Elizabeth Gibson

Final project
12/14/16
Client:

Alliance Francaise De Portland

This organization is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit located in Portland, Oregon. This alliance is

ranked seventh out of the 100 in the United States. There are about 1,000 French alliances

around the world. The mission of the Alliance is to promote Francophone culture and language

and cross-cultural understanding. Their shortened message is Promoting French language and

culture for over 100 years (Alliance website, 2016).

The main goal of the organization is to get members to signup to enjoy the benefits

offered with membership, which then promotes French culture and language. The main functions

of the alliance are gaining members that can attend French-related events and have the

opportunity to take French classes. As part of the membership there are a few benefits, such as

discounts offered at French-related businesses, access to the organization's French book

collection and French film collection and free promotion for their business on the Alliances

email bulletin.

The Alliance has a free email bulletin called Quoi de Neuf (whats new) that functions as

a newsletter. It is sent out three to four times a month. Included in this email is news about

upcoming events like a French night at the Blazers game, French films to watch, French jobs in

the area and other French-related news. The email bulletin has more than 6,000 subscribers.

There are multiple types of memberships with varying yearly costs. Regular individual

memberships are $36, students are $20 and families are $48 per year. The alliance offers French

classes for adults from beginner to advanced levels and private lessons, as well as immersion

programs in France. There are classes for children age 11 to 14 who have gone to French
immersion schools, classes for children with no experience and private lessons. Classes are

usually 10 weeks and the cost varies. There are almost 2,000 students that take French classes

and more than 9,000 attendees to cultural events each year. (Alliance website, 2016)

Other than English, Spanish and French are the most studied languages in undergraduate

and graduate levels (Goldberg et al., 2015). Perhaps because of these varying standards, few

Americans who claim to speak a non-English language say that they acquired those skills in

school. Meanwhile, the U.S. does not have a nationwide foreign-language mandate at any level

of education. Many states allow individual school districts to set language requirements for high

school graduation, and primary schools have very low rates of even offering foreign-language

coursework. Some foreign-language learning standards can be met by taking non-language

classes (Delvin, 2015).

Situation Analysis:

There are many more external factors affecting the organization than internal factors. The

organization's situation would fall into wants to reinforce an ongoing effort to preserve its

reputation and public support (Wilcox et al., 2015).

Americans dont feel like they need to learn about other cultures and languages such as

French or know more about French culture. Many people have never been to France, they don't

know anyone from France and may have a stereotyped version of the culture and language

(Goldberg et al., 2015.) The world has become much more globalized, which means having

knowledge of other places is important. Other countries usually know current events happening

in the United States, but Americans don't always know current events happening in other

countries.
 French is spoken by more than 270 million people on the five continents and by 1.3

million people in the United States. The French language is the second most widely learnt

language in the world (2016 French Cultural Festival, 2016).

There is a large problem with lack of interest in learning another language, especially

French. The number of language enrollments in higher education in the United States declined

by more than 111,000 spots between 2009 and 2013the first drop since 1995. Translation?

Only 7 percent of college students in America are enrolled in a language course. Less than 1

percent of American adults today are proficient in a foreign language that they studied in a

United States classroom (Friedman, 2015).

Having another language or knowledge of other cultures as a skill can help one get jobs

with companies that have an international aspect. One in five jobs are tied to international

trade. (Friedman, 2015).

There is a problem that audiences use mass media for reinforcement of their opinions and

predispositions (Wilcox et al., 2015). This can make it much more difficult to persuade them to

learn more about something they may know very little about.

External Environment:

There are three Portland French schools, all with parents that may want to learn

more French, attend more French events or take advantage of the membership discounts.

These three schools dont offer classes for adults and the schools often have to turn

students away. The French American International School has less than 600 students and

goes up until eighth grade. The French charter school, Le Monde, can't take all of the

students who apply. This school only accepts new students until the second grade and

students are often waitlisted or don't get in unless they already have a sibling attending
the school, which means they get preference. Kindergarten has the longest waiting list of

about 150 students (Le Monde, 2016). All of these schools have similar goals as the

Alliance. Clearly there is a demand for children to learn French in Portland.

There is potential for more interest in cultural events because there are so many in

Portland. There is a Latin themed Christmas event coming up on the Portland events

calendar but no French events in the near future (Travel Portland, 2016). When searching

through blogs about the best events to attend in Portland, French events aren't mentioned

as top contenders.

The community in Portland is made up of a majority of white people with the

second largest race being Hispanic. They may choose learning more about Spanish

culture rather than French (Chapter 2, 2004). The amount of people living in Portland has

increased over time and this increase has created bad traffic problems during certain

times (Quick facts, 2015). This fact may deter people from signing up for classes or going

to events because they don't want to deal with hectic traffic.

