Members of West Virginia University’s chapter of Public Relations Student Society of America won first place in a national competition sponsored by Jamberry Nails. As part of their efforts the chapter increased awareness for the Jamberry brand on campus and raised money for the WVU Rape and Domestic Violence Information Center.
The PRSSA group bested eight other teams in the competition including second place University of Alabama and third place Ohio State University. In addition to the national recognition, the chapter was awarded $1,000 for their winning campaign. The team included five students from the Reed College of Media: Valerie Bennett, Rashidah McCoy, Lacie Geary, Alexandra Valdez and Sara Yeager.
“Our chapter’s involvement provided us the opportunity to work as a team toward a cause greater than us. We enjoyed hosting the events, distributing the nail wraps, and being ‘girly girls’ in the midst of the hard work,” said WVU PRSSA Chapter President Valerie Bennett. “The WVU Jamberry campaign was beneficial to not only the WVU PRSSA chapter but also the students and local community members.”
Focusing on Jamberry’s WVU-themed designs, students created a strategic plan surrounding Jamberry Collegiate nail wraps to increase overall brand recognition and product line awareness and to raise school spirit and money for RDVIC. The main objectives of the campaign were to communicate the fun and trendy nature of the product to current college students and alumni, increase social media presence of the brand and conclude with a Jamberry Collegiate event.
To achieve these strategic aims, students developed a campaign that targeted Jamberry’s audience and the students and fans of WVU. The “Women on the Go” campaign was created to highlight Jamberry Nails’ unique qualities by engaging with students at the Mountainlair, during the live broadcast of College GameDay, on social media sites and at a culminating event at The Vintage Room in downtown Morgantown.
Campaign successes included gaining 85 followers on Instagram and informing staff and students across campus about Jamberry Nail Wraps and their collegiate line for WVU. Team members also secured publicity from The Daily Athenaeum and The Eers4Heisman Daily for their work during these events. Their main and final event was held at The Vintage Room in conjunction with Working Women’s Wednesday on Nov. 5 and attracted nearly 50 attendees.
The national PRSSA organization offers several competitions each year, all of which provide students the opportunity to work with real clients, apply public relations problem-solving skills, achieve recognition among their peers and future employers and compete with other students at the national level. For more information about the WVU PRSSA, email the chapter at wvuprssa@gmail.com.
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td/12/02/14
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