Design a Campaign

Task 9: Determine Strategy

(~60 Minutes)

Lesson Framing & Purpose:

Teams engage in a campaign planning meeting to get and give feedback on their campaign strategies. They then plan out how to implement their strategies through media buys. Finally, the interns reflect on how their work on the campaign has shaped their view of the policy issue. Intern teams will participate in a campaign planning protocol with members of other teams to get feedback on their strategy.

• Interns will determine which media channels to use for their campaigns.
• Interns will draft a plan for implementing their strategy through planned media buys.
• Interns will reflect on how their views and understanding of the policy issue have changed from their work.

Resources:

• Task 9 Email (optional)

• Media Channel Resource

Reflective Questions:

• How do you feel about the issue you are working on? Do you agree or disagree with the group you are working for?
• Has your work on this campaign changed the way you view politics in the state?
• Has your understanding changed about how your classmates and community members see different political issues?

Learning Activities:

Campaign Planning Discussion (~30 Minutes)

Pair design teams that are working on different issues together to help each other by giving feedback on their campaign plans so far.

• Campaign Planning Protocol: each group will present for 2-minutes explaining
• who their client is and what their specific campaign goals are
• who their target audience (with evidence)
• their campaign strategy and messaging
• how the strategy and message connect with their target audience to achieve their campaign goals
• The audience will
• ask any clarifying questions (“Can you say more about…?”) and reiterate the main points until the presenting team is satisfied their main points were clearly conveyed
• identify any parts of the presentation lacking rationale or evidence
• offer counterarguments to question elements of the presentation or offer alternatives (“Have you considered…?”)
• Remind interns that they work for the same company and that the point of the presentation is mutual improvement.
• After completing the protocol, teams should use notes to revise their target audiences, strategies and messages. In addition, interns will use the Media Channel Resource to determine what types of media will they use to best reach their target audience?
• By the end of this discussion, in order to use the Campaign Simulator, groups need
• a tagline for their messaging campaign
• a list of media markets to target
• associated media channels for each of those markets
• a message tone for the ads they will run in those markets

Reflective Discussion (~20 minutes)

• After interns have completed their presentations, bring the large group back together to debrief.
• Use the Reflective Questions above to highlight why the issue might be controversial (and for whom), as well as where different arguments are coming from and what possible counterarguments might be.
• Tie the controversial nature of the debate back to the messages that interns created and how the issue has been reported differently across the state.

Formative Assessment (~10 Minutes)

Option 1: If you would like to have a more formal check in for your design teams, consider this assessment. Have design teams compose a response to the (optional) Task 9 Email from Matt Gonzalez that outlines their message, strategy, and the evidence from their research that supports their choices. This should include their plan for which media markets they plan to target, the media channels for those markets, and the message tone they plan to test. This email should only be used if you want to utilize this formative assessment option.

Implementation Tips

• Encourage students to really question each other’s ideas in the Campaign Planning meeting, (“…this is our last chance to improve our plan before the final submission!)
• For energy policy and mandatory minimum issues, it may be worthwhile to discuss why issues that have popular support, though still polarized, have not had legislation passed to address them. What is influencing legislators to not pass legislation on issues where there is broad public support (e.g., lobbying, corporate influence)?

Extension Activity: Local Impact

It may be helpful to encourage interns to examine their own views on this issue or how the issue is relevant to their community. Have students go deeper into how the issue is discussed in your community. This could include an audit of local media, examine who is paying for political advertising in your local media, or conducting a poll or set of interviews, etc. to understand how the issue is being talked about and how positions are being justified locally.