If you fight cancer

With Purpose... A 2018 Bateman Case Study Entry from The University of Akron
By Rubber City Communications: Kelly Lauck, Megan Hanft, Kayla Pretzer and Kelly Unger
Faculty Advisor: Juan Eduardo Contreras Barberena | Professional Advisor: Nikki DiFillipo
 Chapters in Our Story
Executive Summary ........................................................................................ 2
Research ................................................................................................................ 3
Target Audiences ............................................................................................... 4
Goals and Objectives ...................................................................................... 5
Strategies and Tactics .................................................................................... 6
Expenses and In-Kind Donations ............................................................ 7
Evaluations ........................................................................................................... 8
Appendix ................................................................................................................ A- 1

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If you fight cancer With Purpose, you may need an
Executive Summary
Having a sick child is every parent’s concern, but having a child with cancer is
every parent’s worst nightmare. Over the last 30 years, cancer treatment op-
tions have made tremendous progress in providing more effective, less harm-
ful treatment for patients. However, in the arena of childhood cancer, very few
research breakthroughs have been made since the 1970’s, and the National
Cancer Institute only designates 4% of its annual budget to childhood cancer.

Our 2018 Bateman campaign was centered around the following goals: to raise
student awareness of the problems surrounding childhood cancer funding and
research, to create student involvement with With Purpose on The University
of Akron’s campus, and to advance With Purpose’s brand identity at UA. We
accomplished this through developing campaign strategies and tactics. These
included hosting a friendship bracelet-making event, informational table, and
informative With Purpose trivia nights on UA’s campus. We also distributed
marketing materials and engaged students on social media.

Outlined below is the research and foundations of our campaign, as well as a detailed outline of the strategies and tactics that
specify how we accomplished the campaign’s goals.

Situation Analysis
With Purpose is a youth and community led organization that aims to advocate for children and families affected by childhood
cancer while educating the public on key issues surrounding childhood cancer funding and research. With Purpose supports
research organizations who provide safe, effective treatment options for kids with cancer. They do so through youth-led activism
as well as academic and community led partnerships.

With Purpose partners with academic institutions and small businesses in order to spread awareness about childhood can-
cer. Many students are offered internship and service-learning opportunities, which are supported by the With Purpose team
through the process of designing, organizing and executing fundraising events.

Since its origin in 2013, With Purpose has strived to be a prevalent and well-known cancer organization. The University of Ak-
ron provides a capacity for leaders to transform into advocates for With Purpose. UA is an environment that harvests beginning
organizations and could create the exposure that With Purpose needs. Establishing With Purpose as a brand on campus at UA
would help the organization’s goal to spread awareness of the issues surrounding childhood cancer funding and research.

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If you have an Executive Summary, then you might do some
Research
When conducting primary research for our “If you fight cancer With Purpose” campaign, our goal was not only to gage our audi-
ences’ awareness of With Purpose, but also how familiar they were in general to statistics involving treatment options and funding
for research for pediatric cancer. Through our research we also asked our research participants how involved they were on and off
of campus and the length of their commute to campus in order to help predict how likely they would be to participate in possible
campaign events and activities. Secondary research was conducted through one on one interviews with executive board mem-
bers of the following student run organizations: Zips for St. Jude, Love Your Melon, Akron Against Cancer, and Dance Marathon at
The University of Akron. These in-depth interviews gaged members on the methods that they use that are most successful when it
comes to informing students, how to motivate students to participate, as well as the barriers that they face as an organization.

Primary Research
Qualtrics Survey, conducted from October 18, 2018 to November 22, 2017 (A-1)
We had 302 responses to our survey that revealed the following:
• 76% of respondents (229 respondents) believe that childhood cancer receives 20% or more funding in comparison
with breast cancer, lung cancer, leukemia, colon cancer, ovarian cancer, or prostate cancer.
• 0.79% of respondents (13 respondents) are aware of the organization With Purpose.
• 52.40% of respondents (142 respondents) feel that they know a moderate amount to a great deal about cancer re-
search.

