1. Communications Plan: The Gunnar Project
December 17, 2015
Kaylen Borseth, Brooke Gestson, Jessica Goff, Jessie Lundberg, Morgan Mogler
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Overview / Research
The Gunnar Project: Background
The Gunnar Project was started by Marc Miller after tragically losing his 19 year old son,
Gunnar. He was out skateboarding with friends when he grabbed on to his friend's car,
telling them to take off. Gunnar lost control seconds later and
landed on his head (without a helmet), later passing away in
the emergency room. Although Gunnar was a fun loving guy he
struggled with addiction in the past and was celebrating 14
months of sobriety before he passed. He had a job interview
planned later that day and planned to go to college.
Marc chose happiness as the focus to the project because after
Gunnar passed he was overwhelmed with people telling him
and his wife how much happiness Gunnar put in their lives. We only get one life so being
happy for it is important and The Gunnar project wants to help people through the journey
to whole happiness.
Media Reviews
Since the project is still very new the founders are still trying to spread awareness of the
organization. The Gunnar Project has been featured in the Pioneer Press to share what the
organization is and what they are trying to accomplish. The article goes into great detail
about the whole organization. It talks about Gunnar and his story, why the organization
chooses to focus on happiness, and to really understand the importance of life. Recently the
Gunnar Project was also featured on WCCO’s Life to the Max segment. The story was
covered on Wednesday, November 18, 2015 at the University of Wisconsin River Falls, and
aired on Saturday, November 28, 2015. The Marketing Communications club asked Marc to
visit and share with the club and students about his organization. On top of that the club
also participated in creating the bracelets that will later be distributed to people who
would like to participate and share happiness.
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Project Happiness: Background
Project Happiness was founded by Randy Taran, a mother
who was struggling to find a solution for her child’s
depression. She began wondering how other young
people were coping with similar situations. The project
entails having color-themed days that inspire happiness
habits such as : Mindful Monday, Grati-Tuesday, Wellness Wednesday, Thoughtful
Thursday, Friday Freedom, Social Saturday, and Soulful Sunday.
A film was also created to show three kids from different countries on a quest to find
happiness and interviewed people such as George Lucas, Richard Gere, neuroscientist
Richard Davidson, and XIV Dalai Lama. This later lead to a happiness handbook developed
by Project Happiness which is now available in 57 countries.
Media Reviews
Media coverage for this organization is sparse as it is now mostly promoted through social
media activity. Yes! Magazinerecommended the project and its mission for happiness in
addition to a student newspaper from University of Southern California, The Daily Trojan,
expressing good feelings for the idea of a quest for happiness. The paper also commented
on how the project outlines the different means to achieve happiness, saying that it was
awesome and inspiring after interviews with some of the project leaders. However there
was also some criticism placed on the execution of the film and statistics presented that the
fim as less likable and more disconnected. Other criticism also addressed that some of the
speakers chosen to be interviewed had an unrecognizable connection to happiness.
The Random Acts of Kindness Foundation: Background
The program was created in 1955 as a nonprofit organization. The Random Acts of
Kindness Foundation provides materials for free through their website to offer kind
actions, ideas for educators, activities/lesson plans,
inspirational quotes, videos, and other resources for
people to do with their “random acts.” Ten schools
within the Wisconsin system now have these kindness
curriculums built into their school year. The program
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also offers roles of ambassadors that come and individually start programs subject to
specific schools.
Media Reviews
Similar to the previously stated project, there were not many reviews on the subject. The
Huffington Post did a review of Random Acts of Kindness that suggested that they liked the
idea but had a few dislikes and questions. The paper’s expressed that the idea itself was
helpful but could not understand how “random” acts are. Instead, acts of kindness should
be collective and frequent because random acts would not benefit or fulfill us. Their
question was, how do you track these behaviors? The acts of kindness are hard to log and
keep track of.
