposal, transportation and
food systems. The mode for the number of terms out of the eight provided was eight. This is
shown to be a strength that the campaign can progress with. It is shown that although the students
may be seeing the messages from the SOS, those messages are not helping with the knowledge the
students have, so a better channel of communication might be through opinion leaders.
Representatives of campuses play an important role in keeping the campus sustainable. If
campus representatives, such as tour guides, do not show the importance of sustainability to the
students, there will be a spiral effect. This study also focuses on two different studies of
storytelling about sustainability. In the first study they looked at the sustainability narratives told
by tour guides at three somewhat similar universities. In the second study the researchers looked at
stakeholders from one of the previous universities presented in study one and showed how they
varied. This shows that the communication from all levels of an organization were not effective
(Conner & Fischbach, 2013).
Internal Data
In efforts to uncover information about the current attitudes and behaviors of UW-Eau
Claire students, researchers looked into current strategies and communication efforts by the
Student Office of Sustainability. Researchers looked at messages put out by the SOS on social

media as well as around campus. Messages were presented on social media, specifically Facebook,
as well as in the format of posters and other print. The majority of information about the
organization can be found on the Universitys page on the Student Office of Sustainability.
Through formative research researchers found that 14.4% of students said that they
currently get information about the SOS through Facebook. The Student Office of Sustainability
has a Facebook page, however the last post was on July 22nd. If students are looking to social
media for information about SOS they are not going to find any information that is current. The
Facebook account for the SOS last year, during the months of April and May, was updated
frequently. In the following months, it became less and less frequent until stopping altogether.
Located under the about section of their Facebook page there is a link that will take you to the
Universitys page on the SOS (Figure 1). This page provides information about the SOS including
who they are, what they do and how to get involved. The link on the Facebook page is relatively
easy to find, however it does not stand out and there is nothing telling the viewer what the link will
take them to. Through formative research it was found that 238 people, 14.9% of students selected
Facebook as a spot they would like to get their information from. One way to make this link easier
to find would be to place a headline above the link that reads something along the lines of To
learn more about us click here.

Figure 1: Student Office of Sustainabilitys Facebook page

Research found that the Student Office of Sustainability is lacking in multiple forms of
social media. With the primary audience of college students, it is important to be able to
communicate through a variety of different platforms. Since 28.5% of students surveyed expressed
that they would like to gain information from friends, this would be an efficient way for them to
connect with each other via the Web. Modeling the Diffusion of Innovation Theory, SOS should
utilize opinion leaders to spread knowledge and encourage sustainable behaviors within their UWEau Claire social networks. SOS should seize this opportunity as a way to generate buzz about
going green.

10

The UW-Eau Claire page on the SOS contains a lot of useful information about the
organization as well as a list of activities that they have done in the past or upcoming events and
programs. In order to find the webpage for the Student Office of Sustainability on the UWEC
website the user would have to know what they are looking for. There are multiple links that the
user has to click on in order to find the webpage, and it is very unlikely that one would stumble
upon it. There is a lot of content on the UW-Eau Claire website and incorporating that useful
information across platforms, such as Facebook, would be beneficial in increasing awareness.
Through formative research, researchers looked into whether people who have indicated
that they have seen messaging on-campus from the SOS differ in their levels of knowledge about
SOS activities. Those who claimed to have seen the messages expressed greater knowledge about
SOS activities than those who said they have not seen any on campus messaging (M=2.00, SD =
2.46). Even though this finding is significant, both means are still very low. Researchers asked
participants how many SOS activities they were aware from a list of eleven. The mean data
showed that the average number of activities students knew about were 2.68. This is a major
weakness the SOS has to overcome in order to increase student awareness. This informs
researchers that the current messaging about activities is not as effective as it could be, because
even those who claim to have seen it do not recall very many of the activities offered. There are a
variety of activities and programs that SOS currently offers lacking awareness. This includes the
Campus Garden, E-waste recycling program, zimride, and the waste bins in the Davies Center.
Formative research shows that 37.4% of students said that they would like to receive information
from posters, so implementing information about these activities in the form of posters is
important.

