I had the privilege this weekend to be a judge in the Public
Relations Society of America’s Bateman Case Study Competition, which is a annual
contest judging programs developed by undergraduate public relations students
from around the country. Each
participating university team is given a PR “problem” (usual a public service
issue) and asked to develop and implement a campaign to address it.
I’ve got to say that while program quality varied, overall,
the caliber of the student programs was super.
Many resembled professional social marketing campaigns such as Chicago’s
5,4,3,2,1 obesity campaign but several teams took really unique
approaches. One team identified the
problem as physicians’ reluctance to talk to kids about their weight (a really
great insight) and focused solely on physician education, including direct
detailing of doctors. Another team,
from LSU not surprisingly, created a program steeped in the argot of Cajun culture
that knocked my socks off. It was really great to see the energy, analytical
skills and creativity of undergraduate public relations students. They could hold their own in graduate classes
any day!
Winners won’t be announced for a few months.
Michael