Love Your Melon: Background
Love Your Melon was founded on October 22nd, 2012 by a group of two college students
who were attending the University of St. Thomas In St. Paul, Minnesota. They created the
idea of the organization in an entrepreneurship class as sophomores at the university. It
was a simple concept of putting a hat on every child battling cancer in America. Love Your
Melon has reserved more than 45,000 hats to donate to children
battling cancer in the United States using its original buy one give one
program. The organization has recently reached its original goal of
giving a hat to every child battling cancer. They have now expanded
and have partnered with the Pinky Swear Foundation to provide
immediate support for children battling cancer and with CureSearch
for children's cancer to fund research to help beat childhood cancer.
The organization also has an ambassador program that help sell and
spread the word about the organization. It is called Love Your Melon Ambassadors. They
are responsible for spreading the mission of the organization in their own city. there are
more than 2,500 college students at over 225 different schools to sell and donate hats.
These are also the ones who are responsible for distributing the hats to the kids in the
hospitals.
Media Reviews
As Love Your Melon continues to expand the news coverage continues to grow. The Today
show covered a special on love your melon called “hope to it.” it was shown on February
18, 2014. This was one of Love Your Melons first major coverage about the organization
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nation-wide. The coverage talked all about how the organization was founded and really
what the purposed of the organization was. Helping Love Your Melon continue to spread
awareness to everyone everywhere.
Analysis
Communication Objectives
1. To receive 1,000 visits to the Gunnar Project website within a year of the website
launch.
2. To establish an ambassador program within 5-10 universities/colleges across the
Minnesota and Wisconsin school systems.
3. To increase social media following on Instagram to 300 followers to build
awareness about the Gunnar Project.
Stakeholders/Audiences
The Gunnar Project will reach a variety of groups. The main target audience is young adults
ages 18-24, specifically those showing signs of addiction, depression, or who are simply
struggling with finding the means to achieve happiness. College students will be the
primary focus within this age group because they are the people who are continually
affected every day with negative images and feedback from the world around them. Mass
media has a habit of telling young people that they aren’t skinny, pretty, or even smart
enough in addition to a myriad of other things that cause us to lose sight of what real
happiness should be. If we are given the opportunity to share with them the simple story of
what the Gunnar Project stands for and how they can take part in the idea of whole
happiness, they will spread it like wildfire. College students have possibly the most
valuable power to share the story through social media platforms, face-to-face experiences,
and word of mouth. These young adults are also more likely to be very passionate about
spreading awareness and advocating for the cause. College is also a tricky time for a lot of
people at this age - it’s easy to forget about the little things in life with piles of homework,
projects, deadlines, and exams looming over students’ heads. However, once they learn to
stop and take a moment to experience real happiness at least once a day there is a
possibility for a huge weight to be lifted off of their shoulders, and maybe for those around
them as well. College students will most positively benefit from the message of the Gunnar
Project, and will share it with others because of that positive experience.
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SWOT Analysis
Strengths
The Gunnar Project is comprised of several strengths as a developing organization. First,
the message and goal of The Gunnar Project is relevant to the audience targeted. Happiness
is a positive message to share, and is a concept that the target audience is well aware of. In
fact, a common life goal is find happiness and/or to be happy. The positive of this point is
that The Gunnar Project is not attempting share an entirely new concept or goal to the
world. Not only is the message relevant, but the message will be reaching a large and
diverse group of people. There are colleges all over the country, and world, comprised of
people all with different life experiences and stories. The number of people in the target
audience will only continue to grow, especially when college students get a hold of the
concept for The GP. Secondly, the story behind The Gunnar Project and successes of the
organization thus far are human interest stories. This means that the organization itself
and reason behind the organization are engaging. Sharing happiness in honor of a young
man’s ability to share the same effortlessly is truly inspiring. The target audience will want
to be a part of the organization and its positive efforts. Tied to the engaging aspect of The
Gunnar Project, Marc has a vision of where he hopes the organization will go in the future.
This is a strength of The GP because it allows Marc to set goals and strive for those goals
through interacting with college students and student programs. An engaging element of
The Gunnar Project is the bracelets made by students. Contributing a physical thing
through a hands-on experience gives students a feel-good attitude, establishing a positive
perception of The GP. Besides the bracelets, Marc has made it his mission to be as involved
as possible. This means he travels to different schools to interact face-to-face with students
to share his message and The Gunnar Project. Interactions in person make the experiences
more personal therefore resonating with students on a deeper level than that over email or
phone. Marc is directly and actively involved with The Gunnar Project which is a great
strength for the organization. Finally, the website is a strength of The Gunnar Project. All of
the people reached through the organization will connect through one site where stories
and examples of happiness will be shared. The site will be interactive, creating a more
engaging experience for visitors on the site.
