AIESEC: Uncovering A Great Opportunity for UIUC Students

196 Communications
Christel Bernardo
Angela Drewno
Kelly Hickey
Amanda Levin
Alyssa Musolf
Victoria Ronin

December 12, 2014

Executive Summary

Goal of Project
The purpose of the following report is to describe an in-depth analysis of the registered student
organization (RSO) AIESEC Illinois, which sends UIUC students abroad for internships and volunteer
opportunities in hopes of helping them develop personally and as future leaders. Research, in the form of
a communication audit, a public relations audit, a SWOT analysis, an interview and a survey, has been
conducted by a group of highly dedicated individuals through the months of September to December
2014 in order to bring about a series of recommendations that we believe will promote success for the
organization, if implemented.
We found that many students are actually interested in opportunities abroad, however, AIESEC
Illinois has low brand awareness because not many students are aware of this opportunity, as well as low
amount of students who did apply actually follow through with going abroad. Current outreach efforts are
not reaching all of the organizations key audiences.The quality of promotional content is generally good,
but efforts must be placed strategically to gain brand awareness and follow-through rate.
Throughout this campaign, we recommend furthering relationships with key publics in order to
create opportunities for awareness and involvement, such as certain professors, departments and offices.
We also think the organization should incorporate earned media, specifically through social media and
local newspapers. Furthermore, we propose the investment in promotional materials and events that will
spur interest and involvement of students in AIESEC Illinois. Also, since word-of-mouth and social
media prove to be effective modes of promotion, this audit will go further into detail about how we will
utilize these modalities, as well as the others listed above.
As for evaluating each of the recommendations, we are looking at quantity of reaching our target
demographic, which will help to evaluate the successes and weaknesses of our campaign. Ultimately, we
will find out how many people were reached through our efforts and how many people followed through
with the organization, with an emphasis on calculating unique members.

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Table of Contents
Executive Summary
Introduction of AIESEC
Summary of Research
Recommendations for AIESEC
Budget
Evaluation
Appendices
Appendix I: Behavioral Guidelines
Appendix II: Outline
Appendix III: Survey Questions
Appendix IV: Survey Results
Appendix V: Interview Questions and Notes

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Introduction of AIESEC
AIESEC is the worlds largest non-profit youth-run organization, with around 70,000 members
worldwide, 2,400 universities represented and 126 countries and territories. AIESEC used to be an
abbreviation for Association Internationale des Etudiants en Sciences Economiques et Commerciales,
although today the long name isnt being used anymore. AIESEC began in 1948 after World War II as an
organization to help develop friendly relations between member countries because they believed that
there was a need for peace and to create greater cultural understanding. Today, AIESEC serves as an
international platform where young people can discover and develop their potentials through internship
and volunteer opportunities abroad. The organization partners with different business and NGOs in order
to make these exchanges happen. Moreover, its six values are: Striving for Excellence, Demonstrating
Integrity, Activating Leadership, Acting Sustainably, Enjoying Participation and Living Diversity. Finally,
AIESECs vision is the peace and fulfillment of humankinds potential.
AIESEC Illinois is one entity under AIESEC International, more specifically AIESEC US, which
was founded in 1970. Apart from that, AIESEC Illinois is a Registered Student Organization (RSO) at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with around 60 members. There are weekly meetings every
Tuesday at 8PM at the Business Instructional Facility. It currently has 5 departments, which are Outgoing
Exchange, Incoming Exchange, Communications, Finance, and Talent Management. AIESEC Illinois
targets the Chicagoland area and strives to send students abroad for these opportunities and partner with
companies to bring in students from other countries.
Summary of Research
In order to have a better understanding of whether AIESECs message is getting across or not, an
external communications audit of their current online presence was conducted. The message AIESEC is

