Elizabeth Gibson

Situation Analysis

Company, Mission and Goals

The Yamhill Enrichment Society (YES) is a nonprofit organization in Yamhill County,

Oregon, that supports the arts, agriculture, music, education, history and community. YES was

founded by Oregon wine industry pioneer Susan Sokol Blosser in 2011. The overarching goal of

YES is to enrich Yamhill County through its projects and to raise awareness of what Yamhill

County has to offer. It does so through several projects: Books for Babies, Nourish Yamhill

Valley, Music Enrichment and Bounty of Yamhill County (BOYC). BOYC is the nonprofits

largest fundraiser, raising funds through donations, grants and sponsors for the annual food and

wine festival.

Bounty of Yamhill County is a three-day festival held August 25 to 27 in Oregon wine

country that features local food, chefs and wine. In its fifth year, Bounty of Yamhill County is a

means to raise funds for the Yamhill Enrichment Society. It has about 10 different events that

occur during the weekend with ticket prices ranging from $50 to $250. This years events will be

finalized by the beginning of May. Last year there were hot air balloon rides, special dinners and

horseback rides through local vineyards. The flagship event, BIG NIGHT, is held every year at

Sokol Blosser Winery on the last day of the weekend, costing $150. It includes 20 local chefs

preparing food from local farms and a wall of wine for guests to choose from. Tickets will be

available at the beginning of May to help attendees plan their summer. Those in the baby boomer

age demographic have traditionally attended the event. This situation analysis will focus on

Bounty of Yamhill County.

External Environment

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 The Yamhill Enrichment Society operates in Yamhill County, which has a population of

about 100,000 (Yamhill County, 2010). The county is in the Willamette Valley, a prestigious area

known for its Pinot Noir wine, which attracts national and international tourists. Yamhill County

is home to more than 200 wineries. As of 2012, Yamhill County had more than 2,000 farms,

some of which participate in BOYC (Census of agriculture, 2012).

Oregon is a state that focuses on sustainability and has strict rules for land use when it

comes to wineries. Many wineries in Oregon are certified organic, biodynamic and sustainable or

have other environmental certifications. Oregon wine tourism is an important factor in helping

this organization attract attendees to its main fundraising and showcase event. In 2013,

Willamette Valley, Oregons largest wine region, had more than 5 million visitors (Panichkul,

2015). When wineries are successful and making a profit, they are more willing and able to be

sponsors for BOYC.

The growing popularity of social events focused on food and/or beverages in the United

States may benefit future Bounty of Yamhill County ticket sales. An article in Forbes said, A

study conducted by Eventbrite, the global ticketing and events marketplace, says more than three

in four millennials would choose to spend money on a desirable experience or event instead of

buying a product or service. There was more than a 45 percent increase in food and drink events

from 2013 to 2014 (Fromm, 2015). Local and organic food/drink events specifically have

increased in popularity. In 2014, 25 percent of food and beverage events had a focus on

local/organic. Portland and Seattle are ranked in the top 25 food loving-cities, along with cities

such as, New York, Miami and Dallas (Hoffman, 2015).

The cultural norm of wine tasting is elegant and somewhat formal. Oregon wines can be

expensive, and they are less familiar to those who live outside of Oregon. There is also a cultural

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shift toward less processed foods, knowing where your food comes from and the farm-to-table

movement (Hartman Group, 2015).

Opportunities

Because the event is held in wine country, we have an opportunity to take advantage of

the interest in visiting this area to attract visitors from outside the region to BOYC. Since this

event is still relatively new, it has the potential to grow in popularity and gain more national and

international recognition. With the foodie and adventure aspect of the event, there is an

opportunity to attract more young adults who are interested in these experiences. Social media

presents an opportunity to better promote Bounty of Yamhill County and what YES does.

Threats

Many wine events, as well as food and beverage events, are held in the Willamette Valley

during the summer. For example, events planned for the solar eclipse happening August 21 are

already selling out and will create an influx of visitors a couple days before BOYC. This could

be an opportunity rather than a threat, however, if visitors plan to stay the whole week and want

to attend BOYC at the end. There are other high-cost events that compete for our target

audiences time and money, such as the International Pinot Noir Celebration at the end of July.