Business Analysis:

The competition is other culture-oriented nonprofits, such as Educate Ya, which is

a Spanish nonprofit in Portland that provides similar membership offerings like events

and classes as the French Alliance. This organization has a less up-to-date website than

the Alliance but more Spanish people in Portland that would be interested in joining. The

other French schools in Portland are also competition because the Alliance offers courses

for children as well as adults. These schools have an advantage because they're

immersion schools and not just classes, which is all that the Alliance offers.
 Some relevant strengths the Alliance has is that it is ranked seventh of all alliances

in the United States, so clearly theyre successful. Memberships include a wide variety of

benefits and options, which appeals to a wide array of audiences and interests. A

weakness is its lack of photos and videos from previous events on its website as well as a

website that looks old and out of date aesthetically. It has less than 2,000 likes on

Facebook and a little amount of likes, shares and comments on posts.

Some opportunities the organization has is the interested French community in

Portland because of the three schools. One of the largest threats is that many Americans

have no sense of how important it is to learn another language and this has only increased

over time. If there are absolutely no French relations in a family then it is much more

difficult for parents to have an interest in wanting their children to go to French school.

According to a recent report from the Modern Language Association, college students in

the United States are actually studying language 6.7 percent less now than they did five

years ago. Even enrollments in Spanish, Americas second language, declined 8.2 percent

in that period. (Ungar, 2015).

The email bulletin, teachers and board members are some internal resources that

can be harnessed to implement this campaign plan.

Business Goal:

Increase the awareness and interest in 10 percent of the local Portland population and

increase interest and awareness in 15 percent of the parents with children at the French schools to

eventually get more members that are have interest in French events, classes and Alliance

membership. This campaign will span a year, so at the end of the year the goal is to have a 5

percent increase in membership signups. These are the business goals because the mission of the
organization is to educate people about French and Francophone culture. This can be done

through continually getting more people involved with the Alliance.

Communications Objective:

The role that communications will play to support the business goal is to educate

community members about the French language and French culture for the first objective. This

will focus on the target audience of parents that already have at least a small interest in French.

The second objective is to change the mindset of the Portland community that may not have

really any interest in French.

The two theories that this plan is based off of are Diffusion of Innovation and Social

Exchange Theory. For the Diffusion of Innovation theory it is a five-step process that people go

through: awareness, interest, evaluation, trial and adoption. All of these factors influence a

person's evaluation of a product or idea. So, the communicator should attempt to implement

communication strategies that will overcome as many of them as possible. However, not every

stage is always gone through by each person (Wilcox et al., 2015).

The Social Exchange Theory is how public relations professional devise ways to lower

perceived costs and create rewards (Wilcox et al., 2015). This will be related to the messaging of

how rewarding it is to learn a new language and about a new culture. This theory is specifically

essential for the group of the Portland community that is less interested than the parents group

and needs to know that the cost of learning more about French is not high.

Target Audience/Publics:

Demographics:

As of 2015, there are more than 1,500,000 people living in Portland Metro Area

and more than 600,000 in Portland. Between 2011 and 2015, 45 percent of the population
has a bachelor's degree or higher. The median household income is about $55,000 (Quick

Facts, 2015). Based on the 2010 Portland census Portland had become more diverse over

time but compared to other cities the numbers are lower. Portland is one of the top

destinations for young migrants. Rich people and poor people tend to be more mixed than

other parts of the country (Gowdy & Marthens, 2010).

The first set of demographics is parents age 25 to 44 with children who attend

French schools in Portland. This is a separate demographic because this group already

has a level of awareness and interest that the campaign can target differently. They have a

partial college education or higher because income generally coincides with education.

They have a moderate to high income because they need to be able to afford the classes

and membership. They live in or near Portland and have younger children in elementary

or middle school since that's what is offered at the French schools.

To focus on the community aspect of the external environment this will target

Portland Metro Area residents age 25 to 54 for the second demographic. This is the other

targeted group because of their proximity to the organization, which means they can

participate in membership benefits. If someone lived in southern Oregon they would have

a more difficult time doing so. They also make up a larger population than just the

parents demographic and therefore there are more opportunities to get new members and

change their mindsets. They have a moderate to high income to be able to afford

membership and classes. They have some level of college education or higher. They may

or may not have children, but most likely they dont have children or their children are

out of the house. This way they have more free time to take French classes and go to

events.
Psychographics:

The psychographics for the first audience of parents are interests in learning more

about other cultures and international topics. If parents are choosing French for their

children and don't speak it then they should already have more of an interest and

awareness about learning more about France and French. They have done a moderate to

high amount of traveling already. They are interested in traveling abroad more in the

future. They are interested in the latest technology. This group would most likely fit into

the Early Majority level described by Wilcox et al. (2015). Since they are making

decisions for their children they most likely take a more pragmatic approach to new

ideas.