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trying to deliver is that the RSO offers a great global networking opportunity and to develop oneself
personally.
To begin with, we evaluated the AIESEC website and social media pages by determining how
usable they are to visitors. Criteria included professionalism, usability, and if they explained AIESECs
history/mission, had pictures, had student testimonials, and whether the pages listed the Executive Board
and their contact information. Regularly posted content (statuses, tweets, pictures, links, etc.) on social
media was also evaluated for favorableness based on likes/shares/retweets. Posts were informative,
interesting, or attention-grabbing for the audience. We also evaluated the frequency and the timing of
posts. Our evaluation concluded that there were no changes needed to be made on the website and social
media pages because the content included and delivered the intended message.
External emails were evaluated based on content, specifically whether they were brief and
valuable (interesting, informative, or attention-getting) to the reader. Other criteria that was considered
important included contact information so the reader could ask questions if necessary, and whether there
was a link to the website for easy accessibility. External emails were also concluded to be delivering the
right message.
After conducting a SWOT analysis of AIESEC, we discovered several strengths, weaknesses,
opportunities, and threats. One strength is that it has an integrated brand approach and strong team of
executive members. In addition, the organization has been very effective at word-of-mouth marketing.
This marketing has resulted in 10 successful exchanges in the Summer of 2014 and has brought around 30
new applicants this fall, a better turnout than the year prior. The organization also is effective at targeting
Global Students of all ages. Finally, the organization has a relatively easy application process, which also
has encouraged more students to join the organization.
The organization also has several weaknesses. overall, there is not much awareness of the
organization on campus; no students heard about the organization through professors and only a small
amount of people had heard about it at Quad Day. Furthermore, although there has been a higher
application rate this year, the percent of people who actually follow through with the entire application
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process is relatively small. The organization also struggles because it has a weak database of contacts and
small response rate from marketing tactics such as flyers, boothing, and chalking. One of the reasons why
this kind of marketing is ineffective is because there are not enough members of the organization to
successfully market to such a large student population.
Although the organization has various weaknesses, it also has many opportunities. Most of the
students that we surveyed had interest in going abroad, especially if they were going to have the
opportunity to get paid. Overall, students explained that they are very interested in experiencing new
cultures and having fun abroad, so there is great potential for applicants within the student population.
Another opportunity for the organization would be to partner with professors, the Study Abroad Office,
and other departments and advisors. These partnerships would allow the organization to gain more
legitimacy and they would also allow greater access to the student population.
Along with these opportunities, we found several threats to the organization. The main threat is
that if the organization does not get 30 exchanges by next semester, they cannot be recognized as part of
AIESEC. The large student population at the University of Illinois will also be difficult for the
organization to work with because they will not be able to reach out to everyone if they stay as small as
they are. Finally, the fact that students would rather get paid abroad than go to volunteer presents a threat
because it will be difficult for AIESEC to find enough paid positions abroad for participants.
Apart from the SWOT analysis, the publics that AIESEC Illinois is associated with were also
analyzed. In order to remain active, the organization needs to maintain good relationships with its publics.
For this specific campaign, the most important public well be focusing on will be the students at the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Since there are around 44,520 undergraduate
students on campus though, it is also important that we narrow down this target. AIESEC sends students
abroad for internship and volunteer opportunities, we assessed what types of students will be most
interested in these programs, which we found are freshmen, seniors and Global Studies majors. We want
to reach out to freshmen because they dont have much workload yet and because of this, they will be
more open to going abroad. Reaching out to seniors will be effective, as well because numerous students
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nowadays decide to take time off after graduation to travel. Lastly, Global Studies students are a good
target because they have a requirement for their majors wherein they have to go abroad. By focusing on
these three types of students, we are confident that our reach will be more effective.
Since we also need to bring in students from abroad, another important public to consider are
Human Resources recruiters or company leaders in and around the Chicago and Champaign area. Apart
from sending people abroad, we also need to have exchange opportunities for people from abroad to
intern in the Chicagoland area. These partnerships are needed to remain an active entity under AIESEC
United States.
Having said that, AIESEC United States and AIESEC International are other important publics
AIESEC Illinois closely work with. AIESEC United States is the unit that overlooks the operations of
each AIESEC entity in universities around the United States. Moreover, AIESEC International is the unit
in the Netherlands that overlooks AIESEC activities worldwide. By maintaining good relationships with
them. we can continuously improve and strengthen the AIESEC Illinois entity.
As it is important for any company to treat their employees well, it is also very vital for AIESEC
Illinois to ensure that their members are looked out for wellin order to motivate them to do work. AIESEC
Illinois currently has sixty members under its entity. They also dont just focus on their own members,
but since AIESEC Illinois is partnered with entities in 124 countries, good relationships are vital when
coming in contact with another AIESEC member from around the world.
Since AIESEC Illinois is also a Registered Student Organization (RSO) in UIUC, it is crucial that
we also maintain good relationships with the RSO Office, U of I staff, and professors. The RSO office
provides resources in which the RSOs can take advantage of, such as venues around campus, printing for
flyers, and such. Apart from them, AIESEC Illinois needs to create good relationships with the staff and
professors because these people may be of great advantage when establishing partnerships.
To begin with the primary research, an interview with the Vice President of Communications of
AIESEC, Dana Vattanavanitkul, was held in order to find out more about the current situation of the RSO.
Dana stated that the message the RSO wants to deliver is that AIESEC provides global opportunities for
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students who want to get international exposure and develop themselves personally. It provides people
who have a global mindset, the opportunity to go on exciting adventures where they can learn a lot
quickly and meet people from all over the world, essentially creating a global network. Moreover,
according to her, members believe that the desired message is being delivered, but it is not being spread
effectively.
Dana also talked about AIESECs main problem: that current outreach efforts are not reaching all
of their key audiences and does not have as high of a reach as the RSO would like to have. She believes
that the problem would be fixed if there was a more efficient outreach and if members took initiative to
make a more personal outreach. For example, AIESEC Illinois members should reach out to professors so
that members can make announcements during class times about AIESEC information sessions.
Currently, word-of-mouth is how students typically find out about AIESEC.
To find out more about the organization and student relationship to the organization, data was
collected through primary research by asking respondents to fill out a survey. The survey link was
distributed via Facebook by all 5 group members and had 57 respondents. The respondents were all
students at the University of Illinois and therefore, they ranged in age from 18-23. It is important to note
that most of our respondents were female and this may have impacted our results.
The survey consisted of 7 questions. One question asked was a demographic question. Four
questions were general questions asking respondents if they would be interested in experiences offered by
AIESEC and why they would be interested if so. The survey asked students if they had heard of the
organization AIESEC and to specify how they heard of AIESEC if they had heard of the organization
before.
The results are that 71% of respondents have never heard of AIESEC before. Respondents who
have heard of the organization stated that they heard about it through a friend (41%), Quad Day (5%),
social media (14%), and an info session (5%). Most students are interested in what AIESEC has to offer.
Respondents stated that they are interested in volunteer experiences abroad (74%) and in a paid internship

