PR students work behind the scenes of Texas Fans Take Ten campaign

By Sarah Barnes, Junior, Public Relations

University of Texas alumnus Lance Williamson says that as a hemophiliac he would never think of playing football for the Longhorns. But that doesn't stop him from bleeding orange.

In fact, he says, "I can't stop."

Williamson was one of many students who showed his sense of humor and school pride through a video contest called Texas Fans: Take Ten. The contest was an initiative of the Texas-Fans-Make-Us-Proud sportsmanship campaign, led by Tower Public Relations, a student-run public relations firm at the University of Texas at Austin.

Tower, which gives students hands-on experience providing public relations assistance to nonprofit organizations, worked with the Texas Exes, the university's alumni association, to develop and promote the contest that ended Sept. 16. Through the contest, Tower students were able to get real-world experience behind the scenes of a highly visible public relations campaign by putting students like Williamson in front of the camera.

In 2006, The Texas Exes and the university developed the Texas-Fans-Make-Us-Proud campaign to encourage a positive sports environment. Shortly after Tower began working on this new campaign, it strategized ways of reaching their student audience at a grassroots level.

Tower launched the video contest this fall using the popular social-media sites YouTube and Facebook. The contest challenged students to create and post 10-second videos showing why Texas should be proud to have them as fans.

Zane Gordon-Bouzard won the $200 first prize, announced Sept. 19, for his video "Keeping it Up," which shows Gordon-Bouzard with his hand raised hook-'em-horns fashion while sleeping, showering, combing his hair and working at his computer.

"Can't Stop Bleeding Orange," the video featuring Williamson, which was filmed by student Geoff Allison, takes the popular slogan for Texas spirit quite literally, again showing the creativity and humor that Tower was able to tap into to help spread the campaign message of good sportsmanship.

Allison Edwards, a recent graduate, was Tower's account executive for the campaign from fall 2007 through spring 2008.

"I was intrigued by the wide audience that Tower was helping the Texas Exes reach: the entire student body," she says.

Tower says using social media familiar to students was an effective way to reach them and get them involved.

Students involved in the campaign also say it was a great opportunity to apply the public-relations strategies they learn in the classroom to the new media they use everyday.

"I was able to play a role in the campaign from the first thought of the idea of the video contest all the way to the announcement of the winner," says Lisa Johnson, account executive for Tower, who began working on the campaign earlier this year.

"We brainstormed the contest as a group, pitched the story to The Daily Texan, and reached out to students all over campus to get this video contest off the ground," Johnson says.

Senior Kristin Turner agrees that Tower gives students invaluable out-of-class experience.

"I find that it's like a lab course for scientists," she says. "Theory is alright, but it's nothing without application, and that's what Tower does better than any other communication group on campus."

Turner says she helped identify the "best audiences" for the campaign and coordinated Tower's efforts to reach them by building alliances with the Texas Exes Spirit and Traditions Council, orientation advisors and other spirit and service organizations.

Dorian Walker, Tower's current director, says that not all the work took place behind the scenes.

We also "passed out the 'Texas Fans Make Us Proud' T-shirts and buttons at pre-game events," Walker says. "This gave us the opportunity to increase awareness about the campaign and connect with other UT students excited about UT sports."

By engaging student voices, Tower helped show that at the University of Texas, good sportsmanship is more than just a message.

And Texas fans really can't stop bleeding orange.

For more information visit www.texasexes.org/texasfans.