The Playmakers presentA public relations campaign for Ally Financial

The University of Maryland 2011 Bateman Competition

Table of Contents1. Object of the Game2. About the Board3. Game Players4. Game Preparation

5. How to Play6. Game Play: Part I

7. Game Play: Part II8. Game Play: Part III

9. Game Play: Part IV10. Winning

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Executive SummaryWith the economic downturn expected to linger for several years, young adults should be eager to take care of their finances. However, The Playmakers found that many young adults, ages 18 to 28, are not. According to a 2008 Pew Research Center study, Americans save less than 1 percent of their incomes, and the savings rate has been in an almost continuous decline for more than two decades.1 When Ally Financial proposed a challenge to develop a public relations program to educate their publics about personal finances, our team was more than ready to play the game.

We wanted to develop an approach that was fun and creative, an idea that would actually stimulate and motivate our publics to take action. Our research indicated that young people, ages 18 to 28, needed our help the most and would respond best to information presented in quick, entertaining, and memorable ways.

Our campaign, Maryland on the Money, showed young people that finances are not something to fear. Instead, they can be approached more like a game -- the game of life! Our target publics are just beginning the game of life, and we wanted to give them the tools they will need to come out on top. We accomplished our goals by hosting eight interactive training sessions based on popular board games and TV shows. In keeping with the

theme, our culminating event was a life-sized version of The Game of Life on our college campus. This campaign illustrated our strategy to show young adults that learning to manage their money can be engaging -- even fun!

On the University of Maryland campus and at several other local venues, we mixed fun games, prizes, and Ally’s credit and budgeting training modules to teach our contestants alluring lessons about managing their finances. Because our events were successful, free, and convenient, the campaign we created, Maryland on the Money, served as a great pilot that can be implemented at other schools and businesses around the country.

Through Maryland on the Money, we were able to exceed our goals:• We reached 452 contestants at our events.• We made 11,900 impressions through our

online resources.• Approximately 92 percent of post-test

survey respondents reported that they learned helpful information and will think more critically about their finances.

As a team, we are proud of the success we accomplished through the Maryland on the Money campaign. We believe that we made a difference in the attitudes and behaviors of young people in our community regarding financial responsibility.

Meet Our TeamWe are The Playmakers, a group of select Public Relations students at the University of Maryland. The Playmakers:Meghan BurrisChelsea ClarkAmanda FieldDevon RosenberryGrace Wahlbrink Special Thanks to:Susan Simon, Professional AdvisorRichard Toth, Faculty AdvisorDr. Leah Waks, Director of Undergraduate Studies, Department of Communication Ioana Cionea, Graduate Advisor for Research

Object of the Game

The Playmakers (from left) Chelsea Clark, Meghan Burris, Grace Wahlbrink, Amanda Field, and Devon Rosenberry.

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Organization BackgroundAlly Financial, originally known as GMAC, was General Motor’s auto-financing arm, which launched in 1919 as a service for car buyers. Today, Ally is a bank holding company that has expanded its range of financial products. Ally Financial still encompasses GMAC and currently serves more than 15 million customers and auto dealers.2 In 2010, Money Magazine named Ally Financial “Best Savings Account” and Change Sciences Group named Ally “Top Financial Services Website.” Ally Financial is also dedicated to informing and educating its stakeholders on financial responsibily through its SmartEdge financial literacy program.

Ally’s Strengths and ChallengesOne of Ally’s many strengths is the multitude of financial tools readily available online. Ally provides live chat features and online modules to help teach financial literacy. Although Ally owns and distributes these modules freely, they are located on the GMAC website. This creates confusion among our publics because the modules are not branded as Ally products. Ally has not yet established a clear brand identity and mission, which we think could improve its company culture and guide goals for the financial literacy program.

Ally also faces possible trust issues with its publics because of the recent mortgage foreclosure crisis and the lack of trust in the financial industry. If Ally invests in a campaign to promote its financial literacy leadership and teaches its customers how to better manage their finances, we think the public trust in the Ally brand would increase.

Another major threat to Ally Financial’s SmartEdge program is the number of competing programs from other large, well-known financial institutions and banks. These other financial literacy programs often focus their efforts on high school students and low-income individuals.

With the recent economic downturn and the rise in unemployment, we found that young adults are searching for ways to increase their financial understanding. Therefore, because of the need and demand among target publics, we believe Ally has the opportunity to create a successful financial literacy campaign geared toward young

adults, ages 18 to 28, who may not be a target of many other financial literacy programs.

Our Campaign PlanOur first step was to define financial literacy and to determine which audience

would benefit the most from our educational campaign. We chose the following definition to establish a clear understanding of what our audience needs to know:

Financial literacy is the ability to understand money and how to manage it, so that you can make financial decisions that will benefit you now and in the future. A financially literate person has the ability to: • Save money for short- and long-term goals• Use credit responsibly • Manage financial risks3

Based on our secondary research, we found that young adults, ages 18 to 28, lack sufficient financial education and the fundamentals of successful saving and budgeting. These trends, unchanged, will affect them negatively through increased debt, high interest rates or even bankruptcy. Maryland on the Money followed the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) requirements and reached our low- to moderate-income young adults, who have the greatest need for financial education.

