Nicole Ellis, Laura Guikema, Annie Jones, Kristine Peterson, and Lillian Wilson APR 309 Creative Brief

for EPIC Client: Dorie Shelby, Professor of Communications at Spring Arbor University Product/Service: EPIC

Product and Market Background: EPIC was founded at Spring Arbor University in 1997. Dorie Shelby, the current faculty advisor, has been involved in the program since the beginning. EPIC is a sketch comedy television show with a mix of in studio and field pieces. It is, for lack of a better word, epic. EPIC has been offered as a class for video/film students each semester. It is also offered as an extra curricular opportunity, available to any Spring Arbor University student who would like to participate. Currently, episodes are produced by a group of twenty or so students. The first episode was finished the week of November 1, 2011, and the second episode of the year is currently in production. Episodes are released first to the class, and are subsequently released to a You Tube channel. The current market of EPIC includes Spring Arbor University students. According to our groups preliminary research, most of the current audience is unaware of EPIC, especially new students. EPIC does not have a large presence on campus. The audience is unaware of the uniqueness and talent of the people involved in EPIC and the vast amount of work put into each episode, all by students.

Competition: EPICs main competition is other events on campus. A multitude of other extra curricular events are offered on campus, so EPIC needs to compete against these events to have involvement. EPIC meets on Wednesday nights, so it competes against other programs and classes that meet at the same time. Also, EPICs audience competition includes those who are distracted by a variety of similar options offered on the Internet. There are many similar You Tube accounts. Audience members also may be distracted by the variety of other things to watch online or on Facebook.

Business/Advertising Objective: The main goal of this campaign is to increase awareness of EPIC. We would like to expand the market and base of Spring Arbor University students who know about and watch EPIC. We would like to increase trial by non-users. This is more of a branding campaign than a campaign with a unique selling proposition. We have a logical argument, and we would like to create a mission statement or some other way for EPIC to further define its audience.

Media: Media included in this campaign include a current Facebook account, a new Twitter account, and updating EPICs You Tube account. EPICs Facebook page does not send a clear message about the program. The students who run it do a fair job, but the message could pack

a greater punch and the message could also sound more professional in grammar and tone. Similarly, a Twitter account for EPIC was recently set up. We would like to have a professional, friendly message that will include up-to-date episode facts and information, behind-the-scenes moments, and real-time updates. EPIC is also in the process of uploading episodes from the early years of EPIC to its You Tube channel. This campaign will also include ambient advertisements. We would like to recommend the purchase of a stamp that has EPICs text logo, which we will create, on it. That way, EPIC members can stamp their friends hands in order to remind them to watch the latest episode. We also would like to create T-shirts for EPIC, pending budget approval by the Communications department at Spring Arbor University. We will create a logo in order to further the brand of EPIC.

Target Market/Group/Audience: The target market for this campaign is Spring Arbor University students. We would like to encourage students who have never watched EPIC to watch for the first time. We would like to encourage the students to continue to follow episode arcs and entertain them with the storylines of the episodes.

Proposition/Promise/Benefit: Simply, the benefit of EPIC is to entertain. The promise of our campaign is to clearly communicate and raise awareness of the brand and benefit of EPIC to the audience, Spring Arbor University students.

Tone of Voice: The tone of our campaign is professional. All areas of the campaign will be professional, from Facebook posts to Twitter posts to email and advertisement content. However, the content will also be friendly and inviting. This is a balance that is important to the success of our campaign.

Mandatories: We have multiple mandatory items to include in our campaign. First, we must include EPICs name on all products. It must be clear that the campaign is for EPIC. Second, we must have a clearly defined and clearly tracked budget. Our client, Dorie Shelby, would also like us to find a way for her to contact old members of the class who were in previous episodes in order to inform them of how the episodes are now being uploaded to You Tube (though we cannot create a separate account for EPIC because of content restrictions by Spring Arbor University). She also wants us to include a t-shirt design, with costs and numbers clearly outlined in our budget. Similarly, Dorie also really enjoyed the idea for an EPIC stamp. We must research and give her multiple ideas for this. Overall, our goal is to increase awareness of EPIC. We must do this through the media listed above: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and ambient. We would like to increase EPICs Facebook following, currently at 109 people, to 150. We would like to gain fifty followers on Twitter. We will brainstorm and flesh out as many ideas for Dorie as possible, giving her a

framework for the future years of EPIC and allowing EPIC to be an established brand across campus.

Goals: Increase awareness among Spring Arbor University students We will do this through: o Facebook: current number of Facebook fans: 109, goal number of Facebook fans: 150 o Twitter: Set up Twitter account by December 1, 2011. Goal number of non-spam followers: 50 o YouTube: Set up a clear page for videos to be uploaded. If Dorie approves, make sure old EPIC episodes are uploaded. Goal number of subscribers: 25 o Plan for T-shirts/stamps o Logo design o History/contacting EPIC alumni, including clear email template Give Dorie a clear plan for future advertising and promotion of EPIC o Clearly defined plan for the Low-Down promotion o Clear outline for clear messages through all media forms o Suggest that she create a student position in EPIC for a photographer and a position for a student advertiser/marketer. o Brainstormed ideas for an open house including viewing of an episode, coffee/refreshments, and gift bags with small EPIC-related items