There are also some cultural perceptions that wine events are more formal, which may make it

challenging to attract a younger audience.

The Bite of Oregon, located in Portland, is a well-known event that is in its 34th year.

While it doesn't have the exact same structure as BOYC, it does take place in the same region

and the same timeframe. The Bite is the weekend following BOYC. It has lower ticket prices,

and its proceeds benefit the Special Olympics. There is a farm-to-table event at The Bite of

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Oregon, which is a similar niche to Bounty of Yamhill County (The Bite of Oregon, 2017). This

event may appeal more to the younger target audience that BOYC would like to attract.

There are also more elevated events in California and Colorado, such as Sonoma Wine

Country Weekend the first weekend of September and the Steamboat Wine Festival August 9 to

13 in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. Because these events also take place in late summer, they

may prevent people from attending Bounty of Yamhill County. Sponsors of these events are also

much larger companies, such as Visa, which can help with large auctions and promotions. The

Sonoma event is more expensive, with prices ranging from $150 to $500. Its proceeds also

benefit a nonprofit (Sonoma Wine Country Weekend, 2017). The Steamboat Festival has been

around for more than 10 years. It also benefits a local nonprofit, with prices ranging from $80 to

$150, and, like BOYC, has an emphasis on outdoor events (Steamboat Wine Festival, 2017).

Attracting BOYC attendees may be more difficult with these events as competition. These events

have been around longer than BOYC, gaining more recognition and possible loyal attendees, in a

larger area than Yamhill County.

Event Analysis

According to Sarah Lessen, the executive director of YES, there is really no other event

quite like Bounty of Yamhill County. Two years ago it ranked second for General Food Festival

in the 10Best Readers Choice Award category USA Todays rankings (BOYC, 2017). Because

the event combines local farmers, chefs, wines and adventures in Oregon wine country, it is

unlike other food and wine events around the country. It also differs in that it does not involve

large auctions and is not sponsored by large companies. With larger sponsors, BOYCs

competitors are able to gain more media attention and run more ads, as well as provide more

high-priced events. Not all food and wine events have beneficiary nonprofits like this one does.

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 Internal threats: The staff at YES is limited in its ability to implement a public relations

campaign, which is why they now have an intern. The staff includes a handful of people who

work on different projects for BOYC, including an executive director, a culinary director and

people who work on YES projects, such as Nourish Yamhill Valley. BOYC is only five years old,

so it's continually being changed and updated to improve. Also, the price of tickets may be a

deterrent for some.

Internal Resources: Susan Sokol Blosser has influence in the wine community because

of her history within the wine industry and the leadership roles she has played. She will be a

terrific spokesperson for this campaign. Culinary Director Anne Nisbet works for IPNC as well

as BOYC and, therefore, has many connections in the food and wine industry that she can reach

out to. Sarah, the executive director, is well-versed in the details of YES and BOYC, which will

be beneficial for making sure that information is correct in outgoing communications.

Communications Audit

Website: Bounty of Yamhill Countys previous tactics for 2016 included ads in the

News-Register, hiring a public relations professional to write a press release and Facebook ads.

Tickets can be purchased online through the website. The BOYC website was analyzed from

March 2016 to August 2016 using Google Analytics. The analysis showed that website traffic

was the highest in August with more than 6,000 total visitors with 4,500 new visitors and other

months had fewer than 2,000 visitors. There were more articles written in August about the

event, which directed more users to the site. Portland Monthly and Travel Oregon articles were

published in August and likely generated the referral traffic to the website. Sarah also ran

Facebook ads for the event in August. The tickets were released in April, which, according to

Sarah, the release is typically when the most are sold; however, April has the second lowest

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number of site visits. The average session time for most of the months analyzed was less than

two minutes. Using social media channels, such as Facebook and Instagram, to direct traffic to

the website where people can then buy tickets, is an opportunity. Last year, posting was

infrequent on all social media channels during the months leading up to the event until August,

occasionally, with long spans between posts. In the last few weeks before the event, however,

there were many more posts.

