Through my membership with University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Public Relations Student Society of America, I was involved with the organization’s annual campaign, PB&J in LNK. In the past, the campaign benefited the local Backpack Program, but in 2014 we decided to direct our efforts to benefit St. Monica’s Behavior Health Services for Women, a home for struggling women, and Matt Talbot Kitchen and Outreach, a hunger relief program devoted to serving the homeless.

 

In order to help these organizations increase awareness about hunger relief and help them with their operations, UNL PRSSA worked with local businesses and restaurants to raise money and food supplies for the chosen non-profits. The businesses held peanut butter and jelly drives at their offices and also gave money in order to be a sponsor for the campaign. The restaurants created peanut butter and jelly inspired dishes that would be served on April 2nd, National PB&J day.

 

My role on this campaign was Co-Director of Promotions and my main responsibility was to create buzz about the event and causes we were supporting. Throughout the duration of the campaign, which ran from March to early April, I managed our Facebook and Twitter accounts. The content of the posts ranged from spotlights about the charities, peanut butter and jelly facts, statistics about child hunger and announcing the PB&J inspired dishes that would be available at restaurants on National PB&J day. We utilized our own hash tag, #PBJinLNK, to interact with respondents and keep record of social media activity. Our reach for the campaign was 50,000 with over total 120,000 impressions. Along with social media, I also helped to create numerous short promotional video materials that accumulated approximately 500 views. Finally, I assisted in earning media placements in Lincoln newspapers, radios stations and online magazines.