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AUB’s 150th Anniversary

Marketing 225

Ms. Leila Khauli

By: Samir Akkaoui, Sarah Ayoub, Ghadeer Hamati,

Amani Khadhraoui, & Imad Mawlawi

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Table of Contents Introduction .................................................................................................................................................. 4

Brand Personality .......................................................................................................................................... 4

Situation Analysis .......................................................................................................................................... 4

Positioning Strategy .................................................................................................................................. 5

Message Strategy ...................................................................................................................................... 6

Media Strategy .......................................................................................................................................... 6

Direct Marketing ....................................................................................................................................... 6

Public Relations and Buzz Marketing ........................................................................................................ 7

Budget ....................................................................................................................................................... 7

Target Market Analysis ................................................................................................................................. 8

L E A R N E R ................................................................................................................................ 8

E A R N E R ................................................................................................................................ 9

R E T U R N E R ........................................................................................................................... 9

Social Media Strategy: ................................................................................................................................ 10

Social Media presence analysis: .............................................................................................................. 10

Content Ideas: ......................................................................................................................................... 10

Plan of Action .............................................................................................................................................. 13

Grand festivities for the 150th .................................................................................................................... 14

AUB In The Sky- Teaser campaign for the carnival ................................................................................. 14

Light Show event ..................................................................................................................................... 15

Light the skies Festival ............................................................................................................................ 15

Gala Dinner ............................................................................................................................................. 17

KPI: ...................................................................................................................................................... 17

Budgeting: ........................................................................................................................................... 17

AUB Day of Giving ................................................................................................................................... 18

Connect AUB Students and Alumni ............................................................................................................ 19

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Campus Love ................................................................................................................................. 19

International Students day ..................................................................................................................... 20

AUB talks “What’s your story?” .............................................................................................................. 21

Reunion Weekend ................................................................................................................................... 21

Event Details: ...................................................................................................................................... 22

Cost: .................................................................................................................................................... 23

KPI: ...................................................................................................................................................... 23

AUB networking series- Catch the series in a city near you ................................................................... 24

6 tips for surviving at Networking Events: .............................................................................................. 24

WOAUB – Women of AUB ...................................................................................................................... 25

Objectives: .......................................................................................................................................... 26

Global Opportunities............................................................................................................................... 26

Leave your mark at AUB.......................................................................................................................... 28

Integrated Marketing Communications ...................................................................................................... 29

Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 29

Mobile App .............................................................................................................................................. 29

Video 1 - AUB stories .............................................................................................................................. 30

Video 2 “We Make History” .................................................................................................................... 30

Branding Items ........................................................................................................................................ 32

AUB commemorative calendar: .......................................................................................................... 32

BLISS joins the celebrations ........................................................................................................................ 33

Timeline of Events ....................................................................................................................................... 34

How do our Ideas match project objectives ............................................................................................... 35

Works Cited ................................................................................................................................................. 37

Appendix ..................................................................................................................................................... 38

Appendix 1- Overall summary of the surveys (research) ........................................................................ 38

Appendix 2 - Findings from our Primary Research (snapshots of all answers from survey) .................. 39

Students Survey .................................................................................................................................. 39

Alumni Survey: .................................................................................................................................... 40

Appendix 3: Social media analysis .......................................................................................................... 43

Appendix 4 - Detailed budget sheets ...................................................................................................... 44

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Appendix 5: Cumulative Budget Sheets .................................................................................................. 45

Introduction

As one of the most prestigious and prominent universities in the middle-east, AUB has

become more than a simple educational institution. It is looked at as one of the most iconic

foundations in the Beirut as well as a heavenly spot in the smoke-filled city. AUB was founded

on December 3rd, 1866 by the American Protestant missionary Daniel Bliss. And since then, it

was dedicated towards providing excellence and development to the education and research

along with creating a positive social impact on the region. With the beginning of 2016, AUB will

be celebrating its 150 years of great achievements and transformative impact. That is why; we

were approached by the Worldwide Alumni Association AUB to work on creating a full

marketing campaign dedicated to the anniversary. While we believe that this campaign

presents a great opportunity for us as marketers, we are fully aware of the challenges we are

facing due to the budget restrictions and the time limitation.

Brand Personality Our brand; the 150th anniversary of AUB must reflect a certain personality that relates

to our target audience. Our audience is characterized with a high intellectual level and a

significant influence on the society. Hence, our brand is perceived as influential, prestigious,

innovative and distinguished.

