ORU Students’ PR Campaign Takes Third in National Competition
Oral Roberts University’s Public Relations and Advertising students placed third in the 2020 National Organ Donor Awareness Competition. The
event was hosted by the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA).
PRSSA challenged teams to create an awareness campaign and execute a single-day event during organ donor awareness month in April. But in response to growing Coronavirus concerns, ORU notified students they should shelter in place. The University moved to fully online instruction on March 23.
According to Makaela Skinner, a senior PR-Advertising major and the team’s account director, COVID-19 created real challenges for the student team.
“We planned to host a campus-based event; but after spring break, our team was scattered from Tulsa to China. We met using Zoom, and our team thought people wanted to help where they could, even in the midst of the pandemic. In just 10 days, we rolled out an all-digital campaign,” said Skinner.
The team’s “Give Life Purpose” campaign ran from April 3 to April 9 and culminated in an April 8 “DonateFour8” appeal to become an organ donor. The number eight refers to the number of lives which can be saved by one donor.
Students used Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook to make video and story appeals. They posted in ORU’s chapel chat and sent a University-wide email to students, staff, and faculty. The campaign delivered 132,075 gross impressions with a 9.79% social media engagement while also generating 274 visits to LifeShare’s donor activation page, three times the number of expected site visitors.
LifeShare President and CEO Jeffrey Orlowski was impressed by the students’ campus efforts.
“Without a doubt, Oral Roberts University students did phenomenal work with their Organ Donation campaign,” said Orlowski. “These students gave hope to more than 600 Oklahomans waiting on a lifesaving transplant by increasing awareness and encouraging discussions about the need for more donors.”
According to Nancy Howard, ORU faculty advisor to the team, the PRSSA judges were “wowed by the students’ creativity and ability to cultivate media attention and coverage.”
First- and second-place awards went to the University of Nebraska Omaha and Drexel University respectively. PRSSA plans to recognize the top three teams at its virtual International Conference this fall. Each of the winning teams also earned a cash award.
See the ORU team’s April 8 video highlights here.
For more information about LifeShare Oklahoma or to become an organ donor, visit the LifeShare Oklahoma website.
Pictured left to right are the team's leaders: Kaitlyn Barrington, Brandon Benjamin,
Makaela Skinner, Jami West, and Alyssa Glenville. Team members not pictured are: Kirstee
Beard, Joshua Crow, Tyler English, Rachel Freeman, Zhixi (Hope) Guo, Serenity Harper,
Peyton Hickman, Benjamin Kosanke, Mikala Lanferman, Rebekah Lanferman, Jaime Martinex-Keel,
Tray Newson, John Samuel, Michalyn Stafford, and Bailey White.