1. Identify an organization about which you are an expert—it could be an organization for which you or your parents work, an organization located in your hometown, or even an organization of which you are a fan or follower. This organization will be the subject of your case study.
a. For the organization you choose, explain one serious public relations problem or issue (approximately 1 page); it doesn’t necessarily have to be a crisis, though a crisis is permissible. The problem or issue must be ACTUAL, CURRENT, and UNRESOLVED—don’t critique the way an organization handled a problem in the past, and don’t make up a hypothetical problem; instead, make recommendations for a current, real PR problem. For example: an insurance company might need to address the PR issue of uncertainty surrounding the Affordable Care Act, or a losing sports team might need to address the PR issue of not being competitive.
2. Suggest 3 specific courses of public relations action you would recommend to the organization to address the problem you identified (½-1 page each).
a. Relate each suggestion to a concept or topic we have studied this semester; e.g., “In order to be perceived as ethical,…” or “A useful measurable objective might be….” If you construct a PR objective as one of your courses of action, it would make sense for at least one or even both of your other courses of action to be tactics supporting it.
b. Be as specific as possible in your recommendations; e.g., don’t say, “needs to work harder on development,” but instead describe in some detail what development steps you think need to be taken. You are the expert consultant for this project! And you need to have enough detail in your suggestions for each one to take up roughly ½-1 page.
c. As 1 of your courses of action, you may present something the organization has already done about this PR issue that is a bad idea, explaining why and suggesting an alternative. But this is not a requirement, just an option.