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One initiative that is featured on the SOS website is the Campus Garden. Located in the
courtyard of Phillips Hall, The Campus Garden is co-developed by SOS and the group Foodlums
on campus to emphasize knowing where and how our food is made. Students are invited to stop by
and see the garden, as well as take any of their ripened fruits. If information about this program
was presented in the places that students claim to prefer receiving information. (posters, professors
and instructors, and Facebook) perhaps more students would become aware of it.
Davies Student Center is powered on 100% renewable energy through The Windsource
Program, because the SOS purchases Renewable Energy Credits every year. However, through
formative research it was discovered that only 23.6% of students recognized this to be true, while
the majority of students were unsure if Davies is run on 100% renewable energy, at 63.0%. REC
is run through Xcel Energy and is an instrument that can be used to meet renewable energy targets,
along with the requirements for renewable energy policies. The RECs purchased by the Student
Office of Sustainability for the Davies Center are sourced from wind farms in Minnesota. One way
to increase this knowledge and how SOSs funds are allocated could include informational posters
about how Davies is powered and where the energy is being sourced from.
The Davies Center contains compost, garbage, and single-stream recycling bins throughout
the building. Posters are located on the bins describing what disposable content can be put in them.
Since these bins are in a commonplace and just about every student has used them, student
awareness of the bins is high. However, in conducting formative research it was found that 82.2%
of students said they have likely placed their trash in the wrong bin. This finding proves that the
current messaging used to instruct students where to discard of their food is insufficient. Although
the bins are labeled our research shows that the current labels are not providing students
confidence in where they are placing their trash. Through creating visual representations of each of
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these bins in a more obvious way, it is hopeful that the number of students who say that they have
likely placed trash in the wrong bin decreases significantly. Using color-coded stickers either on
individual items or at the place you pick up the item that correlate with the bin they should be
placed in is one way that this could be improved.
In 2014, SOS distributed free reusable water bottles to students to help reduce the waste of
plastic water bottles on campus. The distribution also began with a water bottle design contest that
was promoted among campus students. In order to receive a free water bottle, students were asked
sign up for SOSs monthly newsletter, write down what sustainability meant to them, and
encouraged to sign a petition for a ban on plastic water bottles on campus. In the survey conducted
at UWEC, 90.3% of students indicated that they do use a reusable water bottle.
When surveyed about where students get most of their information on sustainability, only
2.7% of UWEC students said they received information from the SOS newsletter. It was also
among the least popular places that students answered they would like to gather future information
from in the future (16.8%). The newsletter archives from each month can still be currently found
on the SOS website. The newsletters contain facts about sustainability and SOS, but most of the
information was never published or promoted outside of the newsletter. Although the water bottle
distribution may not have increased the appeal of their newsletter, it may have had an effect on the
amount of students that regularly use reusable water bottles (90.3%). Its vital to the campaign to
keep this number consistent, especially with new freshman students coming in each year.
When planning a campaign for the SOS, it is important to understand how the Green Fund
works. The Green Fund comes from UW-Eau Claire segregated fees and is used by the SOS and
the Student Senate to improve sustainability at the campus. Although the Green Fund is a very

13

important aspect for the SOS, it is not being displayed very well. It was shown in our formative
research that students were all over the board when asked what the SOS budget was, and only
10.3% indicated that they were aware that it is $200,000. Although there is a budget sheet on their
page but it is not easy to find. If someone was ever wondering about the budget they would not
know anything about it unless they were really searching for it. Making this easier to find on their
page or just a quick button on would help students know more about the budget. Also they could
display it in other ways around campus so the students know their efforts toward sustainability.

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SWOT Analysis
Strengths

Weaknesses

General knowledge of sustainability: The

majority of students are aware of what the
term sustainability entails and that there is a
SOS office.
General positive attitude: Students
indicated they had a positive general attitude
towards sustainability
Reusable water bottles: The SOSs
distribution of free water bottles may have
contributed to the large number of students
who regularly use reusable water bottles.
Budget: SOS has a large budget of
$200,000. This allows funding for a variety
of new programs, projects, promotions, and
events.

SOS activities: Students are not familiar with

many of SOS activities.
Davies bins: Our research shows that many
students are confused what waste goes inside
compost, landfill, and single-stream bins located
inside Davies.
Facebook- The SOS is doing a poor job in
creating new content for their Facebook page,
generating likes, and making their
communication interactive.
SOS on-campus messaging: SOSs on-campus
messaging may not be as effective as it could be.
Those who live off campus are less likely to see
the SOS on-campus messaging and therefore are
not exposed to the message.

Opportunities

Threats

Social Media: Implementing social media

could increase general knowledge about
SOS and encourage sustainable behaviors.
SOS Contests: Get students to participate in
SOS activities by holding contests with
prizes.
Utilizing opinion leaders: Research
indicates that students want to hear about
sustainability from opinion leaders like RAs.
This opportunity is supported by the
diffusion of innovation theory, where
opinion leaders play a key role in spreading
knowledge to their social networks.

Hostile Audience: There may be students who

are unwilling to change their behaviors regarding
sustainability.
Off-campus: Students off-campus may respond
less to SOS messaging versus those who live oncampus because they live further away from the
messaging. Therefore, proximity could be an
influence on attitudes and behaviors.

The Student Office of Sustainability must implement a campaign to increase sustainable

behaviors among UWEC college population, failure to do so might result in lower attitudes
towards sustainability or lack of knowledge about SOS as a whole.

15

References:
Arbuthnott, K. (2009). Education for sustainable development beyond attitude change. Int J of
Sus in Higher Ed International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 3-8.
Conner, S. L., & Fischbach, S. (2013). Many shades of "green": An exploration of sustainability
storytelling across and within university organizations. Tamara Journal For Critical Organization
Inquiry, 11(3), 27-43.
Eagle, L., Low, D., Case, P., & Vandommele, L. (2015). Attitudes of undergraduate business
students toward sustainability issues. Int J of Sus in Higher Ed International Journal of
Sustainability in Higher Education,. 4-8
Emanuel, R. & Adams, J.N. (2010). College students perceptions of sustainability. Emerald
Insight, 12, 1-16
Levy, B., & Marans, R. (2012). Towards a campus culture of environmental sustainability. Int J
of Sus in Higher Ed International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 4-11.
Loprinzo, S. (2009). Attitudes of Undergraduates Towards Environmental Sustainability. 7-15
Lovett, I. (2015, October 7). California: Climate Change Law Signed. Retrieved November 13,
2015, from http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/08/us/california-climate-change-lawsigned.html?ref=topics&_r=0
Sadusky, H. (2014). College student perception & behavior towards sustainability: Results of a
campus survey. Division of Undergraduate Studies at DigiNole Commons, 1-26.
Sokoloski, R. (2012). Evaluating sustainability on the Cal Poly Campus: Attitudes, behaviors,
knowledge, social Norms, and social desirability. California Polytechnic State University, 1-19.
Solar power more affordable for some Utah students. (2015, September 27). Retrieved
November 11, 2015, from

http://college.usatoday.com/2015/09/27/utah-universities-renew-commitment-tosustainable-energ-on-campus/

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Overall Goal:

The overall goal of the Student Office of Sustainability and of this campaign is to make
UW- Eau Claire a more sustainable campus.