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abroad (88%). Therefore, conclude that students are interested in AIESEC and the opportunities it has to
offer, but they are simply not aware of the organizations existence.
Apart from the primary research, secondary research also shows that from the UIUC website,
there were 1,907 students studying abroad in 2010-2011, which brought its ranking up to 18th in the
nations top 20 research institutions for students studying abroad. Apart from that, many of the students
we know have studied abroad, will be studying abroad, or are interested in studying abroad. There has
also been numerous statistics that people aged 18-24, or Millennials in general, are truly interested in
traveling and seeing that world. It has been an ongoing trend over the past few years. Having said that, it
is evident that many students nowadays are interested in experiences abroad.
AIESEC Illinois provides a great opportunity for many students who express interest in going
abroad, not only to travel, but also for an internship or a volunteer opportunity. However, the biggest
challenge that AIESEC Illinois is experiencing is that majority of the students at UIUC are just not aware
of the existence of the organization. Because of this, we want to focus more on spreading awareness to
students on campus about the organization so that hopefully in the future, AIESEC can send more
students abroad for these incredible internship and volunteer opportunities.
Recommendations for AIESEC
Based on the results we received from our survey as well as the information provided by the VP
of Communications, we have developed a plan to raise awareness for AIESEC to help them grow and
succeed as an RSO. Our objectives for AIESEC include increasing awareness of AIESEC Illinois to
University of Illinois students by 15% before the next round of applications in February 2015, increasing
the amount of people who follow AIESEC on Facebook and Twitter by 10% by February 2015, increasing
the amount of student applicants by 10% by February 2015, and having at least 30 students participate in
exchanges by May 2015. It is imperative to have at least 30 students participate in exchanges by May
2015 in order for AIESEC to remain an active entity under AIESEC US, the national organization.
Without 30 exchanges by the spring, AIESEC risks losing their local committee.