Situation Analysis The upcoming AUB’s 150th anniversary is looked at as one of the most iconic events in

the history of the university. The 150th campaign has an ultimate goal to highlight AUB’s role in

the region as a leader in quality education and degree innovation in comparison to

competitors. Hence, in order for us to achieve a successful campaign, we need to build a deep

understanding of AUB’s internal structure along with the external factors that will have an

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impact on the campaign. December 3rd, 1866 AUB held its first classes with 16 students and

since then it had held itself responsible for “providing excellence in education, to participate in

the advancement of knowledge through research, and to serve the peoples of the Middle East

and beyond”. And indeed after 150 years, AUB has managed to build itself a strong competitive

brand name in the market and a quiet respectful reputation. It is widely recognized as a market

leader in Lebanon in specific and in the Mena region in general as it is ranked among the top 5

universities of the region (“AUB maintains”,2013). AUB has also a significant proprietary

technology that contributes to the education and the research of it students and faculty. And

let’s not forget to mention its important accreditations along with its iconic campus that is

considered as a national asset for Lebanon. However, during the last couple of years, AUB

became characterized with a narrow service line that contradicts with its innovative vision,

especially that competitors such as LAU, are penetrating new markets with new services like

the Elie Saab School of Fashion. Hence, in order for AUB to regain its leader position in the

market, certain opportunities had to be created or taken advantage of. Perhaps, the most

significant one is the importance of AUB’s alumni base. One of AUB’s greatest external

resources is its network of worldwide alumni. AUB graduates are influential leaders in all sorts

of fields and in more than 100 countries around the world. These men and women present an

instrumental legacy to the University both as an institution and a community. That is why;

World Wide Alumni Association AUB (WAAAUB) was created. This invaluable opportunity will

be an important part in our 150th campaign. After some research we noticed that WAAAUB is

quite weak in terms of reaching Alumni and pulling them towards donating to AUB and

interacting with its alumni. Hence, our campaign will take part in enhancing the communication

and marketing strategy of WAAAUB in order to attract more Alumni to join the association and

engage more actively. New technologies and social media will be heavily exploited to

resourcefully manage between the worldwide chapters and AUB’s alumni outside of Lebanon.

Positioning Strategy

In order for us to have a successful campaign, a better understanding of our positioning

strategy had to be set. Positioning will be based on setting AUB’s brand apart on the basis of

attributes and benefits sought by the target market. The celebration of the 150th anniversary

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will be positioned in the consumer’s mind as a reflection of the notable history of AUB, its

prestigious educational quality, its remarkable achievements through the 150 years, its rich

pool of global human resources ( Students, Alumni and Faculty) and finally its futuristic and

innovative visions. Basically our Positioning statement would be that Indeed AUB makes

history.

Message Strategy

The message communicated to the audience will emphasize on the positioning

statement and hence on the benefits and the attributes that the brand offers. It will be a two

sided message that will address the difficulties AUB faced and how it dealt with them to reach

its distinguished achievements. This structure will be used since we are addressing a highly

educated audience that will be better convinced through a two sided message structure. We

also believe that in order for this message to communicate effectively both a rational and an

emotional appeal should be used. The informational appeal will focus on communicating the

benefits sought and it will emphasize on logics and facts. On the other hand, the emotional

appeal will work on stimulating feelings such as pride, joy and nostalgia.

Media Strategy

The media strategy will be executed according to the target audience and which media

channel it will respond to and engage with more effectively. Hence, we will use a diverse pool

of media starting from Radio ads, to collateral media and Social media. These media means,

must work in a synergic way to correspond to our general IMC strategy.

Direct Marketing

A direct Marketing strategy will be a critical part of our campaign, considering that AUB

has an extensive database of students, Alumni and relevant parties related to them. Traditional

tools such as direct mail and emails will be used. Also with the rapid growth of the internet

access and the ease of instantaneous communication, direct marketing will be used in order to

generate immediate responses from our target audience. This will allow us to track and

measure the responses of the audience more efficiently.

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Public Relations and Buzz Marketing

Marketing the 150th anniversary of AUB is mainly based on Public relations. Our

campaign includes multiple events that aim at attracting attention to our brand and hence gain

free publicity. The AUB community has a rich pool of publicizing resources starting with outlook

to student bloggers. The essence of our campaign along with the quality and the originality of

our events is quite relevant to the Lebanese community in general, which will have external

sources of publicity such as magazines and TV shows covering our activities. While this will

generate controlled and uncontrolled content, the objectives of our PR strategy are first

informal. We are providing information about our brand to the target audience. Second, we are

trying to attract alumni and the general public to attend our events and take part of our

campaign. And third, it has a purpose of building the brand’s equity of AUB and enhancing its

reputation. This will also be linked to creating a buzz marketing strategy.PR and then publicity

will help us create a viral campaign. We estimate a large Publicity cover and hence a large

exposure. Previously mentioned strategies will also contribute to creating this buzz. For

instance, We will be heavily using social media such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram

creating #AUBGoes150 Hasthag in order to build a common ground between these social media

platforms.

Budget

It is critical for us to understand that neither of these communication strategies will

have a successful outcome unless we manage to allocate our budget efficiently. We understand

that our budget is very limited for a yearlong campaign. That is why most of our events will

generate their own revenues in order to cover their costs through selling entrance tickets, or

AUB related products. Sponsors will also be approached. The rest of the budget will be

allocated to the IMC elements according to their costs and importance.

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Target Market Analysis We have segmented the market into three main segments based on life stages. We

believe that people spend their first stage in life learning, their second stage earning, and their

third stage in life returning.