Objectives
1. Increase awareness of SOS as a campus organization
Create a poster displaying Seymour the squirrel and place the SOS squirrel logo on
each poster and SOS message
Email student body the Seymour poster
Hold a relay race during welcome week
Hand out magnets with SOS activities listed on them
Create a water bottle poster for water bottle stations
Create a reusable bag poster
Hold Facebook competitions
Create a poster with tips on how to be more sustainable
Post SOS article on the UWEC homepage
2. Reduce the number of students who say they have likely placed trash in the wrong bin in Davies
from 82.8% to 70%.
Post SOS article on UWEC homepage
Email student body Seymour poster
Place color coded stickers on the product shelved in Davies market
Create napkin holder posters on UWEC
Create color coded bin posters
Educate RAs about sustainability for the relay race
Create Seymour squirrel poster
Hold relay race
Have teams race to sort waste in their correct bins
3. Increase number of activities that students are aware of SOS by a statistically significant margin
by the end of Spring 2016 Semester
Schedule relay race during welcome week in order to increase awareness of the
SOS in students who are new to campus
Put up SOS activities
4. Increase the number of students who use reusable grocery bags from 37.5% to 45% by the end
of Spring Semester.
Create reusable bag poster
Create and hand out magnets with SOS activity information
Hand out reusable bags

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5. Raise students self-efficacy toward performing sustainable behaviors by a statistically

significant margin by spring 2017.
6. Increase SOS Facebook likes to at least 900.
Schedule 10 Facebook contests to take place throughout the school year.

Results from Pre-Testing

Method:
In conducting our In-depth Interviews we decided to use each others friend groups. Since
it is hard to get someone that has nothing really invested into our campaign to take a significant
amount of time out of their busy schedules to be interviewed, we found it much easier to get our
own friends to agree to participate in the interviews for one of our group members, which was
ultimately also benefiting all of us. We each found 3 people who were willing to help us out with
gathering this crucial information and then proceeded to pass those connections to another group
member until each of us had three people to interview. As a group, our interviews were conducted
in a few different places. Primarily, our interviews were conducted in the McIntyre Library, and a
few in the Davies Center early in the morning before it became filled with students. During the
interviewees, we went through each of our questions on the protocol and showed each participant
all of our messages, while taking detailed notes about the students responses. Many of us decided
to also record our interviewees responses after receiving permission to do so, that way we could
go back and make sure that we didnt miss any useful information. We found a lot of useful trends
throughout the interview process that helped us to move forward in making changes with to our
message designs.

Napkin Holders
The majority of the interviewees said that they thought the first napkin holder insert was more
attention grabbing. However, the majority of the interviewees also said that the second napkin holder insert
was easier to understand and more interesting to read.

Signage Above Bins

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About half of the interviewees said they liked our color scheme and that they have no suggestions
to change it. The other half of the interviewees thought that some of the colors could be changed to create
more contrast between the blue and the purple we chose.

Signage Above Bins - prefer in front of or above?

The majority of the people interviewed said that they prefer the signage above the bins in Davies.
There was one interviewee who felt that the signage should go in front of the bins in Davies. One
interviewee said that they had no feedback on where they thought the signage should be placed.

Stickers: Item vs. Price Tags

Out of the people that we interviewed, about half of the people said they would think it was more
convenient to have the stickers replace the price tags. A little bit over half of the interviewees said that they
thought it would be more convenient to have the stickers be placed on each individual project. About half of
them prefer stickers on the product while the others prefer the stickers replacing the price tag.

Reusable bags
Out of the people we interviewed, 6 people said they didnt regularly use a reusable bag, 4 people
said they sometimes use a bag, and 4 said they regularly use one. Some of the reasons given were that they
always forget them (5), that they dont have any (5), they only use them at stores like Aldi (3) and one
person said that its not very convenient. When asked if they would use the bags given to them, 7 said yes, 2
said maybe and 4 of them said no. The reasons that they gave for not using them were that they have been
given them in the past and never used them, are often too small, maybe if they were bigger, they would end
up forgetting them, and that they already have some. The grocery stores that the people we interviewed
shop at Gordys Walmart, Festival, Target, Woodmans and Aldi.
They were also asked what information they would like to see on it and the majority said they
would like general information about SOS in general, such as programs and activities, any facts about using
plastic bags, and saving energy. Other ideas were sustainability on campus, community service SOS is a
part of, and history of SOS. They would also like to see how to get involved with SOS, any SOS sponsors,
and the link to the SOS website.

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We also asked which bag they would prefer, and the majority (13) said it had better contrast of
color, more inclined to use something that represents the university, they liked the logo being incorporated
in the front, and that it was simpler and less wordy. We asked what would get them to participate in the
activities that are mentioned on the bag. The majority of students said that if they had more awareness about
them, if the professors were requiring it, and if they were given any incentives such as food and money.
Some also said they would participate if their friends were participating, if there was social media
promotion, and if it was convenient for them.