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The strategy we have developed for AIESEC is to increase student awareness of AIESEC through
earned media, special events, and alliances and coalitions. As previously stated, one of the RSOs biggest
challenge is that students are not aware of its existence. By utilizing social media and holding events on
campus, students will be more likely to receive information about AIESEC. In addition, by establishing
alliances and coalitions, there will be more people promoting AIESEC who can reach a wider audience
rather than solely the members of the RSO.
Our group has created numerous tactics to support our strategies. With earned media, we would
promote social media sharing. AIESEC has well developed social media outlets, but it is not reaching the
campus large population of students. By creating a raffle where participants become eligible by sharing
or tweeting an AIESEC post, we would increase the amount of students that are reached by social media
and therefore aware of the RSO. Students would be encouraged to participate in the contest with the
reward of $100. Another method of increasing awareness through social media is by using familiar
hashtags such as #ThrowbackThursday. With this hashtag, AIESEC can feature a testimonial from a
members experience abroad which will help inform people about opportunities through the RSO.
Sending out an e-mail newsletter will keep people updated on AIESEC. AIESEC receives the
email addresses of interested students on quad day and at information sessions. They can capitalize on
this resource by regularly sending newsletters to keep these people informed and keep AIESEC relevant
to them. Seeing different opportunities abroad that are available and when special events and information
sessions are taking place will keep people interested in the RSO and encourage them to get involved.
Another way media can aid AIESEC is by being featured in publications such as the Daily Illini.
By featuring stories or testimonials in the newspaper, AIESEC will reach out to the large population that
reads the Daily Illini. The Daily Illini is available online and in print for free, making it very accessible
for students. Additionally, the article can be shared online through social media to promote the RSO even
more.
By hosting special events, students will be able to learn about AIESEC through interacting with
its current members. Setting up a booth at the ARC is a simple, free way to draw more attention to the
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RSO. The ARC is a regularly visited part of campus with a wide population that passes through. Having a
booth in the ARC will attract students to learn more about the RSO. The booth will provide information
about AIESEC as well as the opportunity for students to ask the members questions. Additionally, the
ARC provides space for RSOs to have booths for free. Along with having a booth, hosting cultural events
will help AIESEC increase awareness. Celebrating other cultures is likely to draw an audience that is
interested in traveling abroad. Similar to the booth, the cultural event would inform students about
AIESEC and allow them to interact with current members. The event would supply free food to
encourage students to attend. AIESEC would promote the event through social media and flyers. At both
the booth and the cultural event, AIESEC will distribute free promotional pens and drink koozies to the
students. Pens and koozies are a useful and affordable way to get the RSOs name out there and become
more familiar among students. When students use the items with AIESECs name on it, they will
recognize and remember the RSO.
Another strategy we would execute is to establish alliances and coalitions to promote AIESEC. To
accomplish this, the tactics we recommend are working with professors, the study abroad office, and the
Global Studies department. This can be as simple as having AIESEC members ask their professors for
permission to give presentations about the RSO during class. The presentations will raise awareness to a
large audience without even requiring students to attend information sessions. Members can specifically
ask the Global Studies department to inform their students about AIESEC. AIESEC is a great option for
students in the Global Studies major who are required to study abroad for a semester. With the department
informing students about this opportunity, not only will more people be aware of the RSO, but more
people will be likely to utilize the exchange program to study abroad. By targeting students interested in
traveling abroad, AIESEC will gain more attention and more exchanges. The study abroad office is also a
good partnership opportunity for AIESEC. If students are unable to do a study abroad program or would
like a shorter time period abroad than is offered, having the study abroad office suggest AIESEC could
provide a promising alternative. Having brochures with information about AIESEC in the study abroad

