Students create ad campaigns for law enforcement group

The Messenger 03.11.09



The Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police is considering two public service ad campaigns created by University of Tennessee at Martin students.

“Hometown Heroes” and “I am Tennessee law enforcement” were developed as part of UT Martin’s Department of Communications’ Principles of Advertising class.

Components of the campaigns also recently claimed two American Advertising Federation Student ADDY awards in the categories of radio and mixed media campaigns and advanced to District 7 competition, which includes seven southeastern states.

Martin Police Chief David Moore and Brownsville Police Chief Gil Kendrick requested students be enlisted to create a campaign that would help promote a more positive image of Tennessee law enforcement among 18- to 34-year-olds and one that could be used to recruit new officers.

“Law enforcement officers from entry level to executives constantly combat negative stereotypes of law enforcement promoted by many media reporting methods as well as television and movie depictions that, frankly, don’t often relate the realities of our profession,” Moore said. “Our goal is to infuse media markets with a more realistic image of law enforcement as a career for a community relations as well as a recruiting tool. What started as an idea of Chief Gil Kendrick from Brownsville turned into a unique opportunity to work with young people in a cooperative town/gown project that produced several professional and useable end products.”

Communications majors worked in two teams to plan and prepare the campaign materials. The semester-long service-learning project required students to examine the target audiences’ attitudes, beliefs and values.

The students then created and pitched two separate campaigns to the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police Executive Board and to the law enforcement roundtable that included Tennessee Commissioner of Safety Dave Mitchell and Governor’s Highway Safety Office director Kendall Poole, who directs the office responsible for the “Click it or Ticket” and “Booze it and Lose it” campaigns.

The “Hometown Heroes” campaign portrayed Tennessee law enforcement officers as heroes who put their lives on the line for the public every day. The ads use common encounters with law enforcement that are typically perceived negatively and show the positive effect of those actions.

The “I am Tennessee law enforcement” campaign uses the slogan “Ordinary people with extraordinary jobs.” The goal of the campaign is to portray law enforcement officers as everyday people who have extraordinary jobs.

Both campaigns use a combination of print, radio, TV and outdoor advertising.

Students in each campaign prepared the campaign plan book with relevant research findings, an explanation of the creative strategy, a proposed media plan and a proposed budget. The students also produced all of the campaign media materials, including production of the radio and TV spots and design of the print and outdoor ads.

“This project is a perfect example of the value of service learning,” said Tracy Rutledge, UT Martin instructor of communications. “The students had hands-on experience working with a real client. It also provided the Tennessee Association of Chiefs of Police with two ideas for a campaign. Like many non-profits, the association doesn’t have thousands of dollars to hire an advertising agency to generate campaign ideas. It was a win-win situation for both the students and the client.”

Students involved in the project were visual communications emphasis majors Stephanie Lovett of Troy, Kassi Abney and Jennifer DeYeso, both of Martin, and Jackie Bettie of Medina; public relations emphasis majors James Buchanan and Ryan Williams, both of Memphis, Allison Hagin of Jackson, Jonathan Kiser of Adamsville, Becky Parnell of Tiptonville, Joe Raccuglia of Franklin and Rebecca Wilkinson of Old Hickory; and broadcast emphasis majors Meghan Pinkley of Bondurant, Iowa, and Brooks Taylor of Jackson.

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