L E A R N E R This segment includes the students who are prospective alumni, and fresh graduates. This

segment accommodates to the dreamers, the ambitious, those who strive for success, and

aspire to change the world. They are energetic, and usually driven by their passions.

Characteristics

● Age between 16 and 23 years old

● Do not face major life responsibilities

● Prone to Spontaneous behaviour

● Active on social media and technology oriented

● Engaged and enjoy interactive events

● Do not have a strong financial standing

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Needs/wants: This segment is constantly looking for opportunities to grow, to learn, and to

experience with what’s new and exciting. They need effective guidance in pursuing different

career paths.

E A R N E R This segment includes alumni that are working and pursuing their careers.

Characteristics: They age between 23 and 50 years old. Begin earning, consider saving and

planning for the future and start taking up more responsibility.

Needs/wants: They are looking for brighter career opportunities, anticipate for success, and

long for security.

R E T U R N E R

The returners include alumni above the age of 55. They are individuals that have reached their

peak in career and life events and goes through the process of life reflection. After people reach

a satisfying stage of achievements, family, love, and well-being, they realize that they would like

to give back to community. They become eager to reinvest in future generations and support a

cause.

We need to capture this opportunity and satisfy their need of making a positive change in the

community. We aim to provide the returners with a platform that does not solely serve as

donation generator but much more than that! Provide them with the opportunity to benefit

those who are in need monetary by giving donations. Moreover, given that this segment has

the time and the money, we would like to benefit from their time and wisdom! Connect them

as mentors to the future generation, focus on sharing their wisdom with future generations

through teaching, mentoring, coaching, and donating towards education. Finally we would like

to recognize their great achievements and appreciate their gracious contribution.

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Social Media Strategy: Based on the two surveys we conducted, we found out that most alumni respondents chose

Facebook and emails as their favorite media platform followed by Instagram. However,

students chose Facebook, Instagram and Whatsapp as their channels to connect with their

family and friends.

Social Media presence analysis:

Presence:

· Facebook: 5,166 likes

· Twitter: 2,945 followers

· LinkedIn (as a user): 500+ connections

· Instagram: No presence

WAAAUB Facebook and twitter pages have relatively the same content. On LinkedIn, their last

post was on October 2, 2015. Each platform should have its own tailored objectives to cater

each audience’s preferences and to optimize the required return on investment.

Content Ideas:

Facebook: WAAUB could start by investing in its page in order to increase its reach and fan

base. It could also share facts about AUB’s history and accomplishments or even post questions

to encourage the followers to engage. For instance, it could ask, “Why AUB?” in order to

collect data on how the community perceives AUB. Facebook will serve as a channel to publish

the main events and teasers for the upcoming 150th Anniversary.

Instagram: On Instagram, WAAUB would be connecting with the youth generation. Content

should be interactive and relevant to the targeted segment. It could also create competitions

that include on-campus activities and award the winners. Instagram will also serve as a channel

to promote teasers and events on campus.

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Twitter: According to our survey, only 28% of our alumni respondents chose Twitter as their

media platform whereas 17% of students selected Twitter. Thus, the channel could be used to

share WAAAUB and AUB news as well as live event coverage for the upcoming anniversary and

make #aubgoes150 trend.

LinkedIn: WAAAUB is currently present as a user on LinkedIn. Its last post was on October 2,

2015. We propose that the association create a page to bridge current and potential alumni and

empower them. It will help students find better internship opportunities and job vacancies. In

return, it will allow old alumni attract new talents to their organization. Additionally, it could

create a group where AUB’s community could interact with one another. The purpose of this

group is to collect key insights which will allow it to improve it services. LinkedIn could be an

added value for WAAAUB.

We took the initiative to compare AUB’s and WAAAUB’s platforms as well as

engagement rate. On Facebook, AUB has more than 100,000 likes whereas WAAAUB has less

than 6,000. On the other hand, on Twitter, AUB has around 44,000 followers however,

WAAAUB has only 2,945. Moreover, according to FanpageKarma.com, more than 50% of the

WAAAUB fans are from Lebanon however, the rest of the fans are from a wide range of

countries around the world such as Canada, UAE, Saudi Arabia and USA. The numbers show

that WAAUB has a diverse fan base who is interested in its news, yet, the engagement is

relatively low. Based on the analytical tool used, the most liked post (52 likes) was related to

the mourning of AUB staff members who died during the latest Beirut explosion. The shared

post “What’s your favorite spot on campus” for instance, was also posted on AUB’s official

Facebook page. If we equate the post on both pages, we would deduce that AUB’s post had a

good rate of engagement whereas WAAAUB had zero comments and only one like. The facts

shed light that AUB’s community is not interested in the association. Thus, the main purpose of

our strategy is to promote its added value and the importance of such organizations.

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Additional ideas:

“Why AUB?” The objective is to collect insights on how students perceive AUB and highlight

its value.

“Share your favorite AUB memory”. The purpose is to engage with the community and get

insights on their experience. It could be posted on Facebook and Instagram along with the

#AUBmemory. The shared images will be re-posted on WAAAUB’s pages to increase

followers’ engagements.

