Campaign: Colorado State University in the Denver Media
Winner: Colorado State University
Colorado State University wanted to increase positive coverage of the institution in the Denver media. CSU also sought to position its president, Larry Penley, as a higher
education leader in Colorado while seeking to place a column penned by a CSU faculty member in one of the Denver dailies.
But, like many other higher education institutions, CSU was hamstrung by a limited budget. Also, it was facing competition from other major academic institutions in the state
for Denver media coverage. Plus, two of the cities major newspapers--the Rocky Mountain News and the Denver Post--were undergoing considerable downsizing.
Raising the Volume
To engage the local media, CSU did the following:
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Held 20 meetings with key reporters and editors at a major Denver media outlet;
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Introduced the school's major researchers and university leaders to specific reporters, editors and producers;
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Addressed higher education funding at editorial boards and other meetings with Denver media people;
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Focused news releases on CSU's top level research findings concerning global challenges; and,
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Added audio/visual components to larger features to attract interest from Denver reporters.
Onward and Upward
The campaign resulted in an increase of media placements in the Denver market by more than 35 percent. More than 100 releases featuring CSU research were sent and pitched to
Denver media; and more than 70 stories led to increased interest by Denver media outlets in covering CSU. The university's public relations team met with 40 new media people in
the Denver market and added dozens of new contacts and outlets to its news release lists. The number of stories featuring CSU President Penley totaled more than 40.
Also, a new food/nutrition column written by CSU Food Science and Human Nutrition expert Shirley Perryman was placed in the Denver Post.