Abbey Long
My Tangible Essay
Throughout the past few years
at
Not only have I used the text from this
class, but I
have searched for the references from this book, as well as other
sources not
linked to our text. I also have created
new fliers and brochures for this golf tournament, which I will cover
in this
essay, as will I cover the new ideas that I will present to Larry
Shell, the
general manager.
When deciding on what I wanted the
medium of much of the advertising for this golf tournament, I wanted
something
very basic to catch the eye of the audience that would inform them
without
words what a major concept of this tournament was.
To do this, I have chosen the Breast Cancer
Ribbon to be the center of all print advertisements that I created. According to the second edition of
“Persuasion in the Media Age” by Timothy A. Borchers, which quotes
Donis A.
Dondis as saying “the circle…indicates endlessness, warmth, and
protection” (p.
160). As one familiar with this Ribbon
symbol would know, the top part of it is curved, and joined at the
bottom,
where it straightens out and ends on each side.
This does not from a complete circle, as it does point to two
different
ends, but the illusion of a circle can be seen at the top of the figure. Paul M. Lester states in his book, “Visual
Communication: Images with Messages,” that the circle symbolizes
“endless
rhythmic patterns of time…eternity without clear beginnings or endings”
(p.
43). I think that this is the
appropriate shape to focus any advertising on for this kind of event,
as it has
to do with supporting and spreading awareness of what can be a very
deadly
disease.
Lester also illustrates the use of
curved lines (such as what forms the Breast Cancer Ribbon) in his text
that I
stated earlier. He says, “Curved lines
convey a mood of playfulness, and movement.
Curves have a gracefulness about them that soften the content of
their
active message” (p. 42). The
intention
of the golf tournament is to celebrate the life of the general
manager’s wife,
Connie Shell. Shell also happened to be
a former employee and member of the Country Club, so she is very well
known. It is important to soften the
reminder of her battle with Breast Cancer.
Another image that will be shown on
all of the advertisements will be the Hands for Hospice logo. This is a very important image, although it
will not be the main focus. All
donations will be going directly to this organization.
The symbol consists of three figures, all
holding hands, with the phrase “Hand in Hand” above it.
All three of the figure’s heads are placed
right above their bodies, which mean that there are three circles in
the image. Dondis’ statements about
“protection” fit
perfectly with this, as Hands for Hospice is an organization that
allows people
to live their last days how they wish to, are supported through
volunteers, and
offer grief support groups. All three of
the figures in this logo have at least one curved line on the lower
halves of their
bodies, which illustrates the softness that Lester spoke of in his text.
The final image that will be shown
on some of these advertisements is a photograph of Connie Shell. Messaris is quoted in Borchers’ text as
stating that photographs “attract attention to the persuader’s
message,” (which
would be to donate to, or participate in, the tournament), and “images
elicit
an emotional response from the audience” (p. 171).
Previous fliers and brochures for
this event were somewhat crowded, although they had very important
information
on them, such as dates, times, etc. I
have re-designed these so that they still contain the important
information,
but have a little more white space on them.
Borchers quotes Jeweler and Drewniany in his text as saying
“white space
refers to the blank space in a layout used to attract attention or
communicate
meaning. Designers usually use white
space on the edge of the design to draw attention…makes a layout seem
“exclusive”’ (p. 163). One of the pieces
that I will need to remove from the original advertisements are the
list of
sponsors, as they all are shown with their logo. This
causes some crowding at the bottom of
the page, as it is done in color.
Instead, I am adding a footer to the bottom of the page, with
smaller
font, that will state “Special thanks to our sponsors:” and then list
them only
as text. In turn, I will create signs to
hang near the entrance doors to the country club, as well as the exit
that
leads to the golf course thanking the sponsors, and showing their logos.
When making these advertisements, I
could not only work with images. I also
have to use text and words. I consulted
Jay Conrad Levinson’s “Gurrilla Marketing” to help me with this. Levinson states in this text that
psychologists at
Upon receiving permission from Larry
Shell (general manager), Sara Schnackenberg (food and beverage
manager), and
Charles Mahon (gold pro), I would like to make contact with a few
resources
that I have that I believe would add to this tournament, financially as
well as
emotionally. The reason I will obtain
permission first, is because I will be contacting my resources as a
part of
Emporia Country Club, and I do not consider it professional for me to
do
otherwise.
My first contact would be
In addition to the Mulligans that
are sold at the registration table, I have created another item to be
sold,
called a “One Foot Gimmie.” A Gimmie
would cost ten dollars, and allow a player to be granted an extra foot
on a
shot if they are very close to a hole, or to being off of the green.
The other organization that I
would like to contact
is the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
My goal would be to have a survivor come and speak briefly at
the
evening dinner that occurs after the day’s events are over at Emporia
Country
Club. I would ask that the person make
an appearance during the day so that participants in the tournament, as
well as
the families that come to support them, can make a one-on-one
connection with
the survivor. In my opinion, this would
make the speaker more effective later that night if the audience has
had any
kind of connection with the survivor. I
am in contact with a former intern (Kelsey Woolard, whom is also a 2006
graduate of
In addition of all of this, I have
written public service announcements to be read on local radio
stations, such
as KVOE-FM (101.7 FM). I also have
written an article for the local newspaper, The
Gazette, because after the 2nd Annual tournament, there
was no
article following up the tournament, although there was a fairly large
photograph (about half of a page in size), with a paragraph side note
covering
the dollar amount that was made and donated to Hands for Hospice.
I have obtained a list of items
donated for a Silent Auction and a Raffle that is held at the
tournament, and I
have the name or business of those who donated them.
I plan to write a letter to these people,
including Emporia Country Club’s thanks for their help in the previous
years,
and to ask them if they would like to donate again.
I also plan on sending a flier and/or letter
to other businesses in the city to inform them about the tournament,
and to let
them know that any form of support would be greatly appreciated. Also, I would like to send out a letter to
members of the Club stating the same thing.
Last year, the total amount of money donated was $5,618.37. My goal is to raise this number to $7,000
next year. In order to keep participants
happy and satisfied in years to come for this tournament, I have made a
card
that will be sent out to each team captain a week after the tournament
asking
for their input, likes and dislikes.
I have thoroughly enjoyed working
with Mr. Shell, Mr. Mahon, and Ms. Schnackenberg over the past couple
of months
while I have created this public relations plan. I
plan on presenting each of them with the
work I have completed after I receive feedback from the Faculty in
February,
and I make any changes necessary to make the plan up to par. I hope to someday obtain a position where I
am able to do this on a regular basis.
References
Borchers, Timothy A.
Persuasion in the Media Age: 2nd
Edition. McGraw Hill.
Levinson, Jay Conrad.
Gurrilla Marketing: 3rd
Edition. Houghton Mifflin
Company.