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office can aid students in their decision about what they would like to accomplish when studying abroad
while getting them familiar with the RSO.
Budget
We plan to spend our $1,000 budget on four specific events and promotions. In order to raise
social media presence we want to hold a social media sharing contest. The winner, with the most likes,
shares, and/or retweets, will receive a flat rate prize of $100. We also will put some of this budget
towards promotional items. If we were to create these items using www.4imprint.com we could create
promotional pens at $0.40 each, so ordering 180 pens would cost $72. We could also purchase 120 drink
koozies for $1 each. The extra $8 would cover the shipping costs. There are usually 2 information session
per semester, 4 per year. Another $200 would account for the cost of providing refreshments at these
meetings or $50 each meeting. The refreshments would include finger foods and drinks bought from the
supermarket. The cultural event would be held in the Courtyard Cafe in the Union. The cost for renting
the space is $60. There is an additional $12 for using the sounds system for music. The organizations
hosting booths or other activities at the event will have to provide their own materials if they require any.
The rest of the $328 would be for food and decor for the event. Decor would take $150 of the budget. We
will print posters and informational boards for the event attendees. We may need a flyer to hand out as
people walk in to explain those represented in the booths. The $178 will be for refreshments similar to
those served at the information sessions. This only leaves $100 left in the budget. This is our
miscellaneous costs and emergency fund. Various things arise that end up costing more money so it is
only responsible to leave a little space in the budget.
Evaluation
In order to evaluate the success of our earned media plans we will collect information from oncampus publications like the Daily Illini. Through contact with the newspaper staff we will calculate how
many stories were published about AIESEC and how many times it is mentioned. We will evaluate
AIESECs social media presences by comparing the amount of Twitter followers and Facebook likes
before the campaign and again after. We will also search tweets on Twitter to see how many times
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AIESEC is mentioned or hashtagged. Finally, we will also evaluate how many likes and shares
occurred during the social media sharing contest.
On campus events will also help us gain relevance and awareness with students. We will evaluate
how many people attended the information sessions, approach booths at the ARC, attend the cultural
event, how many promotional items are distributed, and how many new members end up joining
AIESEC. The amount of applications for an exchange will also be counted. It will be compared to the
amount of people that are accepted to the amount who do travel abroad to measure a follow-through rate.
Throughout this campaign we are attempting to create new alliances with business in order to
create opportunities for exchange applicants. We will evaluate how many companies we contacted and
compare those to how many contacts were created. We will also discuss the nature of theses relationships,
positive or negative, and whether we will have contact on future projects.
All the above data collecting and evaluation will help us determine how many new students and
businesses we have reached. We can then compare this to how many of those that were reached acted on
it and became involved in AIESEC. Through this we will be able to evaluate the successes and weakness
of our campaign.
As for evaluating our group, we all agreed that we worked together really well. We used a
Facebook group as our main method of communication and everyone would respond in at most two days
whenever a meeting was to be set up or something was to be done for the project. If there was a conflict
with anyones schedule, that person would take the initiative to make up for missing a meeting by asking
what she could do to contribute to the progress of the project. However, from the five meetings we had,
there was only one time when we werent complete. The best quality of our group overall was that
everyone was willing to help and contribute in whatever way they can to finish the project as best as
possible. There was very smooth communication between members and meetings didnt last long because
each one came prepared and was efficient as possible with what we needed to talk about.
In our opinion, there werent much to be improved on when it comes to working with each other.
We all agreed that this was the easiest group project weve had this semester, not because of the task we
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had to do, but because the people we worked with who were all competent with their work and took
initiative to help as much as possible. Our group dynamic was so good that we also suggested being
teammates in our group projects for next semester, if we end up in the same classes again.

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Appendices
Appendix I: Behavioral Guidelines
1) Name of Firm: 196 Communications
We chose 196 Communications, because we want to become a global PR firm that can reach and
communicate to audiences in all 196 countries. We also created 1 mission, 9 values and 6 practices for our
company:
1 mission: We believe in honest and strong Public Relations in all perspectives of the truth, which is why
our mission is to be able to communicate the truth from all around the world.
9 values: Honesty, Fairness, Respect, Loyalty, Innovation, Diversity, Collaboration, Expertise, and
Diligence
6 practices: Pro-activeness, Communication, Passion, Organization, Creativity, Patience
2) Primary contact: Christel Bernardo cbernar2@illinois.edu
3) Chosen RSO: AIESEC IL
AIESEC is the worlds largest youth-run, non-profit organization that focuses on building youth
leadership through exchange programs. They have three main products: Global Talent, which sends
people abroad for international internships; Global Citizen, which promotes volunteer experiences in
different communities in need around the world; and Global Leader, which creates opportunities for
training, experience and various conferences by being a member of AIESEC.
4) Our group expectations are the following:
1) Everyone is expected to show up to all group meetings. Group members are expected
to be engaged and be participative.
2) If a group member cannot make it to a meeting due to academic, health or emergency
reasons, they should let the group know via text or email 12 hours before and ask whether
there is anything they can do to make up for what they will miss. If so, this should be
done ahead of time or after the missed meeting by the deadline agreed upon.
3) Team members must also be ready to work and are expected to make an equal effort.
4) Failure to notify the group ahead of time about a missed meeting will result in a lower
individual score. If someone is not involved in the group work, the group will reflect this
in their individual evaluations, as well.