Secondary Research
In-depth Interviews, conducted from October 18, 2018 to November 22, 2017 (A-4)
In addition to our Qualtrics Survey, we interviewed Executive Board Members from student run organizations that ad-
vocate for cancer research and funding. Our interviews revealed the following:
• Word of mouth is one of the most successful ways to inform students about a cause or an event.
• Events that give students the opportunity to be creative and offer food tend to be more popular when it comes to
attendance.
• Being present at other events on campus is a successful tactic that allows another organization to raise awareness
for their cause/an event.
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If you finish your research, you may discover
Target Audiences and Key Messages
Target Audiences
With Purpose is an organization that relies on youth and community participation to
carry out its mission. To target these audiences we will focus our campaign and cre-
ating awareness for With Purpose and issues surrounding childhood cancer among
traditional students at The University of Akron

Our public includes both male and female students at the University of Akron between the
ages of 18 and 23 that spend 5 or more hours on social media per week. Most of the students
within our target audience are full time students (have between 12-18 credit hours) and have
an average commute (to campus) of 5-10 minutes.
• Undergraduate students ages 18-23 at The University of Akron main campus with an aver-
age commute of 5-10 minutes.
• Undergraduate students between the ages of 18 -23 at The University of Akron that live in
the residence halls and spend recreational time at hall programs and other events. These
students tend to be very active on campus given their proximity but are not aware of With
Purpose or issues surrounding childhood cancer. Primary communication with residents
takes place in the form of flyers and interpersonal communication. Residents expect pro-
gramming and events to be simple and appealing, often times with food offered.

Key Messages
Our message strategy will focus on raising awareness of the main pain points surrounding cancer funding and
research and will highlight the 4% of funding received by the NCI. Our messages will feature an overall sense of
empowerment, in order to better motivate our audience, and better encourage them that they can get involved and
make a difference. It will also focus on promoting With Purpose as a brand on UA’s campus. Our key messages are:
• With Purpose is a youth-led movement dedicated to advocating for children & families affected by cancer.
• There are many obstacles in the way of breakthroughs in childhood cancer, including funding and research.
The National Cancer Institute only dedicated 4% of its budget to childhood cancer research.
• By empowering young people and engaging local communities, we can overcome these obstacles and spread
awareness to issues surrounding the funding, research, and treatment of childhood cancer.

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If you find your target audience, you may create
Goals and Objectives
Awareness
Goal:
Increase the UA community’s understanding of the problems surrounding child-

Objective:
To increase University of Akron students’ knowledge of insufficient funding and
research by making 100 students aware of the low amount of funds devoted to
childhood and lack in research breakthroughs for childhood cancer by March 15,

Branding
Goal:
Advance the brand identity of With Purpose on The
University of Akron’s campus.
Objective:
Generate interaction and engagement with 200 stu-
dents on social media and at events from February
15, 2018 to March 15, 2018.

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After you create goals and objectives, you may need
Awareness Strategies and Tactics
Strategy
Educate UA students about childhood cancer by creating educational
social media posts and facilitating interactive activities throughout cam-
pus.
Tactics (A-8)
• Tactic 1: Facilitate and promote educational floor programs through-
out various UA residence halls that inform students about the main
pain points surrounding childhood cancer.
• Tactic 2: Craft educational social media posts that inform students of
insufficient research funding and lack of treatment breakthroughs.
Branding
Strategy
Create an event that engages students interpersonally while encouraging them to use social to enhance their event
experience.
Tactics (A-9)
• Tactic 1: Engage with students at informational table placed in a prominent location on campus, such as the Stu-
dent Union.
• Tactic 2: Create Public Service Announcements promoting With Purpose that will be aired on our campus radio
and television stations, WZIP and ZTV.
• Tactic 3: Craft social media posts to promote With Purpose by informing students of their mission.
• Tactic 4: Engage with students through a “takeover” of The University of Akron Admissions Instagram account,
“Life as a Zip.”
• Tactic 5: Encourage students passing by in the Student Union to write Valentines to children staying at Akron
Children’s Hospital.
• Tactic 6: Host a drop-in service event, Friendship Bracelets for the Kids, where students can come by to make items
such as cards and friendship bracelets that will be donated to children at Akron Children’s Hospital. Administer
a post-event survey to gauge students’ understanding of With Purpose and gather opinions about the event.
• Tactic 7: Gather giveaway items, both purchased and donated, to encourage engagement with students on social
media and at events. All students who attend Friendship Bracelets for the Kids and follow the UA With Purpose
accounts on social media will be entered into a raffle to win the basket
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 If you launch your campaign, you may have some
Expenses and In-Kind Donations
Our campaign consisted of volunteer events, student
outreach, residence hall programs, and a social media
campaign. $187.73 out of or $300 budget was used to
purchase supplies and food for our main Friendship
Bracelet making event, promotional raffle items, and
other marketing materials.

