School of Communication (SCOM) students spent the semester creating a marketing plan and a public service announcement (PSA) for the FSU Center of Health Advocacy and Wellness (CHAW) as part of their Social Marketing course.
The course, taught by SCOM doctoral student Sun Young Park, centers around the different steps for creating a marketing plan targeted specifically toward social issues. The lessons in this class go beyond a textbook; students work with real clients and conduct hands-on research. The class split into two groups as they spent the semester curating their marketing plans and preparing their presentations for CHAW. Students presented their plans to the client on December 7.
“This kind of experience is unforgettable and sets students up with a solid portfolio for their future careers. I’m incredibly proud of my hardworking students and the success of our marketing plan for CHAW,” Park told CCI. “We aspire to amplify the impact of our campaign, advocating for a healthier and more inclusive approach to body image. Being able to share my knowledge and see them grow as young professionals within a single semester has been truly rewarding.”
CHAW encourages students to make healthy lifestyle decisions that facilitate academic success and lead to life-long health and wellness while providing programs and resources to aid students throughout that process. Similarly to CHAW’s existing campaign, The Body Project, these PSAs are targeted towards educating students on the concept of body-neutrality and helping them adopt desired behaviors that will improve their self-confidence and relationship with their body-image.
Media Communication Studies (MCS) senior Maya Calderon explained that this course provided useful skills for her future career. “I’ve never worked on a real PSA before for a real organization, so getting to utilize all of the skills I’ve learned so far for a real-life project was really rewarding and cool to see come to life.”
“I really enjoyed this class and would highly recommend it to anyone interested in working in the marketing/ communications industry. One of my favorite parts of the class was conducting interviews with current FSU students. Using this method helped our class craft our campaign and provide effective primary research towards improving body image issues across FSU’s college campus,” shared MCS sophomore Sofia Martinez.