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Appendix II: Outline

I.
Communications Audit
A. Communication Tools Used
Internal and external
Email
Facebook Group
External
Social Media: Facebook Page, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn
Website
Flyers, booths and chalking (on sidewalks and on classroom boards)
Shout-outs in classes
Word- of -Mouth
Cold calls to companies
Meetings with potential partners
B. SWOT Analysis
S
W
Word-of-Mouth Marketing
Not much awareness of the organization
10 exchanges in the past summer
No one hears about this organization through
Specific targeting with Global Studies
professors
students, freshmen and seniors
Small amount of people heard about
Better turn out for info sessions this
organization at Quad Day
year compared to last
Weak database of contacts
Around 30 students applied this fall Response rate from marketing tactics such as
Easy application process
flyers, boothing and chalking
Following through with looking for
opportunities after the application process
Not enough members to market AIESEC
O

II.

A lot of interest in going abroad,

especially if it is paid
Partnerships with professors, study
abroad office, departments, advisors
Students are interested in experiencing
news cultures and having fun abroad
More consistency in engaging with
potential audience

For the next semester, we need 30 exchanges

otherwise cannot be part of national committee
Too many students in the university to
effectively reach out to
Students would rather get paid abroad than go
abroad to volunteer

Public Relations Audit

A. Publics Related to RSO
Important publics:
Students at U of I, specifically freshmen, seniors and Global Studies majors: we target
them specifically to go on exchange abroad, whether for volunteer or internships

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HR recruiters or leaders in companies near the Chicago and Champaign area: we target
them to partner with them for potential people who can do an exchange here from another
country
Other related publics:
AIESEC Illinois members, AIESEC Illinois alumni, AIESEC US, AIESEC International
B. Biggest challenge facing the RSO
Here is a great opportunity in which many people expressed that they are actually interested in
going abroad for an internship or volunteer opportunity, however, they are just not aware of the existence
of the organization.
C. Primary Research
We conducted an interview with the Vice President of Communications of AIESEC to find out
more about the current situation of the RSO. The following are our main insights from the interview:
Currently, not reaching all key audiences and isnt as far as they want because of the
following reasons: not enough manpower, need a more efficient outreach, need members
to take initiative and more personal outreach to own professors
They send the right message but not effectively
We provide global opportunities for students who want to get that exposure and
develop themselves personally. We want people who have that global mindset
and go on these exciting adventures where they can learn a lot really fast and
meet so many people, an opportunity to have a global network.
Word of mouth is usually how people find out about them; also a small increase from
online marketing.
Possible opportunities: partnering with Study Abroad Office and organizations that have
volunteer programs in other countries, target Global Studies departments, physical
outreach (more tabling/booths), newsletters
Focus on selling point of AIESEC: cheaper and student-run (non-profit)
We also surveyed students at the University of Illinois. These are the main insights from
the results of our survey:
71% of respondents have never heard of AIESEC before
41%, heard about AIESEC through a friend, followed by social media at approximately
14%, Quad Day at approximately 5%, and an info session at approximately 5%
Students were asked if they were interested in volunteer experiences or paid internships
abroad. Approximately 74% of respondents stated that they were interested in volunteer
experiences abroad. About 88% of respondents said they were interested in a paid
internship abroad
III.
Plans
A. Objectives
1. Increase awareness of AIESEC IL to University of Illinois students by 15% before
the next round of applications in February 2015
2. Increase the amount of people who follow AIESEC on Facebook and Twitter by 10%
by February 2015
3. Increase the amount of student applicants by 10% by February 2015
4. Have at least 30 students participate in exchanges by May 2015
B. Strategies