• Friendship Bracelets Skeins - $13.97

• Gionino’s Pizza (3 @ $20.95) - $80.89
• Love Your Melon Beanie - $40.95 (after tax)
• Starbucks gift cards (2 @ $5) - $10
• Business Cards - $25
• Clothespins - $9.40
• Spray Paint - $7.52

Many members of the Akron community are willing to sup-

port noble causes. When we reached out to businesses and
friends, we had many responses of those willing to donate
what they could. From a local baseball team donating tick-
ets to a game, to Resident Assistants (RAs) donating pizza to
a Trivia Night. Combined with items that we already pos-
sessed, in-kind donations totaled $181.00.

• 100 pieces of construction paper - free student resource

• Table - free student resource
• Decorations - resource from home
• Pizza - worth $20.95 (Donated by Exchange RAs)
• Markers - $10.89
• Bracelet String - $7.99
• UA Basket - $100 (Donated by The University of Akron)
• RubberDucks Tickets - $22 (donated by Akron Rubber-
Ducks)
• Paint - $9.75 (personal donation)
• TriFold - $9.42 (personal donation.

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After you launch your campaign, you may need to do
Evaluations
Objective 1: Exceeded
• We hosted two trivia nights in residence halls on campus, where students learned about the pain points sur-
rounding childhood cancer research and funding and were educated about With Purpose and its mission.
• Our social media efforts proved successful. Across all social platforms, we garnered more than 300 followers.
Throughout the campaign, we also earned 2,845 impressions on Facebook, 14,000 impressions on Twitter, and

Objective 2: Exceeded
• Our tabling event attracted 30 students and resulted
in the creation of 34 cards filled with positivity and
encouragement for children at Akron Children’s Hos-
pital while increasing awareness of With Purpose at
The University of Akron.
• Based on attendance of 83 students and 2 professors,
we exceeded our goal of having a minimum of 50
attendees participate in our Friendship Bracelet for
the Kids event. At our event, a total of 141 friendship
bracelets were created, along with 97 cards. In combi-
nation with cards from our tabling event, a final total
of 131 cards were created. At the end of our campaign,
141 friendship bracelets along with 131 cards of en-
couragement were delivered to volunteer services at
Akron Children’s Hospital.
• Our four social media giveaway contests generated
increased our campaign’s reach on all of our social
media platforms, earning more than 450 impres-
sions.

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 Chapters in Our Epilogue
Primary Research ...................................................................................... A-2
Secondary Research ................................................................................. A-5
Goals and Tactics ...................................................................................... A-9

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If 8 pages isn’t enough to talk about an awesome campaign, you may need an
Appendix
Primary Research
Q3: On average, how many hours do you spend on social media per week?

We asked our audience questions about their

social media habits so that we could gage which
platforms (if any) would be the most valuable to
our campaign. According to the responses, we
decided that Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
would be the best platforms to raise awareness
for our campaign.