Facebook Page
We asked the interviewees what would get them to like the SOS Facebook page and we got back
lots of responses. The majority of the students said that they would like it if there was some kind of
incentive for liking the page including gift cards, coupons from grocery stores. A few students said that they
would like it to be more advertised by the university and also the professors. Other students thought SOS
should share and post different videos about sustainability and also hold events and post pictures from those
events.
The majority of the interviewees said that they would like to see reports on recent issues regarding
sustainability events. They also wanted to see information regarding projects theyre currently working on,
how they can get involved and sustainability tips. They also said that if there was a prize they would share a
post from the SOS page. The majority of the interviewees said that they would like water bottle as a prize,
about half said grocery bags and t-shirts and a few said they would like different gift cards.

Competition
The majority of the students interviewed said that they would part-take in the competition that
would take place at the beginning of welcome week on-campus. Half of the students thought it would be a
fun game and two-thirds said they liked the prize of free laundry money. Taking in suggestions from the
interviewees, SOS should consider offering a free activity pass, free declining dollars, or free water bottles
as prizes for this competition. Almost all of the respondents (12/14) said they liked the idea of the RAs

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running the competition since residents would be more inclined to participate if an RA was promoting the
game.

Water Bottle Station Posters

When asked about the water bottle station posters that were pre-tested, the majority said that the
landfill captured their attention, and 4 of them said that the angry bottle captured their attention. They also
liked the slogan, and the colors of the first example. The emotions that the interviewees felt because of the
poster were disgust, sadness, and generally feeling grossed out. When asked about the changes that needed
to be made to the landfill poster, they mentioned that the words at the bottom were hard to read, the water
bottle seemed random, and that the bottle should bigger. The changes that they wanted to see to the bottle
poster was to give it more color, that the words were hard to read at the bottom, and that it was generally
boring. The majority of the interviewees found the posters informative, but that the statistic at the bottom
was too small to read. We also asked our interviewees if they regularly used a water bottle and all of them
said yes. However, 11 of them said they had not received one from SOS.

Activities
We asked if any of our interviewees were aware of any SOS activities, and 7 of them said no, 1 said
yes, and 5 of them said some of them, mainly the bike lease program and Zimride. We showed them a bike
poster with the SOS squirrel riding a bike and asked them what they thought of it. The majority of them said
there was too much of a block of text at the bottom, 4 of them said they would like it if there were bullet
points, and 3 said they would have liked contact information. Some also said that the poster was too vague
and did really explain anything else. Students did like the cleverness and cuteness of the squirrel on the
bike, however.
The second poster we showed them was of the campus garden. The majority of the students thought
that more color should have been added. Some also thought that it was hard to tell that it was about SOS or
even had anything to do with UW-Eau Claire. They said it was boring and that it didnt have any
information about where the campus garden was or where to go to find the blog. However, they did like that
it had a variety of fonts (3), that it was listed in bullet points (5), and they liked the banner use at the top.

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We wanted to know what messaging they would like to see about on campus, and most of them said
they would like to see messages about upcoming events or any programs that SOS is working on. They
liked the idea of having posters in bathroom stalls around campus.

Squirrel Identity
When asked if the students thought that the squirrel was humorous, 3 respondents agreed. 3
respondents recognize SOS as an organization. Some suggested that we use a different squirrel than the
squirrel featured on the bike poster. Others mentioned that they love squirrels on campus and all 15
respondents agreed that the squirrel would help them recognize SOS as a campus organization.

Bookmarks
Many respondents said that they would not use the bookmarks and that they were not interesting to
look at. A third of them mentioned that neither bookmark designs caught their attention. Half of the
respondents said that the design of the bookmarks does not make them want to read the bookmarks.

Revised Campaign Materials

While conducting in-depth interviews, students were asked whether or not they use
reusable water bottles. The majority of them responded that they do use reusable water bottles but
have yet to receive one from the Student Office of Sustainability here at UWEC. When asked
about the water bottle poster, many of the participants agreed that the water bottle needed to be
enlarged and that the statistic needed to be in larger font. One respondent specifically mentioned
how the statistic is very impactful but I wouldnt want to read it since it is so small and there is
too much text. To improve the water bottle station poster, the statistic at the bottom was shortened
to highlight important details and the water bottle was enlarged to create more of a focal point. A
few respondents mentioned that the SOS logo should be incorporated so that students know that
this message is coming from the SOS. A female student, age 22, suggested that SOS put a logo
with the same colors in the poster so that students can recognize the SOS as an organization across
multiple posters and messages. Subsequently, the bold text saying refill it, dont landfill it was

22

changed to represent the SOS colors which are blue, purple, and green. The text that was changed
to green was the statistic at the bottom. Many respondents said that they would like contact
information on all the posters so a Facebook icon was added to let viewers know that SOS has a
Facebook page.

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Before

24

Before 2

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After

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After 2

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Water Bottle Posters

As water bottle bans have become part of the discussion, we decided to implement reusable water
bottle messages as shown previously. The left poster is a poster that we created to emphasize the
importance of refilling water bottles instead of buying plastic water bottles from Davies or vending
machines. We pre-tested the left message and interviewees mentioned the poster was boring and lacked
color and liked the other water bottle poster better. Students also mentioned that the big water bottle
captured their attention quicker. In the reusable bag pre-test, students also mentioned wanting more
information about reusable bags, and the importance of them. Therefore, we decided to take the concept of
the big centered bottle and apply it to this poster. Many of our interviewees mentioned forgetting to use the
reusable bags they have, so this would be a nice reminder for them, as well as a reminder for those who
dont have reusable bags that they can receive some from SOS. We decided to create a cohesive theme
between the reusable water bottle and bag posters by using a similar layout, color scheme and font. These
two posters would be interchangeably placed above each water bottle station.