Facebook: The BOYC Facebook page has about 1,200 likes, yet engagement (post

clicks, comment, shares and likes) on posts is usually fewer than 10. This may be due to the

content of the posts since some of them are thanking and doing shout-outs to the event sponsors.

Also, many posts weren't repurposed for the different social media accounts. Some of the best

posts included photos or a shared an event from another organization. This shows that the page

followers are more interested in this type of content than messages without photos. Even when

posts do get engagement, the number is low; for example, one post garnered fewer than 10

engagements but reached 800 Facebook users. Facebook, Twitter and Instagram could provide

more information about what YES does, and demonstrate its connection to BOYC more. There is

an opportunity to improve post engagement without having to pay to boost posts, improve

frequency of posts and post content, the latter can be achieved by including more informational

content that meets the needs of the audience on the BOYC social media pages.

Instagram: The BOYC Instagram has 526 followers and fewer than 150 posts. The most

likes on a picture is about 50. Some photos don't utilize hashtags and many are not commented

on from other Instagram users. Various photos were dissimilar in their look and quality. Many

posts thank sponsors but provide little information about them. Because we know Instagram

accounts that are influential and the fact that Instragram posts allow for the unlimited use of

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hashtags, there is an opportunity to get more followers, raise more awareness of the event and

attract more event attendees through Instagram. Quality photos and similar photo filter styles will

improve the effectiveness of the channel. Instagram also presents an opportunity to reach young

adults, so grabbing their attention and being seen on the discover page through hashtags and likes

is important. Commenting on and liking related posts from accounts that BOYC follows can help

gain more followers and more engagement, as well as get the BOYC name out there.

Twitter: Twitter for BOYC seems to be the least useful in engagement and raising

awareness of the event since it has the smallest following with 288 followers. The last tweet was

in October, leaving a large gap between posts for about four months. While there are a variety of

posts, it is mostly thank-you posts and posts carried over from Instagram. The messaging is less

informational about BOYC. Some posts mentioned Travel Oregon to get more attention. The

most successful post was from 2015 with four retweets and seven shares; it included a picture

from the event and two hashtags. There is also a lack of hashtags on most posts. Posts with

photos get more favorites. There is an opportunity to get more followers and use more hashtags

by doing different, more engaging posts, as well as increasing the frequency of the posts.

Target Audience

There are two target audiences for this campaign. In general, attendees are mostly from

Oregon, but BOYC would like this to expand outside of the state. The primary audience is older

men and women ages 45 to 70 with a high disposable income that allows them to afford the

ticket prices, ranging from $50 to $250 per event, plus potential travel expenses. This audience

uses Facebook more than other types of social media. They read local papers and watch local

television to get their news. They enjoy attending events and traveling as well as appreciating the

community that they live in (My best segments, 2016). They have more free time and are able to

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attend without children since the events are not intended for families. According to the VALS

Framework (2017), they are innovators with high resources who are skeptical of advertising

and have a wide variety of interests and activities.

Since some of this audience is already aware of the event, they may be considered a more

active audience who is more likely to read in-depth information. This audience tends to be in the

self-actualization stage of Maslows Hierarchy of Needs. Therefore, they have already completed

the previous stages, resulting in them wanting to give back and explore new things. Talking with

friends about attending will be beneficial in garnering ticket sales. People seldom make a

decision on their own but are influenced by their friends, parents, educators, supervisors, media

etc. This audience needs to see value in the event and in supporting YES (Wilcox and Reber,

2013).

Another audience the event organizers want to attract this year is young adults, ages 30 to

44, from Oregon, Washington and possibly California. This audience may be more passionate

about foodie experiences and the farm-to-table aspect. This audience is more active on social

media, so using opinion leaders like bloggers and popular people on Instagram can be utilized

with this audience. They have at least a partial college degree or higher with a moderate to high

income (My best segments, 2016).

