Surviving the PR Sequence: Bateman

By Brenna Parker

Each year, ten lucky PR students are selected by the PRKent faculty to compete in the PRSSA Bateman Case Study competition. The Bateman Case Study Competition is PRSSA’s premier national case study competition for public relations students, and allows students the opportunity to work for a national client on a campaign. Students are able to take what they learn in the classroom and in their internship experiences to create and implement a full public relations campaign over the spring semester.

From October 2015 to April 2016, my team and I researched, planned and implemented a campaign for Student Veterans of America, a nonprofit organization that provides resources and opportunities to student veterans. The 2016 Bateman Case Study Competition challenged us to raise awareness and spark local and national dialogue around student veterans.

We created Supporters of Student Veterans of America (SSVA), an educational movement for those interested in supporting student veterans in their transition from the military to the college classroom. The educational program consisted of six videos that aimed to help supporters understand the challenges student veterans face. The SSVA website provided supporters with resources to suggest to student veterans who may be facing challenges in their transition to college. Supporters of Student Veterans of America is dedicated in memory of Bradley "Sonny" Sonenstein, a student veteran at Kent State University who died in November 2015.

The campaign earned an honorable mention in the Public Relations Student Society of America’s annual Bateman Case Study Competition. The Bateman Blue team was one of 16 entrants out of 70 from across the country that earned honorable mention. This is the second time in three years and the third time since 2008 a PRKent Bateman team was recognized with an honorable mention.

My advice to students taking this course:

• Learn as much about the client as you can: their audiences, their constituents and the issues that affect the client and their customers.
• Treat Bateman as a job. As a class working on your Bateman campaign will require 20+ hours of work a week. If you are not committed to the campaign and your team, do not sign up for this opportunity.
• Be open to new information, even if it means a shift in your campaign/tactics/results.

Check out my team's website, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram accounts and casebook.

For more information about the National Bateman Case Study Competition, visit ​http://prssa.prsa.org/scholarships_competitions/bateman or contact Tim Roberts at tarober1@kent.edu. 

Brenna Parker is a senior public relations major and is PRSSA Kent's vice president of professional relations. Contact her at bparke12@kent.edu. 
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