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Increase student awareness of AIESEC through earned media, special events, and alliances and coalitions.
C. Tactics and Rationale
Earned Media
Social media sharing: the more people who share posts, the more people the post reaches
#Throwback testimonials or create a hashtag related to AIESEC IL experiences: Will
inform followers about past experiences and encourage them to find more out, as well as
spark interest. By using a familiar hashtag, it increases the chances of more people seeing
the post
Contest for the most shares and likes will get $100: Increasing shares will increase people
who will see post and therefore, are aware of AIESEC
Monthly newsletter with potential opportunities and testimonials (shared on FB and
Twitter too): Will inform subscribers more about opportunities available and spark
interest
Testimonials/ feature articles of experiences on Publications such as Daily Illini: More
reach
Special Events
Set up more booths in order to increase reach such as at the ARC: interpersonal
communication gives publics more opportunity to ask questions and interact with
members. ARC is a common area with the potential to reach a big audience
Host a cultural event that celebrates other cultures to raise awareness for AIESEC
Distribute free promotional items, such as t-shirts or pens: To get AIESECs name out
there and help with brand recognition and recall
Host information events with free food: Many students like going to events with free
food
Alliances and Coalitions
Partner with professors to have members give more presentations about AIESEC during
class: Will inform people about AIESEC who would not come to info session otherwise
Partner with Global Studies department to inform their students more about AIESEC:
Taking advantage of the their requirement to go abroad
Partner with Study Abroad Office to give out informational packets: For the people who
cant afford to go on Study Abroad or would want a shorter time abroad can be referred to
AIESEC instead
D.
Breakdown of Budget
Total = $1,000
Number of people needed = AIESEC members (around 60 available)
Money spent on social media sharing contest: $100
Money spent on promotional items: $200
Money spent on food at information sessions: $200
Money spent on cultural event: $400
Miscellaneous fees and emergency money: $100
IV.
Evaluation of Plans
Determine the amount of articles published in the Daily Illini
Compare the amount of individuals who have started following AIESEC on social media outlets,
such as Facebook and Twitter, before and after the campaign

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 Determine how many shares and likes received during contests

Determine how many people are reached for the monthly newsletter
Determine how many promotional items were distributed
Determine how many people attend info session after beginning of campaign plan
Determine how many people approach booth at the ARC
Determine how many people join AIESEC as members
Determine how many people apply for an exchange program
Determine how many people attended the cultural event
Determine how many partnerships were created during the campaign

Appendix III: Survey Questionnaire

1. Have you ever heard of the Registered Student Organization (RSO) AIESEC?
Yes
No
2. If you have heard of AIESEC, how did you hear about it?
Quad Day
Social Media
Friend
Professor
Info Session
Other (please specify)
3. Are you interested in going abroad for a volunteer opportunity?
Yes
No
4. Are you interested in going abroad for a paid internship?
Yes
No
5. Would you rather go abroad for a non-paid volunteer experience or to get a paid internship?
Non-Paid Volunteer Experience
Paid Internship
6. What do you look for in an exchange or volunteer experience?
(Open-ended)
7. What is your age, gender, and major?

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Age

______

Gender

______

Major

______

IV:

Appendix
Survey
Results

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Appendix V: Interview Questions and Notes

Interview with Dana Vattanavanitkul, the VP Communications of AIESEC IL
1) What are your current goals and objectives for communications?
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External Relations
To increase External Relations by 100% (didnt have anything before)
50% retention rate for old contacts (for professors)
Increase 50% for contact set with professors
Currently: 2-3 more leads for professors one that is setting up for Global Studies majors (info
sessions); advertising within the department and to students
Media & Marketing
Double the amount of activity on social media
Increase awareness through informal marketing campaigns (booths and dances)
Increase attendance for Outgoing Exchange info sessions
Event Planning
One or two small events for the public and Local Committee not anything for that
2) Are you reaching key audiences with your messages and moving them to
action?
Not all key audiences Reach isnt as far as we like it; not enough manpower; need a more efficient
outreach; members to take initiative; personal outreach to own professors
3) What communications have been most effective?
Word of mouth is the most effective. There has been an increase from online marketing (small increase).
4) What communications opportunities do you think are you missing?
Study Abroad Office Partnership: kind of competing; not providing study
Global studies departments
Other organizations that have volunteer programs in other countries; Making sure that we focus
on the selling point of AIESEC: cheaper, student-run; $800 for a program, own flight, mostly
housing is provided
Newsletters- Keep in touch with alumni, professors, LC and public
5) How did you inform the public about your business? What worked? What
didnt?
Work on physically being out there (tabling be done more often, but what do we have to do for
it)
Member recruitment
Outgoing Exchange info sessions

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