1. CASAColumbia
90 Day Public Relations
Plan
Discovery PR

2. Objectives
 Raise awareness of CASAColumbia through aggressive media
outreach across a broad media landscape
 Reduce the stigma of addiction through a comprehensive, emotional
campaign that ties in with the digital initiatives

3. Insights
 Getting rid of anonymity and celebrating recovery will give hope to
those who are suffering and reduce the stigma to those who have not
been affected by it
 Time to Change: a UK non-profit that is dedicated to ending mental health
discrimination says that talking about it and being open is one of the biggest
way to end the stigma/discrimination
 Huffington Post and HBO say that by sharing stories of recovery it gives hope
to family, friends and colleagues and lets them know that recovery and
treatment IS possible
 The three key ways to reduce a stigma are through protest, education
and interaction
 Focus on interaction through personal and emotional stories

4. Case Study: To Write Love On Her Arms
 An American non-profit organization that aims to present hope to
people struggling with addiction, depression, self injury and
thoughts of suicide
 A very emotional brand that started with a story
 Has many similarities to CASAColumbia
 Stigma against addiction
 Wanting to give a sense of hope

5. Case Study: Strengths of TWLOHA
 Relating to their target audience through popular culture
 Building an emotional brand through personal stories
 Creating a social movement and building brand awareness through
storytellers, campus programs, street teams

6. Audience Insights
 Young adults are most affected by addiction
 1 in 4 Americans first used an addictive substance before the age
of 18 become addicted
 Blogging and social networking are effective ways to gain audience
attention
 23% of Internet time is spent reading blogs and social networking
 77% of internet users read blogs
 Pop culture is extremely influential to Americans, young adults in
particular

7. Strategy
 Focus on young adults, ages 18-24
 Target those affected by addiction and celebrate their recovery and give
them hope
 Reduce the stigma to those who have not been affected by addiction
through breaking the barrier of anonymity by using popular culture
references and social media outlets
 Incorporate bands into the concert who have battled addiction and who
are advocates for recovery
 Celebrate recovery through an aggressive digital media campaign,
primarily through Twitter and CASAColumbia’s blog, in order to give
those affected hope and reduce the stigma to those who have not

8. Tactics: Kickoff
 Partner with the major television network, HBO, to raise awareness
of CASAColumbia and create a group effort of raising awareness for
addiction
 HBO has strong ties to addiction as they have made multiple
documentaries and have a good portion of their website
dedicated to understanding addiction and reducing stigma

9. Tactic: Kickoff
 Hold a concert in NYC to raise awareness of CASAColumbia and
reduce the stigma of addiction significantly increasing their social
media presence
 Concert goers will follow and retweet CASAColumbia in order to
get into the concert
 CASAColumbia and HBO will live tweet the event
 Find musicians who are emotionally tied to the cause, telling
stories about their struggles with addiction or people they have
known
 HBO could host and promote the concert

10. Tactic: Kickoff
 Promote the concert at universities around the city
 Since CASAColumbia does not have the followership it needs to
promote the event, they will have to rely on HBO and university
partnerships to promote the event

11. Tactics: Kickoff
 Generate content for digital media campaign launch
 Create content for CASAColumbia’s blog, focusing on emotional
stories, advice, and interviews
 Continue building the CASAColumbia twitter account
 Make a transition from factual tweets to inspirational

12. Tactics: Ongoing
 Conduct a 60 day emotional digital media campaign on Twitter
following the concert
 #HopeBreaksTheChain
 Tweet emotional and inspirational posts

13. Tactics: Ongoing
 Blog more on CASAColumbia’s website to share emotional content
 Weekly success stories
 Advice on how to be a friend to a recovering addict

14. Campaign Evaluation
 Measure the attendance of kickoff concert event
 Evaluate the success of University street teams
 Amount of University media attention for the kickoff event
 Assess the success of high intensity media campaign
 Twitter followers
 Twitter likes/retweets
 Hits on CASAColumbia website/blog
 Evaluate the overall media attention gained from the campaign
 Volume of media articles written

15. Budget

16. Team Bios
Bernadette Dombrowski, Senior Account Executive, Discovery PR
Bernadette is a public relations major with minors in equine
management and agricultural business management. She has
interned with two national equine associations in Texas and has held
leadership positions in multiple student organizations throughout
her collegiate career. As Senior Account Executive for Discovery PR,
Bernadette manages all team projects and consults with clients to
ensure satisfactory campaigns with measurable results.

17. Team Bios
Amanda Gonzalez, Junior Account Executive, Discovery PR
Amanda is a public relations major with a sports communication
minor at West Virginia University. She has interned with a lifestyle
and wellness company in New Jersey and has used her public
relations and communication skills in previous work as
well. Amanda is interested in entertainment and fashion PR and
hopes to work in those industries.

18. Team Bios
Dustin Kmetz, Junior Account Executive, Discovery PR
Dustin is a public relations major with an economics minor at West
Virginia University. He has interned with small PR/Advertising firms
in the Pittsburgh area. Dustin is interested in the sports PR industry
and hopes to one day work for a professional sports organization.
Dustin has focused his time on the digital media campaign involving
Twitter and CASAColumbia’s blog.

19. Team Bios
Stasha Burpee, Junior Account Executive, Discovery PR
Stasha is a public relations major with a minor in communications at
West Virginia University. Having completed multiple internships in
communications, public relations, and marketing, and served as Vice
President of Public Relations on the PanHellenic Council, Stasha will
be graduating in May as a well rounded PR professional. Upon
graduation, she wishes to pursue a career at a large PR or marketing
firm in NYC.

20. Team Bios
Maria Servedio, Junior Account Executive, Discovery PR
Maria is a public relations major with a communication studies
minor at West Virginia University. She has had various internships
ranging from nonprofit organizations to small beauty public relations
firms. As Junior Account Executive for Discovery PR, Maria has
helped create many aspects of this campaign with special attention
to the tactics, insights, and strategy.

21. Thank You
Please direct all questions moving forward to:
Bernadette Dombrowski, Junior Account Executive, Discovery PR
Phone: (609) 972-6140
Email: Bdombro1@mix.wvu.edu