Q4: Please select how often you use each of the following forms of social media:

A-2
Primary Research Continued
Q5: Are you a student at The University of Akron?

Q11: Which of these Cancer organizations are you aware of? Check all that apply?

A-3
Primary Research Continued
Q13 - List the percentage of national funding that you believe each type of cancer listed below receives. Note: the
total percentage can be less than or equal to 100%.

A-4
Secondary Research
When was it founded? How long has this chapter been on campus?
• Kara Monahan; The company was founded in 2012, and then the campus crew program was introduced in 2014. The crew at Ak-
ron has been here since Spring 2015.
• Savannah Frase: @ Akron, founded in 2014, originally started in 1991.
• Stephen Conklin: The chapter has been on campus for quite some time; not exactly sure.
• Alexis Tartaglia: Answer: Zips for St. Jude was founded in 2004 and has been on campus for 13 years.

How many board members do you have?

• KM: We currently have 4 board/exec members
• SF: 10
• SC: 5 executive board members
• AT: Answer: Z4SJ has 7 board members.

What is your specific role in the organization?

• KM: I am the Crew Captain, or President of Love Your Melon. I am the face of the crew, and promote the crew to the campus. I am
in charge of events and making sure exec is doing their job.
• SF: Finance director
• SC: I am the president of the organization. I run the meetings, oversee three committees, act as the liaison for the Relay for Life
Chair, and I make sure everything runs smoothly.
• AT: President. Our initiative is to spread awareness and raise funds for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to continue childhood
cancer research and save the lives of young children all over the world.

How many active members do you have?

• KM: We have 30 active members, which is the limit we can have in the crew.
• SF: Last year there was low attendance because of the date of the event, very close to Easter. This year was more strategic in order
to increase numbers. This is their 4th year on campus, so they’re trying to get their name out -- they don’t necessarily know they
raise money for Akron Children’s Hospital. The shirts have been “funny” so that has increased awareness because people are ask-
ing about it.
• SC: Around 25 active members.
• AT: Answer: Approximately 50 active members so far this year, but I imagine we will gain more as the school year continues.

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Secondary Research Continued
What ways have you found that are the best to inform students about childhood cancer?
• KM: Events are good. Being present at bigger events that raise awareness and pairing up with them. All orgs have a similar purpose
so when they work together it is helpful.
• SF: Don’t work: Tabling. Work: Word of mouth is huge, they made shirts that say “let’s make babies (healthy)” - sparked a lot of inter-
est. They show videos of the miracle children during their meetings and during their big events.
• SC: We have always had trouble with awareness and research. We table in the Union, pass out flyers and we are trying to plant a tree
on campus to bring awareness which is a huge goal for the American Cancer Society.
• AT: Hosting events. So right now in bulger we are hosting an event. We are playing a scary movie and building craft kits. So a craft
kit is basically, we give them the tools to build a craft. We send it to the hospital and kids can build it how they wish. But right now as
I said we are having a craft kit/movie night where people come in and build the masks. We get a lot of attention and people want to
get involved. Last week we did an event in the Union and sold pizza, give students a chance to get some food, get informed, and help
out our organization.

What types of events and fundraisers do you do?

• KM: Table, attend other organizations’ events (DM, relay for life), go to other things, “swab drive” which will allow people to be
swabbed for bone marrow transplants. Can’t raise money because Love Your Melon is a for-profit company. Company benefits lots of
different charities.
• SF: Fundraiser: selling donuts at Thursdays, they do canning (hold a bucket and ask if they want to donate) around campus, outside
of Walmart, any school sporting events (soccer and basketball games). Art auction - of kid’s art, BTK FTK (By the Kids, For the Kids).
Most of fundraising is done by individuals online where they post their donor link, family members and friends donate to their page
-- awareness spread through social. Main event at the end - show the total of what we raised, entertainment, food, etc. Sponsorships
help a lot - the companies get certain perks, but it also brings awareness to the organization outside of campus.
• SC: We do events like dine and donate with Chipotle and Pizzafire, stadium cleanup, Polar Plunge, flower sale and candle sale. We
also have an Ice Cream flavor at Chill ice cream to help fundraise. We have sponsorships with local businesses.
• AT: We sold pizza for a dollar, we are building craft kits, we have a slime event in December. We’ll have 10 people raise money in their
name and then whoever gets the most money we will slime them like Nickelodeon. Even if you don’t get slimed, whatever you raise
gets contributed.