Weaknesses
There are weaknesses that The Gunnar Project faces. One of the weaknesses the project
holds is the ability to communicate with the desired audience. Marc wants to limit the use
of social media so people aren’t wrapped up in the social world while contributing to The
GP. This causes a conflict of easy and fast advertising that could be done on social media
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websites. This could really hinder the organization's success by missing a huge potential
market to communicate to. The website for the organization is still not running yet. Until
the site is working it will be somewhat challenging to spread the word about the Gunnar
Project. The organization is still new, and people need a website to visit to learn more
about the organization and what it stands for. Without the website there will not be a place
to reference people so that they can learn about The Gunnar Project. While the use of the
bracelets is a strength, a weakness is attached to the concept. There is currently no
universal logo or tag that is being put on the bracelets. For a student to recognize that the
bracelet is a happiness tracker bracelet, he or she needs to associate the object with a logo.
There needs to be a universal logo that is put on the bracelets so that everyone recognizes
it. Since the organization is so new and are just starting out they face several weaknesses to
face and overcome in order to be successful.
Opportunities
There are many opportunities for The Gunnar Project to grow and be successful with our
communications plan. Throughout Minnesota there are over 90 colleges and universities
for The Gunnar Project to create ambassador programs in as well as 70 colleges and
universities across Wisconsin. The Gunnar Project’s ambassador program can be created as
a club within the Minnesota and Wisconsin school systems to then build awareness of the
project across individual campuses. For example, Love Your Melon has become a very
popular organization not only within UW-River Falls but across the campuses in Minnesota
and Wisconsin. Unfortunately, their program limits the number of people who can be
actively involved. College students are excited to help a cause that is close to their hearts
but the Love Your Melon only allows 30 people per campus to be involved per ambassador
program. These students that are being turned away from this particular organization have
a passion that could be put into The Gunnar Project. They simply need the opportunity to
be a part of the project and would gladly join a cause that is very relatable to where they
are in their own lives. The Gunnar Project uses a couple of different outlets to spread
happiness but one particular idea was to create videos of people displaying and explaining
their own ways of finding happiness. We believe this could be an effective way to create
awareness of the project and their mission through the sharing, liking, and creating of these
“happiness videos.” Content on the internet spreads quickly and can intrigue people to click
on the video to hear what they have to say. In correlation with those efforts, Zubaz has
become a part of The Gunnar Project and have over 11,000 likes on their Facebook page.
Utilizing their social media outlets to create awareness of The Gunnar Project’s mission
could greatly increase following and knowledge of The Gunnar Project.
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Threats
The Gunnar Project has many aspects that could potentially threaten their success. It could
prove very difficult to get The Gunnar‘s name out to people and to be popular with other
popular non-profits already thriving. Organizations like Love Your Melon that have sold
over 45,000 hats and are well known might step on The Gunnar Project’s small following.
There are also other organizations that have to do with happiness, like Project Happiness
and Random Acts. Setting themselves apart from those other non-profits could be a
challenge. The Gunnar Project has to be able to be something that really catches the
attention of potential supports and show these audiences why they are different. They need
to be able to cut through the clutter of the other organizations to show that this group is
making a difference. When someone searches “happiness” on Google there are 401,000,000
findings that come up. Happiness isn’t a black and white topic that can be “sold” and it
means something different to everyone. Finding a balance of content that everyone can
relate to and connect with could be difficult. Marc mentioned that he didn’t want to be on
too many social media platforms which could actually be a threat. Looking at Love Your
Melon they have a Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube account. Using the social
media world to get a message across is crucial in this time period as it’s how people find
new things to share with others. Having a cool website won’t cut it. Having a strong voice
on social media could eliminate a lot of the threats and make the completion level lower
with other organizations. If the Gunnar project hides from social media they could get lost
in the shadows.