Events would also be communicated on platforms according to their type along with their

details. For instance, AUB talks would be communicated on LinkedIn, Instagram and

Facebook. The content will be about speakers’ background information and the event’s

theme.

“Did you know facts” are posts about AUB’s history, accomplishments and stories. The aim

here is to familiarize students to AUB’s culture.

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Plan of Action There are many ways to celebrate, to bring together the students and alumni, and

finally reach out to the community. In order to achieve our goals and touch upon all celebration

opportunities we decided to classify the celebrations ideas into three main categories:

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Grand festivities for the 150th

AUB In The Sky- Teaser campaign for the carnival

Marketing relies on two main aspects: Advertising and Publicity. With this idea we are focusing

on the intensive free (stimulated) publicity we would receive as we are trying to attract as much

attention as possible from the public and letting them form a slingshot effect.

In order to start our celebration BIG and motivating attendance to our opening festival, we will

launch a teaser campaign. We will launch an airplane to fly by the airport to Jbeil Strip with a

banner attached to the back saying: “AUB goes/grows 150 years”.

We would be grabbing the attention of many bored drivers stuck in a killer traffic on their way

home. We want to ensure that the public talks about the campaign and stimulate Buzz

Marketing.

In order to measure the success of the initiative we will have to look at the reach of the idea.

We want the idea to go viral on social media to the point that it is featured on local news. This

will then help us earn free publicity for AUB’s 150th anniversary.

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This initiative targets all of Lebanon, students and alumni inclusive. We would be creating a

sense of pride for students and alumni who will hear about it and engaging them on our social

media platforms.

The budget paid for this initiative is recovered from the Festival profits.

Light Show event

The closing ceremony of AUB’s 150 year anniversary will be marked by a lightshow. The

light show will be projected on AUB’s college hall, and reflect iconic images from the history of

the University throughout time such as main achievements, iconic people etc.

The whole community may attend, to watch the event. In terms of budget, AUB can seek

sponsors for the event, such as HSBC to finance the designers for the lightshow and equipment

needed to project it.

The main objective of this event is to mark the grand finale and conclude all events that went

on during the year in celebration of AUB’s 150, to showcase a final visual element to AUB’s

history.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6jLEl7b_8U

Light the skies Festival

In order to start the celebrations for the 150th, we want to go big with our first event.

We will pick a night where most Lebanese are free (a national holiday for example). This event

aims to gather around 15K Lebanese for a new celebration. We would invite the press,

celebrities who graduated from AUB, influencers to attend the opening of the event.

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The launch of the event will be marked by small speeches given by the Presidents of AUB and

WAAAUB by the main gate. At the center we would have the flying lanterns tied together in the

shape of 150. While the speeches are made, we would give out LED helium balloons to the

crowd. Once the speeches are done we will release the 150 lanterns followed by the balloons.

We want to light up the sky.

The launch will be followed by a food carnival. We would invite the street food festival

to set up their stands along West Hall. For that we would use AUB resources, the same stands

used for Outdoors. The Beirut street festivals have been a great attraction for many people.

Such an event would be a great opportunity for the creators of the food festival as well as AUB

who would benefit from their fan base.

Upper campus would be decorated with dim ambient lights, soft music, and flower bouquets

for people to enjoy.

In order to finance this event first we will set a 5000L.L entrance fee. Second we would

look for sponsors to cover the rest of the expenses, we can find sponsors for each activity. For

example if BankMed decides to sponsor the Balloon lanterns we can print the logo on the

balloons given to the public.

This event is the opening celebration for the 150th, a celebration that aims to bring

together students, alumni, the community and the public all together to celebrate the presence

of AUB since 1886.

This Public Relations activity aims to reinforce the image

of AUB in the community, AUB as a pioneer in innovation

and creativity. We want Lebanon to interact with AUB as

a brand, and remember the importance of the university

in the community as well as the economy.

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Gala Dinner

The Gala Dinner will be one of the last events of the year. Its aim is to highlight AUB’s

accomplishments throughout history. It will also re connect AUB’s community together. During

the Gala Dinner, AUB’s donors will be recognized for their contribution and belief in AUB’s

future, high distinction students will be rewarded for their hard work and distinguished

pioneers will be honored. An auction on many historical, archeological and artistic pieces will be

held. All the proceeds will go to the Financial Aid funds.

KPI:

The main objectives of this dinner are to raise donations and connect with Alumni. Thus, we will

measure the number of attendees in order to analyze alumni’s interest on WAAAUB.

Budgeting:

The Gala Dinner’s expenses will be covered by AUB who will oversee the entire

preparation. However, it will also hire students as part of the plan for promoting WAAAUB and

integrating students in AUB’s activities. A group of 10 people will take part in this Gala Dinner.

They will be responsible for promoting the dinner and help organize the dinner. They will be

paid according to AUB’s regulations, 5000 L.L per hour. We estimate that they will work during

week days for 3 hours each day for a period of 5 weeks. Also, they will work for four additional

hours during the day of the dinner. Therefore, the students will work for a total of 79 hours.

