#RockTheFirm: Leaving ImPRessions on Ohio University
Posted At: November 22, 2013 12:15 p.m.
by Daniel Mulvey, Kristin Yerecic and Melaina Lewis
Ohio University’s ImPRessions, established in 1981, takes pride in providing quality public relations services to twelve local, regional and national clients. In order to provide Ohio University students with the best real-world experience, the firm focuses on providing a wide variety of clients in both size and industry.
With clients such as Express, Cardinal Health, Copperheads and the Athens County Humane Society, ImPRessions’ members are able to gain experience in strategic communications to prepare them for internships and future careers. ImPRessions’ Cardinal Health account received the PRSSA best campaign award for the 2011-2012 school year.
“ImPRessions as a firm strives towards providing professional quality work to clients while providing real world experience to students. As it grows and changes, the firm is moving even closer to these goals,” said Dan Mulvey, director of ImPRessions.
Last year, the Athens County Humane Society account developed strategic goals for the year.
• Raise funds while increasing ACHS awareness at Ohio University and
strengthen its social media presence with students.
• Develop and retain donor relationships with local businesses; raise
funds and encourage event support.
• Host campus-wide events and fundraisers to engage and educate the
student population
Each account associate was responsible for creating and implementing a public relations plan for a specific event. The Woof & Wine event during Ohio University’s Mom’s Weekend in Spring 2013 raised $1,300 for the organization and gained 38 new Twitter followers for @Athens_Humane.
“Woof and Wine was a tremendous success, particularly considering it was a first-time event. Tickets were sold out days in advance; several people asked me on the day of the event about ticket availability,” said Corrine Colbert, representative of Athens County Humane Society. “Woof and Wine raised nearly $1,300 for the Athens County Humane Society. The level of professionalism involved was stellar, resulting in an event that showcased our organization to its best advantage.”
This year, the firm expanded into a more fully integrated operation by restructuring and adding four new board of director positions – Finance, Communications, Creative and Human Resources. Each position is vital to make for more successful client satisfaction and member experience.
With the new director of communications position, ImPRessions remodeled the firm’s voice on Twitter, Facebook and the WordPress blog. Posts are published more frequently and have expanded to focus more on current industry topics. We are continually astounded by the amount of ImPRessions members’ blogs that are published nationally in other news mediums.
“I’m extremely proud of the content we’ve been producing on our blog both by newbies and veterans, and two posts even got published on PR Daily in the last month,” said Communications Director Ashleigh Mavros. “I’d like to think this position is moving the firm towards improving communication throughout all levels.”
The director of human resources develops policies to assist in firm management and promote internal firm happiness. The director of finance works to manage firm expenses and establish a fundraising presence on campus. The creative director provides graphic design materials such as posters, social media promotions and digital campaigns for all accounts.
ImPRessions is an entirely student-run public relations firm based at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio. The firm operates as a subsidiary of the Hugh M. Culbertson chapter of the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) at Ohio University’s E.W. Scripps School of Journalism. ImPRessions is also a PRSSA Nationally Affiliated student-run firm through PRSSA National’s standards.