This group may be more in the esteem needs stage of Maslows Hierarchy of Needs; thus,

they may care less about the mission and actions of YES and more about the benefits they'll

receive from attending BOYC. This audience is most likely less aware of the event. Portland

Monthly called it an event that Oregonians didn't know about. Therefore, this more passive

audience is the target audience that needs to see visual content. They will pay attention when

its entertaining and offers a diversion; they notice billboards and radio spots briefly while doing

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something else (Wilcox et al., 2013). They are experiencers on the VALS chart, meaning that

they are sociable, seek adventure and adopt trends. They have done a moderate to high amount of

traveling already and are interested in traveling abroad more in the future. They are interested in

the latest technology (VALS, 2017).

Campaign Plan
This plan will be guided by the Diffusion of Innovation Theory, which identifies a five-

step process by which new ideas or behaviors are adopted. The first step is awareness, when a

person is first exposed to an idea or product. Interest is the next step, which means that the

person becomes interested in the idea or product, seeking more information. The third step is

evaluation, meaning the person evaluates their self-interest and whether the idea/product will

work for them. Trial is the fourth step, wherein the idea/product is tried. This could include

talking to a friend about it. Finally, adoption is the last stage of the process, wherein the person

starts to use a product/idea (Wilcox et al., 2015).

This theory is like a funnel, meaning that more people must be reached in the earlier

stages in order to get the desired number of people to adopt a desired behavior. For this PR

campaign, we will think of adoption as someone buying a ticket for BOYC. Creating a larger

amount of awareness and interest is essential to attract more people to the events, which can be

done through PR tactics. The public relations writer is most influential at the awareness and

interest stages of the process. People often become aware of a product, service, or idea through

traditional media outlets such as newspapers, magazines, radio and television. In contrast,

family members, peers and opinion leaders are more likely to be influential during the evaluation

and trial stages of the decision-making process (Wilcox et al., 2015).

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 Goal: The goal is to stimulate attendance at Bounty of Yamhill County. This can be done

by following the process of the Diffusion of Innovation Theory. In order to achieve this goal we

need to reach people who have never attended BOYC events with messages of how wonderful it

is and remind previous attendees to come back. Its necessary to convey the value of the ticket to

prospective attendees.

In order to achieve this goal, I have identified two measurable objectives. One objective

is to raise awareness and interest by 10 percent over 2016. The second objective is to sell out of

all 521 tickets. The objectives will be implemented through the strategies and tactics described in

the following paragraphs.

Objective 1: The objective is to increase interest by gaining more than 830 unique

visitors to the BOYC website between March and August for 2017. During this time period last

year the unique visitors was 8,361. Raising awareness is more difficult to measure, but increasing

the number of media placements gets Bounty of Yamhill County in front of people and can direct

them to the website. Interest can be measured through engagement with the BOYC website and

social media accounts. Increasing interest in the event will ideally help funnel more people into

buying a ticket.

Strategy 1: For this first objective, one strategy is to use media outreach to increase the

number of people who are aware and interested in BOYC. With media outreach, there won't be

as much control over the message from BOYC, but it results in third-party endorsements from

news media. As Wilcox et al. (2015) says, using traditional media is essential for creating interest

in the audience. Once they become interested, people seek more detailed information from

sources such as videos and websites.

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 Tactic 1: The first tactic for this strategy is a press release. This release will focus on

tickets being available and the event lineup that Bounty of Yamhill County will have this year.

This tactic will be directed toward the older target audience. Getting our story told by mass

media will likely reach the older audience more so than the younger audience, but we hope to

reach a wide variety of people. Distributing the press release to the News-Register to gain local

interest, as well as to publications outside of Oregon can help increase interest in the event.

Tactic 2: Another tactic is submitting event details to event listings on media and

community websites. This may reach more of the older audience depending upon the site. I will

create a media list with outlets listed that relate to wine and food events where BOYC details can

be submitted.

