COMM 4363 (Corporate PR) Final Project Options

For your final project, you will analyze a Fortune 500 or Inc. 500 company from a public relations perspective. The written portion of your project is due November 11, and your in-class presentation is due during Week 13.

This project is worth a total of 300 points of the 1000 available; the blog/paper portion is worth 250, and the class presentation is worth 50.

You will have the option of creating the written portion of the project as a traditional term paper or as a series of blog posts. Let your professor know your decision no later than Week Four.

If you choose to do this project as a traditional term paper:

• Use APA style for formatting and source citations
• Include a title page and table of contents
• Submit your paper [in the manner your professor requires]
• NOTE: Another option is to write a traditional term paper of at least 10 pages, on any topic discussed in our textbook Reputation Management. I will write a separate blog post with more details on this option.

If you choose to do this project as a series of blog posts:

• Create one page (not post, but page) on your blog with hyperlinks to all the posts. Submit the URL of your page [in the manner your professor requires]
• Cite your sources within the posts, and also provide hyperlinks to the original source if it’s available online
• Use tags on your posts

Required elements:

• An overview of the company and what it does
• A brief history or timeline of the company
• Based on Grunig & Hunt’s models of PR, which model is the company using? Provide examples.
• Describe the publics, including customers, of the company (or one of its subsidiaries)
• Top challenges facing the company (including the current financial market)
• Awards and honors the company has garnered in the past 10 years & how the company is using the awards/honors for promotion
• An analysis of how the company uses and benefits from (or could benefit from) social media
• An overview and critique of the company’s online newsroom
• Career opportunities in PR, corporate communication, marketing, etc., within the company
• Based on your research of this company, are you now MORE or LESS likely to want to work for the company? Why? Provide at least two paragraphs of a rationale for your decision.

Also, choose two from the following if you are working alone on the project. If you are working in a group, complete five of the following:

• For at least one news release, compare how the news release appears in the company’s online newsroom to how the story appeared when it was published in the media
• One crisis the company has faced and how it dealt with it
• Describe how the company is involved in its communities
• Interview (phone or e-mail) a public relations professional within the company
• Create your resume and cover letter as though you are applying for an entry-level PR position within the company
• Another section of your choice, as long as you clear it with your professor by Week 9

Important Dates

• Week 3: Choose a company.
• Week 4: Let me know your decision of whether you’ll do a traditional term paper or a series of blog posts.
• Week 9: Last date to pitch an idea for a section in your paper to me (if there’s something you would like to write about your company that is not on the list above)
• Week 12: Written portion of your project due
• Week 13: Presentations in class