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Before

After

Results from the in-depth interviews indicated that the bookmarks were unnecessary and a
waste of resources. Many interviewees said that they did not like the information on the
bookmarks or the design of them. One interviewee mentioned that the bookmarks are too small to
put useful information on them. I would like to see a big poster with sustainability information on
it. Another participant thought that the colors needed to be more intertwined with the SOS

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organizations logo. As a result of the findings, bookmarks were omitted and a large, tabloid sized
poster was made to encompass the sustainability information that the in-depth interviewees wanted
to see. The 7 tips posters will be placed in the bathroom stalls in Davies.

Before

After

Throughout our in-depth interviews, we asked students if they would like to have an identity that
sort of ties all of the Student Office of Sustainabilitys messaging together. The vast majority of our
interviewees said things like Having a distinct logo would definitely help me recognize the SOS as an
organization. Since currently, the SOS has been incorporating the squirrel on the left in some of their
messaging, such as the water bottles. We asked students what they thought about using that squirrel as a
sort of logo, or identity. Students liked the idea of having something along the lines of: I like having
something to tie all of the messaging together, but maybe update it so it looks a little bit more modern.
Incorporating color into a logo could also help with recognition, (Interviewee # 1). This very useful
feedback brought us to our identity redesign on the right. This logo will be incorporated into all of our
messaging to help raise awareness of SOS as an organization.

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Before

31

After

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This large poster will be located directly above the Landfill, Single Stream Recycling and
Compost bins in the Davies center. This poster will be large enough so that the arrows are flowing
directly into the bins themselves (60x 66 inches) The colors chosen are working in correlation
with the stickers that are replacing the price tags on the shelves in the Davies Marketplace,
creating a quick visual for students, reminding them where to put their trash. After conducting indepth interviews with UW-Eau Claire students, we found that the majority of our interviewees
preferred to have arrows as a visual, so we continued with that idea. A few people during the indepth interviews mentioned that they would like to see more contrast between the purple and blue
color, so we decided to lighten the purple many shades to achieve this. We also received feedback
for maybe having the purple represent Landfill green Compost and finally blue for Single
Stream Recycling. Since many of the recycling bins around campus are blue, we decided that it
would be best to continue that visual. Thirteen out of the fifteen people interviewed said that they
would prefer to have the signage above the bins instead of in front of the bins. Interviewee #1
stated: I would prefer the signs to be above the bins, when I am in a hurry to go to class I dont
have time to step back and look down, so having them closer to eye level would be much more
convenient. Another addition to this sign is the new identity of the Student Office of
Sustainability at the bottom for recognition. We do plan to keep the signs that the SOS currently
has on the front of the bins with examples of what can go in each bin, since some of our
interviewees said that they would also like to see examples in case they forget the color, or have an
item that was not purchased from the Davies marketplace.

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Before

34

After

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As for the napkin holder inserts, students all showed a positive attitude toward the messages
created. There were two examples that were given, one with the description of what goes into what bin, as
well as graphics of what the description mentions. Many students that were interviewed said that the napkin
holder without the descriptions caught their attention more quickly, but that the second one was easier to
understand, as well as more interesting to read. However, since they will be sitting at the table eating, we
are not too concerned on what will catch their attention more easily because the student will likely be at the
table long enough to read the inserts. We decided to go with the napkin holder insert with the descriptions.
The only changes that were made were to remind students to empty their containers before tossing them, the
colors were swapped and enhanced, and the new SOS logo was added.

BEFORE

36

AFTER

Based on our in depth interviews, students were all over the board in regards to the type of sticker
messaging that they thought was better. The sticker that would go on each individual product or the
replacement of price tag stickers. Many students had mentioned that having an individual sticker per
product would be a lot more convenient for them in terms of increasing their confidence in using the bins.
However, they also voiced concerns about how wasteful this could potentially be. Replacing the price tags
seemed like the best choice, but then we would have to take into consideration the labor of Davies staff
members to have to go through and replace every single price tag with a new one. Instead, we decided to go
with color coded circle stickers that would go on the already existing price tags.

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38

Dont Feed Seymour Poster

This next poster was added to tie in the squirrel theme to our campaign. We added a squirrel to the
SOS logo and felt that there needed to be more of a connection between the logo and the posters. This
poster will be featured on the bulletin boards on campus and will also be emailed to the students. It will kick
off the new Davies bin system and let students know that it exists. This poster will also encourage students
to look for the new system the next time they head to Davies.

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40

Magnets
One of the important objectives of our campaign is to increase awareness and knowledge about
SOS activities. In order to help achieve this, we created 8 different magnets with information about the
programs/activities that SOS offers placed in the reusable grocery bags that get handed out in Davies during
Spring Semester. There will be two random activity stickers in each grocery bag. We decided to use
magnets to increase awareness of activities/programs instead of posters because they are easy to hand out,
and they are something that students can stick on their refrigerators to also remind them to take their SOS
bag to the store when they go. A couple interviewees were wondering why we chose two specific posters
for activities, so we decided to do one of each program in a more tangible product.

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Activity Posters
As a strategy to reach the students who did not receive a reusable bag with magnets, we will also be
implementing posters that are in the same format as the magnets in order to increase awareness of activities
in students who did not end up receiving a reusable bag when we distributed them. These posters will be
hung up in the bathroom stalls throughout the Library.