Strategy 2: The second strategy is to use BOYCs digital communication channels to

elicit interest and engagement. These digital communication channels include BOYCs

Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. If someone reads or hears about BOYC, they may follow the

social media pages to learn more information about the events and what the organization does.

To facilitate audience members in getting to the adoption stage, the information about BOYC

should be easy to comprehend (Wilcox et al., 2015).

Tactic 1: A tactic of this strategy is to use social media, specifically Instagram and

Twitter, to grab their attention. This tactic will appeal to the younger audience through posts that

catch their attention and are engaging since this is generally a more passive audience. Messages

directed toward them need to be highly visual, use catchy themes and slogans, and contain short

messages (Wilcox & Reber, 2013). Starting the campaign by having posts that focus on the

participants and give an overview of the event will help to increase interest among these

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audience members. Engagement and interest can be measured through social media insights

tools.

Tactic 2: Another tactic for this strategy will be Facebook posts targeted at the older

audience. This audience is typically more active on Facebook than other platforms. They are

usually aware of the product and have reached the second stage of interest and are seeking more

detailed information (Wilcox et al., 2015). These posts will explain the event and use video to

help effectively do so. Our aim is to give the audience a clear understanding of what Bounty of

Yamhill County is, which is the necessary first step.

Objective 2: The second objective is to sell all 521 BOYC event tickets. To achieve this,

we need to move people through evaluation and trial stages to the adoption stage, meaning that

they understand the event, have become interested, have tested the idea out on others and believe

it appeals to their self-interest. This is the more difficult aspect of the campaign because the

audiences need to be convinced of the value of BOYC and motivated to spend money on events.

Strategy 1: Using media outreach to motivate people to buy tickets is the first strategy of

this objective. We will attempt to get traditional media such as newspapers and magazines to tell

the BOYC story. Media outreach will be an effective strategy because third-party endorsements

provided by trusted media can be more persuasive than the organizations own digital content or

an ad convincing people to attend. Getting people to the adoption stage requires more in-depth

information and appealing to their self-interest through stories they would want to read in these

media outlets.

Tactic 1: A tactic of this strategy is to create another press release or pitch a feature story.

The press release would have a different angle than the first one. Pitching a feature story about

one of the BOYC participants or sponsors would have more content than a press release and still

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promote the events. One of these options would be submitted to other publications than the first

press release, preferably publications with a large number of readers to gain new BOYC

attendees. This tactic is mainly for the older audience who read publications such as 1859

magazine, which has a high number of readers (66 percent) who attend food and wine events and

fit into the older audience demographic characteristics (1859, 2017).

Tactic 2: The second tactic is to write another press release or pitch a feature story with

an angle that will appeal to the younger age group. A press release/feature story could be

submitted to Portland Monthly and other similar outlets. The content will need to appeal to the

audiences self-interest and motivate them to buy tickets. A feature story could focus on the farm-

to-table trend and how the Kookoolan dinner will have food grown specifically for this event.

These tactics help with third party endorsements and drive people to the BOYC website.

Strategy 2: The last strategy is to use BOYCs digital communication channels to

motivate people to buy tickets. This strategy will be particularly effective for returning BOYC

attendees that are already following BOYC on social media.

Tactic 1: Blog posts will be the first tactic of this strategy. These posts may appeal more

to the older audience because of the informational content that will be in them, whereas the

younger audience may be more passive. It is essential to develop tactics designed to attract the

attention of those who passively process information and those who actively seek it (Wilcox &

Reber, 2013). Some of the blog posts will showcase BOYC participants and sponsors, saying

why they're a part of the event. Some posts will be more informational, discussing the values of

BOYC and the events connection to YES to appeal to the target audience. These should

indirectly motivate people to want to go to events without directly saying, buy a ticket. The

posts will be shared on social media to get more readers.

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 Tactic 2: Sending an email newsletter is another tactic that will appeal to previous BOYC

attendees, who normally fall into the older age group. It may convince them to return and attend

different events. The newsletter will also serve as a reminder of why these tickets are of value

because of the connection to YES and as a reminder to buy tickets if they aren't following any of

the social media pages and dont see BOYC in traditional media.