Communication
Key Messages
1. The Gunnar Project connects the world to a whole happiness
2. Create a happier world through The Gunnar Project
3. The Gunnar Project proves that happiness is not a destination, but a way of life
4. The Gunnar Project: leading the pursuit of happiness by turning the little things into
big moments.
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Strategies
1. Social Media Strategy
Joining and actively posting on social media is a great way to spread awareness and
connect with people who follow the pages. The Gunnar Project’s purpose is to spread
happiness and make people aware of the idea of whole happiness. Social media is an easy
and inexpensive way to spread the word. Social media platforms would also be an effective
way to display the happiness videos The Gunnar Project encourages people to create. These
videos can be shared on the account’s feed to remind people of the main goal of the project,
to seek happiness, when they forget to remind themselves. Gaining followers on social
media will make it easier to get details about events and build a Gunnar Project community.
Since our target audience is more young adults the social media world is an important way
to reach that audience.
1.1 Social Media Tactics
● Utilize our partner brand with Zubaz to obtain their followers to help create
awareness of The Gunnar Project. Zubaz following base includes: 11,000 likes on FB,
4,000 followers on Twitter, 400 followers on Instagram. If The Gunnar Project
expands to people who already follow Zubaz it will be an easy resource to help
spread awareness.
● Use connections with other partners and sponsorships to trade and give incentive
for marketing and awareness across each other’s social media platforms. Sponsors
and partners who share information on the Gunnar Project on their own social
media will guide their established audience to the project and vice versa as the
project shares information about the partners.
● Social media contests: Like and share posts from the Facebook page for prizes such
as Happiness Tracker Bracelets for your friends (or Gunnar Project t-shirts?), create
a post about your “happy place” that encourages followers to learn more about
these “happy places” through your videos on the website (drive website visits).
● Paid social media advertising is also a great way to reach a wider audience on social
media such as Facebook. Facebook ads allow users to target audiences based on
their location, age, interests, and even more than that. The program will also send
updates on ad performance and how the budget is being spent whether it is a daily
amount or for the entire campaign. These ads also make it very easy to measure the
results.
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2. Media Relations Strategy
Media advisories and press releases are important to promote the events to the media to
get coverage. Having a written explanation of the project's goals and message will get
people interested in the project and the events that go along with it. Making sure the media
is aware of events will gain more press coverage which is important to get more people to
join the project. However, The Gunnar Project first needs to have newsworthy events to be
able to get the attention of the press. Things to send to the media would be the website
launch, first ambassador organization on a college campus, or organized events including
bracelet making or video viewing. After grabbing their attention keeping a relationship
with the media is important for further coverage.
2.1 Media Relations Tactics
● Develop media advisories for ambassador program launches or any other mile
markers such as bracelet making get-togethers or Happiness Workshops. Media
advisories are essentially an invitation to different press junkets to attend the
events.
● Send out press releases about the project’s mission, the bracelet’s meaning with
photos of people wearing them around the city, when they begin producing
happiness videos, when the website launches, and when and where happiness mobs
will be meeting.
● Allow media to do personal interviews with the founders, Marc and Ann Miller,
Gunnar’s friends, and members of the ambassador programs for the media to obtain
quotes, personal statements, and insight into the making of The Gunnar Project.
● Create a relationship with the media by producing newsworthy stories to gain their
attention and have them continue to report on The Gunnar Project’s progress.
3. Awareness Strategy
Awareness is key to any successful organization. Letting people know what The Gunnar
Project is all about and what whole happiness means is the goal of this strategy. Using local
companies and sponsors to help let their customers know that this project is out there,
gaining their followers. Also included with the bracelets will cards attached with brief
description of the organization and mission associated with the bracelets. The cards will
ensure the understanding of the organization to all who receive the bracelets.. The Gunnar
Project should also promote their happiness videos in order to let people know what they
should include and how to submit the video to The Gunnar Project website.
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3.1 Awareness Tactics
● To help create awareness of The Gunnar Project we will create campaigns to share
with our target. These campaigns will help spread awareness of the organization
and share information about the project to our target audience. We will use posts on
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and articles to share awareness with our target
audience.