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Reusable Bags
Before

Front

Front

Back

Back

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After

Front

Back
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Reusable Bags
Learning from our in-depth interviews, we decided to keep the UWEC logo on the front of our bag
and made modifications on the back. Upon request, our new bags are more personal. We realized that
listing the SOS activities didnt make people realize how important it is to use reusable bags. For this
reason, we included 5 reasons why they should go reusable. We also made sure to include the SOS logo and
link the bags back to Facebook, thus meeting two of our objectives; increase Facebook likes and increase
the reusable bag usage. Since it is still important that students are aware of SOS activities, we decided to
place two magnets describing activities in the bag when we hand them out to the students. Based on our indepth interviews we decided it would be too hard to regulate if we distributed the bags at a grocery store,
for this reason we will hand them out in Davies. We also want to partner with local grocery stores and see if
they would give discounts for students who use the bags at their store.

Implementation Plan
August-October
New Davies color coded sticker system
Starting on August 22, 2016 five volunteer SOS members will put up color coded bin posters,
napkin holder inserts and stickers on shelves in Davies. This signage will be implemented the entire 201617 academic year. The summer director of SOS will supervise the SOS members to educate them and make
sure the signage is properly placed. We chose August 22 because we wanted the signage to be up before
freshman orientation. This way UWEC students will be able to adapt to the new system before Fall 2016
semester starts. Lunch will be provided to the SOS members because they dedicated their time to come to
campus before school starts.

Posters
The Seymour poster will be put up on August 31, 2016 by volunteer SOS members on bulletin
boards by elevators in Towers and around all other dorms. Other bulletin boards around campus will

45

include Hilltop, Davies, library and all academic buildings. These posters will run until November 14. We
decided to implement the Seymour poster via email on September 1, 2016. This email will be sent out by
the SOS director and the poster will be hung up by volunteer SOS members. We decided to send out the
email on September 1 to ensure that our message has a high reach of student population before Fall 2016
classes begin. The poster will be taken down on November 14 because the students will have had a high
exposure to the posters at this point.

Relay race activity

The relay race activity will be held during Welcome Week on September 1, 2016 on Towers Field
so that freshmen will have easy access to the competition and will be more inclined to participate. The first
ten teams with ten participants on each will be competing. SOS members will use a label maker to label
different types of waste on a variety of colorful balls. RAs from the dorm floors competing will ref the
competition. We chose RAs because many see them as opinion leaders, and can persuade the floor
residents to join in on the competition. RAs will be given an answer key to follow throughout the game to
check that teams tossed them in the corresponding bins. Partnering with Toppers, pizza will be provided
and handed out by SOS members, that way they are available if students have more questions about
sustainability.

Water bottle poster

The water bottle posters will be put up by all of the 12 water bottle stations in Davies on September
6, 2016 by volunteer SOS members. They will be put at this time because its the beginning of classes for
the 2016-2017 academic year. This way, students can be informed on the impact of throwing away plastic
water bottles can have on the environment. This also reminds them to use the water bottles received by SOS
the previous semester. The poster will run until February 1, 2017 because this is when the reusable bag
posters will be replacing them.

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November- January
SOS Activities Posters
The SOS Activities Posters will be hung up in the library bathroom stalls by volunteer SOS
members because that is one of buildings on campus with regular traffic. The poster will be put up
November 18, 2016 because its in the middle of the Fall 2016 semester and before students go off to
Thanksgiving break. The poster will run until the Spring 2017 semester and will be taken down on Feb 10,
2017 because this is around the time that our 7 Tips posters will run in the Davies stalls, and this will give
enough time for other organizations to be able to run their posters on the library stalls.

Posting an SOS article on homepage

By December, 2016, the SOS intern will contact Rebecca Dienger, Director of the Integrated Marketing
Communications Department at UW-Eau Claire to assign a staff writer to write an article for the UW-Eau
Claire homepage about Davies running on 100% renewable energy and the fact that as of 2015, Davies
Center and McIntyre library has installed solar panels. The staff will be encouraged to have the story up by
January 26, 2017 and run until February 1, 2017. Running the story during this time will appeal to student
who are transferring to UW-Eau Claire, and prospective students who are researching the university. The
general student population will also be aware that SOS is helping fund these products and the organization
will gain more exposure.

February-April
7 Tips Poster
On February 1, 2017, 70 7 Tips Poster will be sporadically hung up by SOS members in the
women's and mens bathroom stalls in Davies. The timing of the poster will allow students to be given the
tips listed on there, one being to use the reusable bags that they will receive the next day, February 2. The
poster will run for approximately 2 months, and pulled down on March 31, 2017.

47

Grocery bags
The reusable grocery bags will be distributed on February 1, 2017 by SOS members. The reusable
grocery bags are given out at this time because students are coming back to campus after a long winter
break and many will need to go grocery shopping. The students can use these reusable bags when they do
their grocery shopping at this time.

Magnets
Two magnets would be inserted in the grocery bags, so they would also be distributed on February
1, 2017 by SOS members. The purpose of the magnets being distributed along with the reusable bags is that
the magnets have a reminder to use the reusable bag, along with a description of the activities.