The psychographics for the second audience of community members is they have

an interest in trying and learning new things. They enjoy attending events and traveling.

They appreciate their community, and where they live is very important. Since this

demographic is older they consume less social media than younger generations. They use

Facebook the most out of the social media options. They read locals papers to get news

and watch local television (My best segments, 2016). The younger people in this group

may have less time to take advantage of the classes whereas the older people should have

more time to take advantage of membership opportunities.

This group fits into more of the Late Majority and Laggards level since they will

probably be skeptical of the benefits of the Alliance, but they will eventually join if

enough of their friends or community members do. They need to see value in paying

money to be a member of the Alliance (Wilcox et al., 2015).

 The campaign could recruit informal opinion leaders like principals and teachers

at the French schools in Portland, members at the Portland Regional Chamber of

Commerce and business owners of French-related businesses in Portland. Getting opinion

leaders support can help persuade people that are Late Majority and Laggards. People

seldom make a decision on their own but are influenced by their friends, parents,

educators, supervisors, media etc (Wilcox et al., 2015).

Key Messages:

The messaging will involve an emphasis on educating audience members why learning

about French is important and applicable to them. This Alliance facilitates specific learning of

the French language for different levels and adds to the class by inclusion of events and other

benefits previously mentioned, which isn't the same experience if it was just learned from a

book. English may be the most used language around the world, but knowing French can be

extremely useful as well. These messages will bring audiences members to the conclusion of the

importance of the Alliances mission. Since the goal is getting more interest and awareness then

this would relate to ideally getting partial commitment from the audience such as signing up for

the free email bulletin or looking at picture from Alliance events. Buy using messaging that seeks

partial commitment this leaves the door open for commitment to other parts of the proposal at a

later date (Wilcox et al., 2015)

The passive audience relates to the second target audience of less interested Portland

community members. They will pay attention when its entertaining and offers a diversion, they

notice billboards and radio spots briefly while doing something else. The messaging needs to be

simple and not complex, be repeated across different channels and needs to adhere to what the

audiences needs are. Style and creativity are necessary to get them to pay attention. In most
public relations campaign, communications are designed to reach primarily passive audiences

(Wilcox et al., 2015).

The parents are more of an active audience because they're already interested and

engaged; therefore, the messaging needs to be different. A person actively seeking information

may attend a talk or begin following experts on twitter. This target audience may be passive and

active throughout the campaign, so making multiple messaging across a variety of

communication tools will effectively reach the audience (Wilcox et al., 2015).

Key Selling Proposition/Key Takeaway:

Learn about French and French culture to be more cognizant internationally informed

citizen.

Strategies:

For the first communication objective of educating community members about French

and French culture, the two strategies that will be used are digital outreach with the focus on

education and public outreach, also with the focus on education. Both will ideally raise

awareness of the Alliance and garner interest in joining. These two strategies will work best

because the public outreach will be more tailored to what the target audience participates in and

the digital outreach has a higher chance of reaching this more interested audience.

For the second communication objective of change mindsets of those not that interested

in French, the strategies that will be used are media outreach and public outreach to help change

the mindset of the target audience. The media outreach is earned media and is being used

because its broader and can reach a large number of people. The public outreach is necessary to

help with persuasion and changing already established ideas. Using these strategies will

effectively help achieve the communications objectives and reach the target audiences.
Tactics:

For the first objective of education about French and the first strategy of digital outreach,

the tactic will be utilizing online resources such as updating the website by adding videos and

more photos from events put on by the Alliance. The website aesthetic is out of date and should

be modernized. Since the audience for this first strategy and tactic has more interest in French,

then they will be more likely to view the Alliance website.

Another tactic is creating a more interactive website and email bulletin. People that are

interested in French can sign up for the newsletter for free and learn more about the organization.

The email bulletin can include games and quizzes about the French language and culture that

will ideally get more people interested in the organization and educated about French just from

reading the bulletin.

For the first objective of education, the second strategy is public outreach. This will

include the tactics of testimonials and partnering with other organizations. Testimonials are

beneficial for the target audience of parents who are more interested in the organization. They

can learn how current members have enjoyed their experiences with the Alliance and how it has

benefited them learning more about French. The testimonials will be videos of people and placed

on the website since people are more likely to watch short videos than read a long article.

The second tactic of the public outreach strategy is partnering with the Portland French

schools for events, specifically more educational ones as well as the Regional Arts and Culture

Council. Parting with the French schools will garner more attention from audiences already

interested and aid in both the missions of promoting French. Partnering with the council is

beneficial because it gives out grants for nonprofits, which help sponsor events put on by the

Alliance. These events would be more cultural and related to the arts.
 Because the second audience is less interested, the focus is not on the website or

testimonials and is more about getting their attention and interest. Need to grab attention and

suggest that communication strategies be designed to attract the attention of those who passively

process information and those who actively seek it (Wilcox et al., 2015).