● Establish ambassador programs to have an active role within their campus
communities to make more personal connections with college students, set up
tables in the commons area to promote happiness tracker bracelets, happiness
videos, and participation with The Gunnar Project.
● We want the organization to have a positive relationship with communities. To help
spread awareness within the community The Gunnar Project could create
partnerships with businesses. By creating this partnership the awareness of The
Gunnar Project will increase quickly within the community. The Gunnar Project will
also have close ties with these businesses.
● Create relationships with local businesses or organizations to spread awareness
about The Gunnar Project through their customers/followers and in turn promote
their business or associate the organization with The Gunnar Project.
● Include a tag on the bracelet explaining how the bracelet and the trackers work, the
“pay it forward” strategy the bracelets use and how to replace it.
● Work with organizations such as Freedom from Fear which provides resources for
people battling with anxiety and depression to work towards the common goal of
promoting happiness within people’s lives.
● Another way to help spread awareness is though ambassador programs on college
campuses. These programs on college campuses will help us share about our
organization and its objectives with students.
● Happiness Mobs would spread awareness. An ambassador group would organize a
community service trip and help make community members happy as well as
themselves through public displays of happiness to encourage others to join and
learn more about The Gunnar Project and their mission.
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Action (Tactics)
Strategy Tactic
Website · Involve and engage the audience
with spreading happiness with one
another by adding videos
· A place to send people to explain
the organization (Why it was made
and the purpose)
Goal: Reach 1,000 contributors
University Involvement · Create ambassador program so
that students are able to spread
awareness of the organization
through campus
· Hold an annual happiness retreat
where the ambassadors are required
to be involved and others are
welcome to join
· Pass the pies event
Community Involvement · Happiness mob- act of community
service that ambassadors put on
allowing community members to get
involved and make a difference.
· Bracelet making day- letting
everyone make bracelets and then
pass them out to community
member
Social Media Strategy · Gain more followers and create
awareness through promotions of
The Gunnar Project on Zubaz social
media platforms
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· Create social media contests to
inspire user generated content that
can involve the “happiness tracker”
bracelets or the happiness videos
·Paid social media advertising to be a
suggested page or event for users in
our target audience
Budget
Item Cost
Facebook Ad $1-2 a day for FB ads, $365-$730 a year
T-shirt $12 to create shirts, sell to public for
$15, and give t-shirt to crew members
Zubaz $20 per zubaz with GP logo
Post Cards $63 for 300 good quality bracelet tags
Launching events (ambassador
programs)
$50 dollars per ambassador program
launch (if created as a club within the
university the school will fund other
expenses)
Miscellaneous Items $63 for 300 bracelet tags
$16 for 20X42 poster
$19 for 30X42 poster
$27 per customized table runner
$.19 for 4X6 colored photo
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Evaluation
When determining if our campaign has been successful or not we had to look at certain
aspects of the campaign. We can use the communications objectives we created for this
campaign to help determine if this campaign has achieved its goals. For each of these
different goals all we have to do is look at the current number in each of these categories
and then at the end of the campaign record the number. This will allow us to determine if
we have fully reached our campaign objectives. Here are the specific examples of how we
will use our objectives to determine whether or not our campaign has reached its goals.
● From one year from when the website is launched we will see if we have reached
the goal of 1,000 people contributing to The Gunnar Project website. We will be able
to measure this according to how many people contribute to the page from when
our campaign starts to the following year after the campaign. By seeing the number
of contributors of the page we will be able to determine if we have achieved our
goal.
● We will be able to determine if we have reached the goal of reaching out to our
ambassador program to 5 to 10 schools according to the number of schools who
contact The Gunnar Project. Once schools contact The Gunnar Project asking how to
get involved and create an ambassador program we will be able to track the
different schools that are involved. This also allows the organization to be able to
keep in contact and communicate with all of the ambassador programs very easily
and efficiently.
● We plan to increase our social media by the end of the campaign. The way we are
going to determine if we have increased our social media following base is by seeing
how much our following base has increased. Before the campaign begins we will
make note of the number of people that follow The Gunnar Project on Facebook,
Twitter, and Instagram. Then once the campaign is at the end we will be able to look
at both numbers of the beginning and the end of the campaign to determine
whether or not we have hit our social media goals.