Promoting the event will be part of our budget, thus we will allocate around 1,250$ to promote

it on all WAAAUB and AUB social media platforms and through emails.

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AUB Day of Giving

Set a day of giving to stimulate donations from AUB community, globally

and locally. On this day of giving, every alumni chapter will be hosting a gathering to celebrate

the AUB’s values and garnish donations from Alumni for AUB’s. The event will be covered under

one main hashtag #AUBDayofGiving where aubites from all around the world will share their

moments as they reunite with old friends and give back to their beloved institution. This will

generate positive donations, buzz marketing, good word of mouth, and brand recovery in the

audience. We will hype the donations by setting a target amount to reach and creating a

countdown on AUB’s website which will excite people to donate and fill the tab (See example in

figure below). Finally, since it is our 150th Anniversary, nudge people into donating this special

number of $150. This idea will target all segments: the learners, the earners, and the returners.

We expect the returners to be more engaged with raising donations, however by making a buzz

and appealing to the whole AUB community, the learners and earners will be encouraged to

give back even with less significant amounts, every dollar counts.

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Connect AUB Students and Alumni

Campus Love

One of our objectives is to increase the sense of pride for current students. Many students

graduate on yearly basis, and in order to develop WAAAUB’s alumni database we might as well

start working on the current students. We noticed that AUB as a university doesn’t directly

interact with its students often. According to our survey to students, 36% of the respondents

feel that AUB doesn’t offer enough on campus activities.

In order to increase interactions between WAAAUB and the students, we suggest organizing

small low cost on campus entertainments for students. The aim of these entertainments is

create a certain pride for students, and reinforce the 72% attachment rate of students to AUB.

Based on the responses we got on the survey, 50% of the respondents prefer small on campus

events to celebrate the 150th anniversary.

We want to create Entertainment Thursdays, whereby every first Thursday of the month will

feature a new form of entertainment. The first event could be installing AUB music instruments

by the ZOO smoking area for people to enjoy listening to the music club members. Although the

initiative has almost no cost, we would be building a sense of belonging amongst students and

encouraging students to stay on campus/enjoy their time instead of getting bored and leaving

home.

The zoo can be branded with WAAAUB banners and flyers, in order for students to make the

connection, and understand what WAAAUB aims to accomplish.

The following months can feature: Salsa show, a small play, Hip Hop show, Dabke show… And

the rest of the months can be suggested by our students on social media to get user generated

content.

This type of event can be considered as a direct marketing strategy where we go to our target

market and advertise our services.

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In order to measure the success of this idea, we would monitor the rate of interaction with our

social media and compare it to pre-implementation figures.

International Students day

Other than AUB’s distinguished academics, the university highly values the sense of

diversity and cultural differences. With more than 75 nationalities present on campus, AUB is

one of the most diverse institutions in the region. Hence as a part of its 150th anniversary, AUB

wants to celebrate the presence of its international students and the importance of

implementing a sense of multiculturalism. The idea is to dedicate a whole day, where every

AUB club or organization is encouraged to represent a country. For instance, Dabkeh Club will

represent Lebanon, Salsa Club will represent and will take part of a small on campus event.

Music and traditional shows will be exhibited to Students and visitors throughout the day by

each Club. And Traditional food will be sold to cover each club’s expenses.

The event will be targeting all of the AUB community. Hence, Mass media strategies will

be our main focus to reach our target audience. Flyers and posters should be hang or

distributed around campus prior to the event. Social media will also be a very significant mean.

This event will mainly serve communication objectives, as it will highlight how AUB is

differentiated from other universities and how its position as a market leader is attracting a

diverse student body. It will also serve as an incentive to encourage international prospective

students to consider AUB for their studies. And it will push AUB alumni from foreign countries

to get in touch again with AUB, as they will feel personally associated with such an event.

Our KPIS will be measured through the database collected by the clubs of the people

who stopped by their stands and interacted with the event. The number of internet users who

engaged with the event will also be measured through comments, pictures and hashtags.

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AUB talks “What’s your story?”

The AUB Stories project will be launched over the year and include a talk once a month

to offers all members of the AUB community the opportunity to record, share, and preserve

personal stories relating to their experience with the University. The idea behind this is to allow

alumni to help and give advice to current students in their future paths. Each month one

inspirational talk will occur under a specific theme; such as: “Why some failures can lead to

success,” “What to do after graduation”, “How to make the most of your college experience”,

“How we started our companies”

The talks can be either individual presenter giving a talk or a panel of old alumni

discussing ideas together where the audience can ask questions and interact as well.

How can we reach out to the alumni?

An email can be sent at the beginning of the month to all alumni, including the titles of

the talks, asking them to sign up to the one they are interested in. A maximum of 5 speakers

will be assigned for each talk. AUB can also reach out to a few notable alumni members inviting

them to participate in the event.

Outside the auditorium a stand can be there selling AUB sweaters, caps, or t-shirts with

the money to go to the scholarship funds.