What is your event that is most successful?

• KM: Dance Marathon, because they are able to give out hats to all kids that are survivors. “Miracle kids” are the kids who get hats.
• SF: Dance Marathon (Big Event) - everything comes together, see all the miracle families and celebrate all of the money the raised
FTK. Dance Marathon: anybody who signs up for Dance Marathon is encouraged to come to this - the event is 12 hours long, they
stand for 12 hours, so they stand for the kids that can’t. In-event fundraising - different challenges to see how much you can raise
in an hour (ie: using a statistic to motivate people to raise a certain #$, or they have had a kid do something really similar), enter-
tainment with singing and dancing, food, inflatables. At the end, there is a big reveal for the total amount of $$ raised - every hour
during the event, there’s a morale dance that they come up with - makes everyone happy.

A-6
Secondary Research Continued
• SC: Relay for Life is our biggest event. We raise $10-15,000 the day of the event.
• AT: I’d say our main event. That’ll be March 3, 2018. Basically what we do is we are in the Student Union from 6:30 we serve dinner
and snacks and we are in there until 2 am. We have games, fun events, we have a silent auction, Usually about 200 students attend.
Things to get informed about, spreading awareness.

Do you have any issues getting students to volunteer or attend your events?
• KM: Ours is the opposite. People want to do a lot but there’s not much you can do. DM and Relay are in the spring so there’s not much
you can do in the fall. Love your Melon only lets them have 30 members because they get so much free “goodies” from the company.
Can also have volunteers. Basically they are marketers for the company.
• SF: Last year there was low attendance because of the date of the event, very close to Easter. This year was more strategic in order to
increase numbers. This is their 4th year on campus, so they’re trying to get their name out -- they don’t necessarily know they raise
money for Akron Children’s Hospital. The shirts have been “funny” so that has increased awareness because people are asking about
it.
• SC: We struggle finding people that are passionate about the organization. Many of the events take place on Saturday mornings
which are difficult to get people to attend. We struggle getting people to stay in the organization after the event. Word-of-mouth is
the best way to get people to attend the event. If people know about it, they will go.
• AT: I don’t think so. Because even if we just set up a booth in the union, people are passing and will catch out sign, and stop. Even if
it’s in the union or bulger where people are passing, they’ll stop and see what’s going on.

How do you motivate your members to participate?

• KM: Not an issue, most members are very motivated. Many members have been affected by cancer or have it.
• SF: They send out emails and reminders; last year they had an incentive system. If you raised x amount of dollars, you got to play
with the kids, more money, you got a fastpass for food, when you sign up for your team, you pay $20 and then if you want the free
t-shirt, than you need to raise money. It is self-motivated as well, because when you create your donor drive page it is your individual
page in order to raise money.
• SC: We are working on getting people to attend like getting more things for them to do. We sit down as a leadership team before
meetings and think of ways to get people up and moving. We try to incorporate events and community service.
• AT: Food, and i honestly think that a lot of the people that are involved in Zips for St. Jude see the importance and want to be in-
volved. A lot of people that sign up have been effected, whether someone in their family or they know someone.

Are there any barriers your organization faces?

• KM: 30 people limit, not being able to raise money/ no budget.
• SF: The name - people don’t know exactly what Dance Marathon is. It has one big event, but you raise money all year. There were
challenges with finding a venue for an event. A lot of people don’t try to raise money all year, they try to do it all last minute which
causes some problems on meeting the main goal.

