Degree Type
Honors Capstone Project
Date of Submission
Spring 5-1-2019
Capstone Advisor
Regina Luttrell
Honors Reader
Adam Novak
Capstone Major
Public Relations
Capstone College
Public Communications
Audio/Visual Component
no
Capstone Prize Winner
no
Won Capstone Funding
no
Honors Categories
Professional
Subject Categories
Communication | Public Relations and Advertising
Abstract
Pet overpopulation has been a national issue for years. With thousands of unwanted stray cats and dogs found on the streets annually, local shelters are doing their best to rehabilitate and rehome animals. However, funds and resources are limited, and communication efforts are poor. Animal shelters need to begin to focus on public relations efforts in order to boost identity within their local communities. The purpose of this research was to discover what inherently goes into developing a comprehensive, successful public relations campaign. This study specifically focused on the following research questions (a) what makes a public relations campaign successful? (b) how do public relations efforts change and/or affect nonprofit organizations? and (c) how can animal shelters better utilize public relations to promote their mission? This was accomplished through two methods. First, research of previous successful nonprofit campaigns along with an analysis of the current state of the adoption process (related to public relations efforts) in animal shelters across the United States was conducted. Second, the implementation of an integrated app, which will enable easier accessibility to the adoption process directly to the consumer, is to be created. The app is called PAWNDER, and is inspired by the dating app, Tinder, in format. Consumers are matched with adoptable animals based off of preferences inputted into the app. The app’s goal is to make the process easier and provide more accessibility to animals in need.
Recommended Citation
Hannah Allison, "#PawnderAdoption Creating a Public Relations Campaign to Increase Adoption Rates Among Shelters in the United States" (2019). Honors Capstone Projects - All. 1077.
https://surface.syr.edu/honors_capstone/1077
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