Reunion Weekend

The Reunion Weekend will be an initiative from the WAAUB to connect on a personal

level with AUB’s community. The occasion is aimed at joining staffs, alumni and current

students together in order to strengthen the relationship between all stakeholders, to allow

students to build a network that will aid them in their professional careers and promote the

WAAAUB organization.

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Event Details: 1/ Duration: 3 days

2/ Time: Friday, Saturday, Sunday

3/ Location: Faraya

A committee composed of students and alumni would be responsible for organizing the whole

event. An example of how the reunion could go: Each day would start off by a breakfast in the

hotel. On Friday, the participants would hike Lebanon’s mountains and have lunch afterwards.

There will be a workshop on each day so that students or fresh graduates could learn from the

alumni experiences and skills. On Saturday, the participants will go on a road trip touring from

Farayah to Erneh el Sawda. As for Sunday, the guests will form groups and will compete in

various sports activities. The dinner on Friday and Saturday will be a casual diner at a local

Lebanese restaurant. On Sunday however, there will be a Gala Dinner, in which speakers and

all interested parties would attend. Furthermore, an auction or tombola will be held. All the

proceeds will go to the scholarship and Financial Aids funds

Friday Saturday Sunday

Breakfast Breakfast Breakfast

Hiking Road Trip Sports Activities

Lunch Lunch RIKKY’Z

Workshop: Public Speaking Workshop: Body Language Workshop: Building Your Personal Brand

Dinner Dinner Gala Dinner

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Cost:

The Organizing committee will consist of 4 students and 2 alumni. They will be in charge of

getting sponsors, promoting the event, choosing the hotel, setting the up the activities, finding

key speakers for the workshops and the Gala Dinner as well as organizing the dinners. Thus, all

students involved in the event will be paid 200 $ each. The two way transportation will cost

500$. For the workshops, we allocated 900$ for all three workshops. The costs for

accommodation, lunch, dinners, hiking and road trip will be paid by the interested participants.

The sports activities should be covered by the sponsors.

P.S- The entire event may not cost anything for WAAAUB if the committee found sponsors

willing to endorse the occasion

KPI:

Our KPI for the Getaway Weekend will be to measure the number of participants in addition to

the donations collected during the Gala Dinner on Sunday.

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AUB networking series- Catch the series in a city near you

The AUB Networking Series is a chance for all alumni to reconnect with old friends, meet new

people, explore different networking opportunities and make new contacts within the AUB

Community. We believe that the AUB community is diversified and well-connected, so these

events bring our community members together to make the most of our diversity.

6 tips for surviving at Networking Events:

1) Bring your business cards

2) Connect with everyone

3) Have a mindset of contributing to the event

4) Make an effective introduction

5) Listen first then speak

6) Follow up

The events will take place in different countries over the year, and this will be promoted on

AUB’s social media pages, for example on the AUB main alumni page, WAAUB page and pages

for each chapter depending on the country the event is hosted in.

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WOAUB – Women of AUB

As AUB celebrates 150 years of exceptional prosperity, AUB continues to disrupt the

negative discrimination and oppression against women ‘justified’ under social norms in our

region. Empowering women with equal rights to gain quality education, prosper, succeed, and

grow in our competitive world. We want to take it further and take an official stand against

women discrimination. It is our time to magnify the impact and to raise this cause. Not only talk

the talk but also walk the walk.

In the Middle East Women are challenged every day with inequality especially in the

workplace, women are offered less career opportunities. Women suffer from unreasonable

income gaps compared to men; according to Arab News, women in the Middle East and Africa

are earning 67% less income than men. (Jiffry,2013). Moreover, women face difficulty balancing

family and rising in their careers.

Women are in need of support; physical, mental, and emotional support: they need

each other! They need to be able to reach out to other women that are going through the same

struggle in society. Additionally, young women need guidance and mentorship from older

women that can act as role models and share their wisdom from past experiences etc.

Allow WOAUB (Women of AUB) to bridge the gap and build an initiative exclusive for

Women at AUB that include alumni and students. This initiative is dedicated to empower

women in the region, recognize their achievements, and value their talent and capabilities.

WOAUB will build a powerful network of women that will involve various women ranging from

a powerful pool of alumni, to aspiring students, and hardworking staff. They will focus on

sharing concerns, limitations, and trying to solve issues in our problematic society suppressing

women. WOAUB will serve the community as the empowered women will empower others and

lend a helping hand to future generations.

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Objectives:

Select a board that represents all segments: Alumni, Students, Administrative Staff, and

Blue collar staff.

Conduct focus groups that aim to identify current challenges, and work on finding solutions.

Match established women mentors with group of women students for guidance and

direction.

Develop a special fund to support women education

Global Opportunities

After 150 years of success and innovation, we truly believe that our students are the

heart of this institution. AUB achieves its goals when its students achieve their dreams. So what

happens when the students start dreaming big? How do we adapt to their evolving needs and

yearnings?

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We noticed a massive rise in entrepreneurship, becoming a megatrend in the 21st

century. Generation Y is growing up to aspire and become entrepreneurs due to high

unemployment rates among the youth, and a transformational change in work and lifestyle

preference. (Barkawi,2015).There is a strong desire among the youth to dream big and start

independent business ventures. They aspire to live and learn, they dare to fail and succeed.