Facebook competitions
These Facebook competitions are being held for the students who already like the page to win
prizes, and also as an incentive for other students to like the page and compete to win prizes. All of the
competitions are spread out throughout the year to keep the students engaged with the SOS Facebook. Each
of the competitions will last about a week long. All of these competitions will have a winner chosen within
the following week. The first competition is for the students to post a picture of them with their groceries in
the SOS reusable bags that were handed out, and this competition will be ran twice during the year. The
first time its held will be from September 19-23 of 2016, and the second time from February 7-14 of 2017.
We did this competition on September 19 to start off the semester and get students to remember to use their
reusable bags.
Another competition for the UWEC students is to post a picture of them in their favorite nature spot
on campus, and share them to the SOS Facebook page. This competition will also be ran twice, the first
from October 24-31 of 2016 and the second running from February 20-27 of 2017. This is meant for
students to go out and appreciate the nature around campus, and the picture with the most likes will win.

48

We decided to have a competition where the students to take a humorous photo of a squirrel on
campus and post it with creative caption to the SOS Facebook page. This competition will also be held
twice during the academic year, this first time being from November 14-21 of 2016. We are doing this
competition because the SOS logo is a squirrel, and also squirrels are a big thing around Eau Claire and
everybody loves them. The picture with the most likes will win the prize.
Caption this Photo would be another competition that we would be holding twice as well during
the academic year, the first time being from December 1-8 of 2016. The caption with the most likes will
win the prize. The reason for doing this competition is to keep students involved with the SOS Facebook
page.
This fifth competition that would be held during the year would be a trivia question about
sustainability for all of the students who have liked the SOS Facebook page. It would be posted from
January 26, 2017 until February 2. The first three students who comment on the question with the correct
answer with get a prize. This competition is going to be held because it will not only get students involved
with the SOS Facebook page but it will also test their knowledge on sustainability.
Our last competition will be held from May 1, 2017 until May 8, which will be asking students to
simply share a post from the SOS Facebook page about sustainability. The purpose of this competition will
be for the students to share with all of their friends some information about sustainability. The winner will
be chosen at random.

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52

53

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56

57

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2016 - 17
Student Office of Sustainability Campaign Budget
STICKERS/PRICE TAG INSERTS
We used Uline, the distributor of shipping, industrial, and packing materials to order color coded
stickers to stick on to each corresponding price tag by each product in Davies. We ordered a total of 3,000
stickers so that they can be updated regularly in case prices change, stickers are damaged, or new products
are introduced in the Marketplace.

Price Tag Stickers

Davies Marketplace: 3,000 total
color coded:
Blue:
Purple:
Green:
Total:

$12.00
$12.00
$12.00
$36.00

POSTERS
We contacted Printing Services at UW-Eau Claire to have our poster messages printed through
them. We will be printing the posters above the bins, the water bottle posters, the grocery bag posters and
the 7 Tips Poster through them.

Posters
Over bin Posters (12) (60x66)
Super Gloss Paper
Water Bottle Posters (12) (11x17)
Grocery Bag Posters (12) (11x17)
7 Tips Posters (70) (8x11)
Bathroom stalls
Activities Posters (8x11) (240)
Seymour Poster (8x11) (240)
Total Poster Cost:

$1,566.68
$10.38
$10.38
$19.57
$67.09
$67.09
$1, 741.19

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NAPKIN HOLDER INSERTS

The napkin holder inserts will also be printed through Printing Services at UW-Eau Claire. The
plan is to take up 50 napkin holders. 40 napkin holders will be in the downstairs food court area while 10
will be on the second floor. These would only be updated if the color system for the bins ever changed or if
the inserts were damaged in any way.

Napkin Holder Inserts

6x3 inserts (50)

Total Cost: $9.50

INCENTIVES/PRIZES:
We will have food at the competition during Welcome week. We will have 25 large pizzas ordered
from Toppers for the participants, as well as a Chipotle Party as a grand prize for the number one team. We
will be holding 10 different Facebook competitions throughout the year that will have a variety of different
prizes for the winners.

Incentives & Prizes

Pizza @ Competition
3 UWEC T-shirts (3 FB contests)
Davies Food Credit (2 FB contests)
Burrachos Gift Cards (4 FB contests)
Movie Ticket Certificate (1 FB Contest)
Total Cost:

Donation
$60.00
$50.00
$40.00
$25.00
$175.00

COMPETITION
As part of the competition, participants from the dorm wings will put items in each bin that
coincides with it. To do this, balls will have the item that it represents be written on it. The incentive to play
our game will be a free Chipotle Party for the 1st place team. We will be ordering the balls from Ali
Express.

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Competition
Chipotle Party (for 10) (1st place)
2 Free loads of Laundry (for 10) (2nd place)
Competition Balls
Competition Total:

$300.00
$50.00
$21.92
$371.92

GROCERY BAGS
We will be ordering customizable reusable grocery bags through ecobags.com. We will be ordering
2,000 bags. The majority of these bags will be used to distribute in Davies. The rest of them will be used as
incentives for people to attend activities

Grocery Bags
2,000 bags (max 3 per person) ($2.50 each)
$5,000

MAGNETS (activities)
These magnets will be inserted inside of the grocery bags that will be handed out at Davies. There
will be 2 per grocery bag given out, making it (500 of each activity, 4,000 total for 2 per grocery bag).
These will be ordered from magnets.com

Activity Magnets
Blugold Bike Lease
Campus Garden
Compost Pick up
E-Waste
Film Series
Score Program
Windsource
Zimeride
Magnets Total

