1. REBRANDING DURANT AS A COLLEGE TOWN. Marliss Allen Cheyenne Buck

2. Objectives Primary 1. Encourage SOSU students to become more knowledgeable about different activities on campus. 2. Encourage citizens of Durant to become more knowledgeable about campus activities. Secondary 1. Create a new “image” for Durant to look the part of a vibrant college town. 2. Create better town and gown relationships.

3. Objective 1: Encourage SOSU students to become more knowledgeable about different activities on campus. Strategy 1: Utilize Twitter to help students become more aware of campus activities. Rationale: Twitter enables users to send and read short 140- character “tweets.” Anyone can read tweets but only users can make their own. An example of how influential tweets can be for an event is Superbowl XLVIII. Twitter reported that a record 24.9 million tweets were generated about the game during its telecast. Tactic: Create a Twitter account with the name @cuttingedgedurant. Use this account to tweet information about the activities happening around campus. Collaborate with other Southeastern accounts to gain more student followers. Utilize “retweeting,” wherein users repost another user’s previous post. This can help the spread of information among students.

4. Twitter

5. Objective 1: Encourage SOSU students to become more knowledgeable about different campus activities. Strategy 2: Use Instagram to encourage students to become aware of different activities on campus. Rationale: Instagram is a free social networking site that allows its users to share their lives in a series of pictures. Users may edit the pictures and add captions as they see fit. Instagram is used by major companies such as Nike and Starbucks to post pictures of new products and promotions that they may have going on. Tactic: Create an Instagram account with the username Cutting Edge Durant. Use this account to post pictures of events as they are happening and pictures of past events to give a visual idea of what the event is like. Follow SOSU student and other activity accounts to gain more attention to the page and its efforts.

6. Instagram

7. Objective 2: Encourage citizens of Durant to become more knowledgeable about campus activities Strategy 1: Utilize Facebook to aide in making the citizens of Durant aware of campus activities. Rationale: Facebook is a social networking site that allows its users to connect in many ways such as pictures, news links, and private messages. Users may also join common-interest user groups which may be organized by categories such as school or workplace. Tactic: Create a Facebook page that is open to the public with the name Cutting Edge Durant. Use this account to make the citizens of Durant aware of campus activities by posting pictures, “statuses” (a short statement of information given by a user), and making event pages.

8. Facebook

9. Facebook cont.

12. Objective 2: Encourage citizens of Durant to become more knowledgeable about campus activities Strategy 2: Utilize the campus radio station to create awareness of campus activities throughout the town of Durant. Rationale: Radio is the second most powerful medium in the United States. It reaches 59% of the country’s population daily. Listeners can receive information on through commercials developed by different companies. Businesses can create commercials advertising products, events, activities, etc. Tactic: Write and deliver radio commercials for different activities or events that happen on campus. Utilize the campus radio station to deploy these commercials cheap and effectively. The commercials should describe each activity in a unique way.

13. Radio Commercial TimeScript 00-30Announcer: Have any plans for this weekend? This Saturday is the big football game between Southeastern Oklahoma State University and their rivals, the ECU Tigers! Bring everyone you know because this is going to be a game that you won’t want to miss! So come out this Saturday to support your local Savage Storm as we roll to victory! The game starts at 7:00 at the Paul-Laird Football Field in Durant. Go Southeastern!

14. Objective 2: Encourage citizens of Durant to become more knowledgeable about campus activities. Strategy 3: Use television commercials to broadcast different campus activities. Rationale: The average American watches 3 hours and 46 minutes of television each day. Commercials have become a routine concept for TV watchers; they are on each channel during shows, movies, and games. An example of the impact of television commercials is Superbowl Commercials. They have become a vital part of the game experience for viewers and are replayed on social media networks well after they are originally aired. Tactic: Write and deliver television commercials to promote the rebranding of Durant. Each commercial should focus on a different team, activity, or event. For example, there should be football commercials during the fall. The commercials for events should be detailed and give a feel for what the event will be like. Air the commercial during commonly watched shows so that a large amount of people are likely to view it.

15. Television Commercial TIME VISUALAUDIO 00-04Little boy runs to the front of the stands at the Paul-Laird field and starts yelling at the quarterback, Zach Boy: Hey! Zach Ray! Over here! 04-08Zach walks up to the little boy and gives him a high five. Zach: Hey little buddy! You ready to cheer us to victory today? 08-12Boys shines a big grin and starts jumping up and down Boy: Yes! I come to all of your games! I love football and the Savage Storm! 12-18Zach throws the little boy the football he is holding Zach: Good! Maybe when you grow up you’ll be wearing this same jersey. 18-20Little boy’s eyes light up as he stares at the football just given to him Boy: I sure hope so! 21-24The coach calls to Zach and he smiles as he runs away. 24-30Little boy stares at him as he runs away. Boy thinks to himself: I can’t wait to be a Savage Storm player just like him!

16. Objective 3: Create a new “image” for Durant to look the part of a vibrant college town. Strategy 1: Rebrand Durant with a new exterior image to aide in creating the feel of a college town through the use of hanging banners. Rationale: Hanging banners are a great way to help rebrand Durant with a new exterior image. By utilizing hanging banners throughout Durant and the university campus, it is helping decorate Durant which makes it feel and look more like a college town Tactic 1: Create hanging banners downtown from the 1st to 4th blocks of Main Street in Durant and also throughout the Southeastern campus. Incorporate the efforts for making Durant a college town on the banners. Include the University’s school colors, Southeastern logo, Southeastern name, etc. to make Durant residents and University students feel like Durant is a college town.

17. Hanging Banners

18. Objective 3: Create a new “image” for Durant to look the part of a vibrant college town. Strategy 2: Utilize the use of posters to hang up around Durant, making it feel and look more like a college town. Rationale: Hanging up posters throughout Durant and the campus with events happening at Southeastern and with the Southeastern logo on it is a great way to spread information to Durant residents and university students while also aiding in making Durant look more like a vibrant college town. By hanging them up in strategic places throughout Durant, it ensures that our target audiences will see and be exposed to them. Tactic1: Create various posters, some with events that are happening throughout the Southeastern campus (sporting events, band events, theatre events, etc.), and some with SOSU logo printed on it. Hang these posters near the most popular businesses in Durant and throughout campus. This helps spread information about events to our target audiences while also helping in decorating Durant with all things SOSU, making it look like a college town.

19. Posters

20. Objective 3: Create a new “image” for Durant to look the part of a vibrant college town. Strategy 3: Utilize the use of Southeastern flags to help make Durant look more like a college town. Rationale: By creating flags with the SOSU logo on them and placing them throughout Durant and the campus, it ensures that Durant residents and university students know that Southeastern is the college located in Durant and it shows the efforts being made into making Durant feel more like a college town. Tactic 3: Create flags with the SOSU logo on them. Hang them up near popular businesses in Durant and place them on the most popular roads in Durant. Hang them up throughout the Southeastern campus.

21. Flag

22. Objective 4: Create better town and gown relationships. Strategy 1: Create a city/university advisory board that meets regularly to discuss goals and visions for the future. Rationale: By having university and city electives meet to discuss where they plan on heading and what goals they have for the city of Durant and the university, it will help aid in the town and gown relationship between the two parties. By talking about issues and discussing ideas to build a better town and gown relationship between Durant and university students it will create a stronger sense of community, making Durant feel more like a college town. Tactic 1: Select a group of people who will represent both the university and city of Durant (such as the chamber of commerce or university president/mayor of city) to be on the advisory board. Have these people meet once a month to discuss plans for the future and different projects that the university and city of Durant can work on together.

23. Timeline

24. Budget