These people feel constrained working under a hierarchal boss in a slow moving business

model.

After conducting primary research, we surveyed students and asked them what is most

important for your career in the first 5 years after graduation? Salary/compensation,

Challenging work, pursue a higher education, or Global opportunities (travel/work/study

abroad). Giving the above options, the majority, 39%, claimed that they cared most about

global opportunities that include travel, work, or study abroad.

We captured this insight and decided to introduce global opportunities to our alumni in

order to provide for their “needs”. Simply match local dreams with global opportunities.

The project aims to build an online platform that exclusively connects AUB Alumni to

others from international renowned institutions. This hub will offer ambitious alumni exposure

to global markets and allow them to pitch in new ideas, meet potential co-founders, employ

great talent, and maybe even find investors. The project will result in building meaningful

connections between people that share common ground of quality education and ambitious

spirit creating synergy. Moreover, this initiative will retrieve valuable data from our alumni.

The project will begin collaborating with our ‘sister’ universities such as AUS located in

Sharjah, UAE and AUC that is located in Cairo, Egypt. Moreover, we aim to reach out to leading

universities in every region such as Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, and the Americas.

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Leave your mark at AUB

AUB provides a naming program for big donors and offers them to name buildings,

faculties, or even a bench on campus depends on their donation offering. However this naming

program is limited to big donors, those with bulky bank accounts.

Insight: People love leaving a print anywhere they go to be remembered!

We would like to propose the idea of expanding the naming program into naming bricks

of main gate walls (See figure below). Since people love leaving a print anywhere they go, why

don’t we provide this offering for small donations in return. The bricks can be named with the

actual names of ‘donors’, initials, a quote, a hashtag, etc. The insight of this idea was driven by

the behavior of people in public areas such as coffee shops, sights, etc. (See examples in figures

below). People always carve their names, or initials and say, “I was here”. By implementing this

idea, we will capture the opportunity of raising donations from a simple desire to be

remembered.

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Integrated Marketing Communications

Introduction

We believe that the most effective and efficient way to achieve our campaign’s

objectives is through following an integrated marketing communication (IMC) strategy that will

serve our objectives. We understand that various communication strategies are critical for our

campaign; however the autonomous use of these strategies might harm our brand and send

mixed and confusing messages to our target audience. Hence, integrating the communication

functions will allow us to achieve synergy among our promotional tools and hence build and

maintain a stronger brand identity.

Mobile App

Given that WAAAUB is planning to launch an application for AUB Alumni, as marketeers

we would like to build a functional added value to give mobile users an incentive to download

and use the application.

This application can be used as a digital identification for AUB Alumni. Users of this

application will enjoy many benefits such as exclusive discounts on hotels and restaurants, and

promotion deals on AUB events. Given that AUB hosts a large community,

The application will send push notifications on news about AUB, news about Alumni,

upcoming events, and also build a digital network of Alumni and identify geographically

proximate alumni and provide a platform for Alumni to connect.

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Video 1 - AUB stories

We want to create a video that would document diverse AUB stories from current

students, to nostalgic alumni, and prospective students. This video aims to tell a story a story

about AUB and celebrate its 150th anniversary.

Given that we are limited on budget and we want to optimize our time, effort, and

money. We recognize that we have a rich pool of talents right here on campus. Students

pursuing Media and communication studies!

Instead of resorting to media production agencies, we propose to produce it ‘in house’

by collaborating with the Media Department and the Media Student Society to create a

university competition. Understanding students interests, and motivation; some are driven by

recognition, others by monetary rewards, and some are simply eager to learn and get the hands

on experience. Let’s overshadow with an umbrella of incentives to capture different segments

with distinct motivations.

Incentivize engagement by students by providing the winning team $1000 monetary

reward, moreover they will strong recognition by AUB by using the video and provide the

winning team the technical support and required resources to advance their video to a major

production. And lastly, this will be super beneficial to student participants who will have a

hands on experience, practice what they learn in the media school, and maybe proudly add this

to their portfolio of minor productions.

Video 2 “We Make History”

We aim to make a short film that documents the history of AUB and its achievements

through the 150 years’ timeline. This short movie comes as a celebration of AUB as an

educational and social icon in the middle-east region specifically and the world in general.

While we understand our budget constraints, we believe that this project will not require any

significant costs as it will mainly be directed by the media department of AUB. It will provide

the needed props. The Crew will also be constructed of the media students in AUB whether we

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are talking about the camera men or the movie editors. The only exterior costs will mostly

include catering during the shooting along with additional consulting from professional talents

or extra props. We will also approach iconic Lebanese producers to see if they would volunteer

to take part in this project without any cost. They will have their name publicized within the

movie and their brand associated with AUB.