A-7
Secondary Research Continued
• SC: It is hard to get the word out to the community. It is easy to get people to come to the event, but hard to get them to stay at the
event; especially if it is a long day. We try to get them to be passionate.
• AT: I can’t think of any. People are willing to help, even if they can only donate a $5 or $10 gift card.

What businesses/companies/hospitals (if applicable) are you partnered/associated with?

• KM: Affiliated with Akron Children’s Hospital. Only bring Love your Melon to campuses that have hospitals nearby
• SF: Children’s Miracle Network = Dance Marathon overall. Akron Children’s hospital is specifically partnered with DMUA.
• SC: The American Cancer Society funds background costs and oversees events. They will print flyers and posters and have a repre-
sentative for us to meet with. Hospitals also sponsor us along with other organizations around Akron.
• AT: St. Jude’s in Memphis. Donatos, Jets Pizza, Local pizza, yoga studios, Usually, we’ll call it blitzing, we go around to different busi-
nesses and ask to donate.

Why did you join this organization?

• KM: Went on loveyourmelon.com website and saw the “start a chapter” button, clicked it and saw a chapter and wanted to start one.
Didn’t realize we had one and joined it. Became “Crew Captain” aka President last year. Got a lot of her friends to join.
• SF: Initially found out about DM through friends in other organizations, she was really interested in it. Once a position was open on
the exec team, she decided to join - great cause, support. It is a really important cause to raise money for and you feel like you’re
making a positive impact in people’s lives.
• SC: My mom’s parents passed away from lung cancer and my mom’s sister had cancer when I was in middle school. I joined Relay for
Life in high school and joined in college freshman year and eventually took over the organization. My high school art teacher was
a role model for me because she also taught my mom and her husband passed away from lung cancer. I was in charge of our high
school relay team.
• AT: I joined because I honestly like what the hospital does. I think it’s incredible when a child goes to st Jude they don’t pay for any-
thing and the family doesn’t have to worry about food, housing, and they share the research. So they’re not only helping their pa-
tients, they are helping kids in China, Canada, kids in the world.

Is there any other information you would like to inform us about?

• KM: It’s been beneficial for us to pair with other orgs. Helpful because they are a small team and can easily work together.
• SF: Possibly statistics on averages on how much people make // breakdown between student demographics
• SC: We are willing to help out with any event you guys have especially in marketing. We had President Wilson and his son speak at
Relay for Life and a lot of people came for that. Some of our tactics we use are painting the rock, post-it-notes, tying ribbon on trees
and tabling.
• AT: Become informed about childhood cancer as it is a problem that many kids are facing. Even if you can’t donate money, donate
time. That makes just as much of a difference.

A-8
Goal and Tactics
Awareness Goal: Increase the UA community’s understanding of the problems surrounding childhood
cancer in the U.S.
Tactic 2: Craft educational social media posts that inform students of insufficient research funding
and lack of treatment breakthroughs.

A-9
Goal and Tactics Continued
Branding Goal: Advance the brand identity
of With Purpose on The University of Akron’s
Campus
Tactics 1 and 5:
• Engage with students at informational table
placed in a prominent location on campus,
such as the Student Union.
• Encourage students passing by in the Student
Union to write Valentines to children staying at
Akron Children’s Hospital.
• 30 interactions with students
• 34 Total Cards

Tactic 7:
• Gather giveaway items, both purchased and donated, to encourage engagement with students on
social media and at events. All students who attend Friendship Bracelets for the Kids and follow the
UA With Purpose accounts on social media will be entered into a raffle to win the basket
RubberDucks Ticket Vouchers - Friendship Bracelet Event attendees automatically entered:
https://www.randompicker.com/Project/Public/Protocol.aspx?Key=500879x25711

Love Your Melon Beanie - Based on Facebook likes on a specific post

https://www.randompicker.com/Project/Public/Protocol.aspx?Key=500931x94230

UA Basket Raffle - Based on social media followers that are students that attend The University of Akron
https://www.randompicker.com/Project/Public/Protocol.aspx?Key=492180x75926

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