Post-Spiration: Post-Its to Relieve Stress

Submitted by: Julie Bates

May 3, 2017

Abstract:
The purpose of this project was to spread a little positivity around Penn State during (and leading
up to) finals week. As a recipient of a nice post-it note, I know how much of a positive impact a
few encouraging words can have on someones day. Therefore, I made an effort to spread this
positivity that I received at the end of last semester around campus during the most stressful time
of the semester. I posted post-it notes with happy messages in public spaces during the week
before finals week and finals week (4/25 5/3). I also left bookmarks with upcoming de-stress
events alongside the post-it notes. My hope was that students will in turn spread some happiness
and learn about where they can go to become less stressed.
Demographics and Target Client:
The target population for this project is ~500 students on PSU campus.
Those who took part in the social media campaign were 28 students, with 10 of those
students being from schools other than Penn State. This number comes from the number
of followers on the Instagram page I created for the event.
This participation is a very low form of participation as nearly anyone can follow or like
something. The only post made tagging the Instagram account (a more active form of
participation), was made by me in an effort to get students to participate.
Most of these students were friends of mine who followed the page because of my post
rather than because they saw the post-its and bookmarks around campus.
Unfortunately, there isnt a really good way to look at the numbers of those who
passively participated because my end goal was just for them to appreciate the
bookmarks and go to the events on the bookmarks.
Goals:
To reduce stress and increase happiness during and leading up to finals week.
I do think this goal was met based on the reaction I had to one of my posts. One Penn
State student commented this seriously just made me so happy thank you, which
indicates that at least one student had a positive reaction to my post-it project. I think this
data can be extrapolated to other students seeing these post-its, and I hope a few of them
had similar reactions.
Need:
Almost half (46.3%) of college students report feeling overwhelmed in regard to their
academic responsibilities (source). 60% of students report that severe stress interfered
with ability to complete schoolwork more often than once (source). Stress obviously
affects college students nation-wide, and I have personally experienced the stress of
finals week.
The project fulfilled these needs because of the de-stress message it spread as well as
through the educational bookmarks filled with de-stress events and helpful websites for
them to view.
Objectives/Tasks and Activities:
Goals:
Event:
Educational:
Bookmarks with stress-relieving events (time and date)
 Yoga classes, CAPS programs, etc.
3-5 different programs/websites on bookmark
Printed and left out for the two weeks of the project
Print ~500 bookmarks
Actual events/action:
Post-its on mirrors, bulletin boards (HUB, dining halls, classroom
doors/open spaces in buildings)
3-5 friends to help put up post its
Post-its up for two weeks
100 different post it notes
Marketing/PR:
Social Media (Instagram) - hashtag(s)
Actual:
Event:
Educational:
Bookmarks with stress-relieving events (time and date)
Yoga classes and a program run by Yallah! that had several
different de-stress events
2 different websites and 2 different programs
Printed and left out for the one week of the project
Print ~100 bookmarks
Actual events/action:
Post-its on mirrors, bulletin boards, windows, tables (HUB, Simmons,
Chambers)
I did the post-its early in the morning by myself
Post-its up for one week
35 different post it notes
Marketing/PR:
Social Media (Instagram) - hashtag(s)
@post_spirationpsu
#sharethegoodvibes
One post per day, each featuring a different location or set of post-it notes as well
as a happy caption.
Evaluation:
Success for this project will consist of fifteen (15) individual posts on social media that
use the hashtag and tag the social media accounts created for this project.

Based on this measure of success that I had originally created, this project was very
unsuccessful. There were 0 posts made about post-spiration.
However, the project was not a complete failure. I did get a total of 2 comments on my 6
posts. I also got a range of likes on each, from 13 to 19. While likes are relatively passive,
its still more than nothing. And, comments are a more active form of participation.
So, no, the project was not very successful but it also has demonstrated a fair bit of
potential.

Next time Im doing a campaign like this, Ill try to put the post-its out all at once rather
than spread out over the course of roughly one week. By spreading it out, I originally
thought Id get more posts. However, Ive realized that most of my efforts have gone
unnoticed or at least not noticed enough.
I think Id also try to incentivize participation by doing some sort of a prize, such as tag
us in your pictures and you could win a de-stress movie bundle.