The movie will mainly target the AUB community, perspective or current students and

alumnus. Hence, we need to understand that we must segment our audience according to

which generation they belong to and target them through the means they tend to respond to

and engage with more effectively. This means that we will need to have an integrated

marketing Communication strategy that mixes all different types of marketing mix according to

the different responses they will get from the different segments. While the target audience

from Generation Y are shaped by technology and engage better with social media and online

events, Baby boomers tend to feel more comfortable dealing with traditional platforms such as

TV ads and personal invitations along with face to face marketing. This explains why following a

well-built IMC strategy will be the most efficient and effective way to target our audience.

In terms of objective, this movie will mainly serve to achieve communication objectives.

It will be implemented in order to build stronger brand equity for AUB by emphasizing on its

added value as an educational institution through its remarkable history and significant

achievements. It will build a stronger sense of belonging for current students and alumnus. And

it will attract more prospective students who would want to be associated with AUB. Both a

peripheral and a central route will be followed while marketing this movie. First, this short film

has creating a sense of pride and nostalgic emotions as an incentive. Watchers will relate more

to AUB on an emotional level as it will create in them a powerful thought of dignity and

gratification as a part of AUB. This can be perceived as an incentive for Alumnus to grow their

activities with WAAAUB and hence their donations. Second, in terms of the central route, this

movie will be based on well-studied and well organized historical facts and will be addressed to

an audience with an important intellectual level that will have a higher elaboration level when

responding to this video.

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Our KPIs will be measured according to the number of people who will be reached by

this short movie and the number of internet users who will engage positively with it through

social media.

Branding Items

AUB commemorative calendar:

AUB’s past comes alive in a commemorative 2016 wall calendar featuring archival

photographs and daily accounts of the university history. The calendar will delight history fans

and anyone interested in the dates and occurrences that have shaped AUB over the last 150

years. The calendar can be sold at the University bookstore as part of the anniversary

celebrations and donations will go to the scholarship fund. Libraries can be asked to finance this

project, for example Malek’s or Doculand and in return their logo would be displayed on the

calendar.

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BLISS joins the celebrations

Bliss Street has become an Icon for the AUB community. And with our main gate being

on Bliss Street, the street is a gateway to AUB and a trademark. Celebrating AUB’s 150th without

joining Bliss Street to the celebrations would be a shame.

By collaborating with the restaurants/shops that extend from ZWZ all the way to LeSam

we would decorate and show the beauty of the street with lights and flowers.

We would help the shops decorate and package their window displays to match the

150th celebrations. This event could spread over a week of celebrations where students can

receive extra discounts, we can even encourage shops to put some music at their stores and get

creative. This would help the shops communicate their brands to AUB students and create a

certain emotional connection while boosting their sales.

This initiative is a way for AUB to give back to its students, even the people who are

simply passing by Bliss Street. AUB would be communicated as a brand that goes beyond an

education, but rather a way of living.

This is part of our IMC plan to reach out to our target markets. We would be

encouraging students to stay on campus and enjoy the celebrations by the main gate.

Since we are collaborating with the shops, we would make sure to cover costs through

collaborations with our sponsors (mainly BankMed, ZWZ, Prime on Bliss, Roadster, Urbanista,

Dunkin Donuts and McDonalds). Each shop would be taking care of their window displays and

all together make the street more aesthetic.

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Timeline of Events

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How do our Ideas match project objectives

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Works Cited

AUB maintains global rank, as other universities in region fall. (2013, September 10).

Retrieved November 30, 2015, from <http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-

News/2013/Sep-10/230648-aub-maintains-global-rank-as-other-universities-in-region-

fall.ashx>.

Barkawi, W. (2015, June 14). The Dynamic New Trends Of Entrepreneurship. Retrieved

December 1, 2015, from <http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/247319>.

Jiffry, F. (2013, June 20). Mideast women have 67.4% less disposable income than men.

Retrieved December 1, 2015, from http://www.arabnews.com/news/455593>.

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Appendix

Appendix 1- Overall summary of the surveys (research)

Based on our survey posted for the current students of AUB, we were able to deduce that:

1/ Around 29% of students DO NOT feel attached to AUB

2/ Students mainly use Facebook and Instagram to stay connected with family and friends

3/ Almost 50% of students prefer small on campus events to celebrate the 150th anniversary

4/ 66% of students either have no expectations for the AUB celebration or not so sure what to

expect

5/ An amazing 39% of students (majority) pursue global opportunities after graduation

6/ Around 37% of students don’t think AUB offers enough on campus events

Based on our survey posted for AUB’s Alumni, we were able to deduce that:

1. 72% of the alumni are employed and 77% believe that the AUB diploma made them stand

out during job interviews

2. 40% of the Alumni ignore AUB’s emails

3. The majority of Alumni have Facebook, emails and then Instagram as their favorite social

media platform

4. 77% of them feel connected to AUB and 81% are informed of its history

5. The majority of Alumni’s achievements after graduation are related to their career and

graduate studies.

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Appendix 2 - Findings from our Primary Research (snapshots of all answers

from survey)

Students Survey

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Alumni Survey:

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Appendix 3: Social media analysis

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Appendix 4 - Detailed budget sheets

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Appendix 5: Cumulative Budget Sheets