So, for this second audience and objective of changing mindsets, the strategies are media

outreach and public outreach. For the media outreach strategy, one tactic that will be used is

sending out press releases to The Oregonian to emphasize the need to learn a second language

and learn more about other cultures such as French, as well as releases about the organization's

events. The Oregonian has about 140,000 papers in circulation (The Oregonian, 2016). A search

on The Oregonian website shows that the Alliance Francaise de Portland is only mentioned once

and it was back in 2011. These press releases will need to grab the audience's attention and stand

out to be remembered. The releases also need to be newsworthy and will be best if they focus on

the significance of the events. To do so, including photos and interactive material will be

essential. While the strategy is media outreach, the focus won't be on social media but rather

news media to gain attention because of the demographic age group.

The second tactic would be submitting quality videos and photos from Alliance events to

local news stations like KOIN, KATU and KGW. This is to garner more interest in what the

organization does and reach a wide array of people. This will ideally get more interest from news

organizations to interview people from the organization and at events. Radio and television

messages tend to be more persuasive than print Wilcox et al. (2015) and persuasion is necessary

with this audience.

Because passive audiences need to see the messaging in a variety of sources to remember

it, another tactic under media outreach would be to get earned media in the Portland Monthly
magazine. It has 330,000 readers and is the best selling magazine in Oregon. It has an Arts and

Culture section that Alliance and French-related events can fit into. Their readership

demographics fit into similar characteristics as this campaign's (Advertise Portland Monthly,

2016).

One tactic for the public outreach strategy will be word of mouth. This will be from

people that already attend Alliance events to people that aren't members. This can be as simple as

saying in the email bulletin to recommend your friends to sign up for the free email bulletin to

learn more about the organization or bringing them to an Alliance event. This is where opinion

leaders can be especially helpful to the campaign.

Another tactic for public outreach is attending fairs or markets such as the Portland

Saturday Market. This market is one of the largest weekly craft markets and feature food, arts

and crafts (Media kit, 2016). This can be beneficial in reaching the Portland community and

helping raise awareness and interest for the organization.

Evaluation:

As Wilcox et al. (2015) describe the Diffusion of Innovation Theory, it is like a funnel;

so, many people in the end won't fully adopt the messaging of the campaign. To best evaluate

the effects of this campaign there are a couple aspects to look at. A solid baseline study to

determine the awareness level of the target audience before the campaign was launched and after

can be done (Wilcox et al., 2015). Measuring interest and awareness by doing a baseline study

can be difficult, but looking at website views from the beginning of the campaign and then at the

end can help determine if interest and awareness in the Alliance increased. Education is also

something more difficult to measure, but a baseline study could be done with parents to see how

much more they learned about French from the campaign. The Alliance website says that there
are 6,000 subscribers to its email bulletin. Since the bulletin is free and people may sign up if

they become interested and aware of the organization, then this can be used as another marker in

determining the success of the campaign. Once they sign up for the bulletin then they may

become more interested in a membership and join later.

The website also says the number of members it has and the number of attendees at

events. These numbers can be evaluated at the end of the campaign to determine if it was

successful in garnering more than just awareness and interest. Class signups can also be

compared at the end. Once all of these aspects are analyzed then the organization can determine

which area of the organization that the campaign helped with the most or what people are most

interested in.

Since there will be press releases submitted and ideally more media coverage of the

organization then the number of media placements can be tallied for the duration of the campaign

and compared to previous years media placements. These media placements can garner interest

and awareness too.

The costs of this campaign should be fairly low since it is based on earned media and

harnessing internal resources, such as staff time.

 References

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http://frenchculture.org/frenchculturesfestival2016

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https://www.pdxmonthly.com/pages/advertise

Alliance Francaise de Portland. (2016). Retrieved from http://www.afportland.org/

Chapter 2: A description of some of Portlands population changes. (2004). The City of Portland.

https://www.portlandoregon.gov/bps/article/122678

Delvin, K. (2015, July 13). Learning a foreign language a must in Europe, not so in America.

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Le Monde French Immersion Public Charter School Website. (2016). Retrieved from

http://www.lemondeimmersion.org/pages/Le_Monde/Enrollment/Enrollment_Infomation

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http://www.portlandsaturdaymarket.com/content/docs/Media_Kit.pdf
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solutions/print-advertising/

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Wilcox, D., Cameron, G. & Reber, B. (2015). Public Relations Strategies and Tactics. Upper

Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education