Overall Total

$380.00
$380.00
$380.00
$380.00
$380.00
$380.00
$380.00
$380.00
$3,040.00

$10,3736.20

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Evaluation Plan
Process Evaluation
To ensure that the campaign messages are being implemented correctly, the members of the student
office of sustainability will have various positions dedicated to process evaluation. One member will have
the responsibilities of making sure that all Seymour posters are hung up correctly in Davies and academic
buildings on campus monthly. They will also make sure that all the 7 tips posters are hung correctly
monthly. Another member will be in charge of ensuring that the water bottle and reusable bag posters are
properly hung at all water bottle stations in Davies. They will also monitor inventory of the reusable bags
and magnets. A different volunteer member will go to Gordys grocery store twice a semester and observe
how many students are using their SOS reusable bags. They will remain at the store for 2 hours and write
down how many people are using the reusable bags. They will also be in charge of observing Davies bins
from 12pm to 2pm at the end every month. This will measure whether or not the majority of students are
sorting their trash correctly with the new sticker system. This way, they can observe if students seem to be
confused about the system. The SOS member will check to see if the stickers on the shelves are placed
properly. At the beginning of the fall semester an SOS member will observe the relay competition to ensure
that the RAs are correcting the students properly. In order to measure if the magnets informing students
about the programs and activities are being used, the Student Office of Sustainability will monitor the
activity logs or attendance from the various programs and activities. To monitor if the Facebook
competitions are helping to reach our 6th objective of increasing the number of Facebook likes to 900, we
will monitor how many people are participating in the periodic contests and competitions as well as
monitoring the number of likes the SOS has on a monthly basis.

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Outcome Evaluation
In order to verify that sustainable progress has been made due to our campaign, it is important we
minimize threats of internal and external validity. To make sure our campaign alone reduced the number of
students who say they have likely placed trash in the wrong bin in Davies, we will use Stout as a control

group and compare the students knowledge on landfill, recycling and compost bins with the
experimental group of UW-Eau Claire. We would partner with UW-Stout to distribute a survey to
students. This survey would include questions such as: Where would you place this item:
Compost, Landfill or Single-Stream Recycling? and display a different image with each question.
This way, we can identify the level of knowledge that students not exposed to the sticker and bin
system have.
Our campaign also aims to increase the number of students who use reusable grocery bags from
37.5% to 45% by the end of Spring Semester. Similar to the study design above, we will use Stout students
as the control group, and UW-Eau Claire students as the experimental to see if giving out free reusable bags
makes a significant difference between those who received the bags and those who didnt based on usage.
SOS will go to a variety of grocery stores in Eau Claire and Stout and report if students are using reusable
bags or not. In order to make sure they are college students from UW-Eau Claire or Stout, SOS members
will ask them on their way out of the store. To determine if our campaign has indeed increased the number
of SOS activities that students are aware of, we will look at attendance and inventory logs to see if they are
higher than last year. The program directors or people running the activities will then ask the new members
or users of the activities where they heard of the activities. We will also send out a survey at the end of the
year asking students what SOS activities they are aware of by checking all that applies from the following
list: Zimride, compost pickup, campus garden, Blugold bike lease, SCORE, E-waste program, Windsource,
and film series. We will then compare the results to the survey we distributed in September 2015.

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In order to verify that an increase in students self-efficacy toward performing sustainable behaviors
was due to our campaign alone, the same survey will be distributed to UW-Eau Claire students with the
questions regarding self-efficacy. These questions are measured on a Likert scale of 1=SD, 7=SA including:
It is easy to perform sustainable behaviors, I am able to adopt sustainable behaviors in my life, and I can
easily incorporate sustainable practices in my daily routine.
Our objective to increase SOS Facebook likes to at least 900 will be easy to analyze because we can
see how many likes and reposts SOS Facebook page is receiving periodically throughout the campaign. By
using Facebooks insights options, we can measure the Facebook likes after each competition to see if the
increased in a result from them.
There will be two separate study designs for different components of the campaign to measure
outcome evaluation. A non-experimental pretest and posttest design will be used to measure the knowledge
and behaviors of the UW-Eau Claire student body prior to the campaign running its full course and at end of
the 2016-17 school year. SOS will send out a survey to a random sample of 1,000 students at the beginning
of October. This will be the same survey that was created in Dr. Perraults CJ 374 Campaign Class in the
Fall of 2015. In the Spring of 2017, the same survey will be sent out to a random sample of 1,000 students
at UW-Eau Claire.
One of the objectives is to decrease the number of students who said in the Fall of 2015 survey they
have likely placed trash in the wrong bin in Davies from 82.8% to 70% by the end of spring semester of
2017. Another goal is to increase the number of students who said they use reusable grocery bags from
37.5% to 45% by the end of spring semester. Lastly, the aim is also to increase overall awareness of SOS as
a campus organization from fall semester of 2015 to spring semester of 2017.
The purpose of the Fall 2016 survey sent out in the beginning of the campaign is to account for
incoming freshman, students who will have graduated, and students who have transferred out of or to UWEau Claire. We want to make sure that measurements are relevant to the student body present during the
initial stages of the campaign.

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As for the second study design, there will be a comparison between the freshman participants of the
bin sorting competition during the Welcome Week, and freshman participants who did not participate. The
amount of participants during the competition will be recorded by the RAs of each floor attending. There
will be a sign-up sheet at the booth for the competition where students can sign their names and emails for
updates on SOS and to track down the winners of the competition so that they can receive the free laundry
money into their accounts. These people will also receive a survey via email mid semester designed to test
their knowledge of the bins. A sample of 50 freshmen who didnt participate in the competition will also be
sent the same email survey. The results will be compared to see how significantly higher the results were
for the freshman students who participated in the competition compared to those who didnt.

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