Tactic 3: A third tactic is using Instagram and Twitter to post testimonials and

informational videos about the events, which can help with moving the younger audience

through the Diffusion of Innovation stages since testimonials can function as the trial stage.

Tactic 4: The final tactic is to use Facebook to promote Bounty of Yamhill County events

from the ticket release date to when tickets sell out. This can be done though testimonial content,

such as quotes from previous attendees. The communications audit showed that the most website

traffic came from Facebook posts. The posts can include more informational and persuasive

content, such as video statements from Susan Sokol Blosser about events. The posts need to get

people to visit the website where they can buy tickets.

Evaluation: Wilcox et al. (2015) describe the Diffusion of Innovation Theory as a funnel,

meaning that many people wont get to the final stage of the process. Evaluating this campaign is

essential because it will show if the objectives were met and which tactics were the most

effective. Using the communication audit of 2016 will be essential to evaluating this campaign's

effectiveness because it gives a benchmark against which we can compare this years results.

Since there will be press releases submitted and ideally, more media coverage of the organization

this year, then the number of media placements can be counted for the duration of the campaign

and compared to previous media placements. Once BOYC takes place, then the number of

attendees can be counted to see if all tickets were sold and the numbers can also be compared to

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last year. The first objective will be met if this campaign attracts 10 percent more website visits

and social media engagement than during the same period in 2016. If all 521 tickets are sold we

will have met the second objective and the overall goal of the campaign.

References

1859 media kit. (2017). 1859. Retrieved from https://statehoodmedia.com/wp-

content/uploads/2017/03/2017_1859-Magazine-Media-Kit_new.pdf

(BOYC) Bounty of Yamhill County. (2017). Retrieved from

http://www.bountyofyamhillcounty.com

Census of Agriculture. (2012). Yamhill County Oregon. USDA. Retrieved from

https://www.agcensus.usda.gov/Publications/2012/Online_Resources/County_Profiles/Or

egon/cp41071.pdf

Fromm, J. (2015, April 5). Millenial food, wine and beer festivalgoers want to share a brand

experience. Forbes. Retrieved from

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jefffromm/2015/04/09/millennial-food-wine-and-beer-

festivalgoers-want-to-share-a-brand-experience/#3c4abdb938cf

Hartman group. (2015). 10 takeaways from evolving culture of food & beverage. Retrieved from

http://www.hartman-group.com/hartbeat/612/10-takeaways-from-evolving-culture-of-

food-beverage-austin-2015

Hoffman, S. (2015, March 31). This years top food and drink trends. Rally. Retrieved from

https://www.eventbrite.com/rally/los-angeles/this-years-top-food-and-drink-event-trends/

My best segments: Nielsen PRIZM. (2016). Nielson. Retrieved from

https://segmentationsolutions.nielsen.com/mybestsegments/Default.jsp?

ID=30&menuOption=segmentdetails&pageName=Segment%DEtails

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Panichkul, V. (2015). Oregon matures into world-class food and wine destination. USA Today.

Retrieved from https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/destinations/2015/07/10/oregon-

wine/29919839/

VALS. (2017). Strategic Business Insights. Retrieved from

http://www.strategicbusinessinsights.com/vals/ustypes/innovators.shtml

Wilcox, D. & Reber, B. (2013). Public Relations Writing and Media Techniques. Upper Saddle

River, NJ: Pearson Education

Wilcox, D., Cameron, G. & Reber, B. (2015). Public Relations Strategies and Tactics. Upper

Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education

Sonoma Wine Country Weekend. (2017). About. Retrieved from

http://sonomawinecountryweekend.com

Steamboat Wine Festival. (2017). About. Retrieved from https://steamboatwinefestival.com

Yamhill County. (2010). Yamhill County population by city. Retrieved from

http://www.co.yamhill.or.us/content/yamhill-county-population-city

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