Because of a decline in traditional media, we believed a grassroots campaign was more likely to change the attitudes and behaviors of our target publics.

About the Board

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Publics We researched other financial literacy programs before determining which publics Ally and Maryland on the Money should target.

One of the largest non-profit financial literacy programs is Jump$tart, an organization that focuses on children in grades K through 12. Ally is just one of more than a hundred national partners working with the Jump$tart program. Jump$tart, along with a majority of other financial literacy programs, targets low-income individuals, including high school students and their parents.4

According to a study conducted by Charles Schwab, 55 percent of young adults describe their

financial health as “a little flabby” and 27 percent describe their financial health as “seriously out of shape.”5 To differentiate Ally’s program, we decided to target college students and young adults, ages 18 to 28, entering the workforce. These individuals need financial resources the most because they are moving toward financial independence.

Target Public BreakdownThe Playmakers found that the Millennial Generation lacks knowledge about its personal finances, but sees value in becoming financially literate. We chose to divide our target publics into the following segments:

Primary Public: Low- to moderate-income young adults in the Maryland and Greater Washington, D.C., area, ages 18 to 28• Young adults within the workforce• College juniors and seniors• Part-time students who work

Secondary Publics: • Other students (underclassmen)• Recent UMD alumni

Game Players

Contestants reviewing the GMAC Workbooks dur-ing Finances in a Minute: Student Edition.

Berwyn Heights Volunteer Firefighters pose with the Maryland on the Money pledge banner and The Playmakers at Finances in a Minute: Young Adult Edition.

Recent UMD graduates play Maryland Millionaires: Alumni Edition to compete for raffle prizes and learn about credit and budgeting.

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Secondary ResearchBefore conducting primary research, The Playmakers conducted more secondary research to better understand how young adults think about their personal finances.

According to a Charles Schwab study, young adults, ages 23 to 28, represent those who recently entered the workforce.5

• 52 percent said they considered making better choices about managing money “the single most important issue facing Americans today.”

• 45 percent said they wished they knew more about living within a budget before they entered the workforce.

• 42 percent said they wished they knew more about the importance of saving before they entered the workforce.

Other research shows that even younger adults, ages 18 to 24, face similar financial uncertainties.

• Many of the 11.5 million college students are still making financial decisions that affect their lives once they leave the classroom, according to a Pew study in 2008.6

• Thirty-one percent of the students said they do not worry about debt because they can pay it off once they have a job and a regular

paycheck, according to a 2008 study by the National Association of Retail Collection Attorneys.7

• Young adults, ages 20 to 24, are the fastest-growing segment for bankruptcy filings, followed by adults, ages 25 to 34, according to the Youth Leadership Training Academy.8

After selecting our target publics, we conducted research to determine the most effective ways to reach them. According to a 2010 Pew Study, 90 percent of Millennials, ages 18 to 29, use the Internet, and 75 percent use social networking sites. Additionally, one third have played a game, watched a video online, or posted a message to an online profile in the last 24 hours.9 When planning our strategies and tactics, we used these statistics to determine young adults’ information seeking and entertainment habits.

Primary ResearchThe Playmakers conducted an online survey to determine the specific needs and concerns of our publics. We sent the survey via e-mail to local universities, colleges and alumni groups in the area, and asked them to share the link to our survey with their listservs. We also created an event on Facebook for the survey and invited young adults who fit our demographics to participate. Based on our survey of 238 respondents from the Maryland and Greater Washington, D.C., area, we

concluded the following: • Nearly 8 in 10 young adults manage their

own money. However, most of them were only moderately confident about how to handle their finances.

• Nearly 70 percent reported that they never made a monthly budget.

• 27.5 percent said they sometimes made a monthly budget.

• 89 percent reported that there were benefits to creating a monthly budget.

The Playmakers decided to teach the budgeting and credit learning modules at our financial literacy training sessions after our survey respondents showed the most interest in learning about them.

Game Preparation

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effort to promote positive credit and budgeting habits.Strategy: Match Ally’s materials with our learning sessions in a natural manner.Tactics: • Use Ally’s SmartEdge workbooks for

information and to help teach the material.• Post Ally’s SmartEdge financial planning

modules on the Maryland on the Money website, along with direct links to Ally.

• Explain to participants, whenever necessary, about Ally Financial and its efforts to teach people how to manage their personal finances.

Considering our target publics, and game-themed events, we used messages and slogans that promote the fun and interactive side of financial literacy.

Key Messages• Knowing how to manage your finances is

essential to winning the game of life.• Prepare for the future: start budgeting

now. • Good credit equals a good life.

Slogans• Share the Wealth• Champagne Tastes on a Beer Budget• Maryland Millionaires• Finances in a Minute

How to PlayGame Plan

Goal #1: To increase the number of financially literate young adults in the Maryland and Greater Washington, D.C., area.

Objective A: Increase awareness of the importance of financial literacy among at least 300 people using online resources between Feb. 1 and March 7, 2011.Strategy: Use new media to create two-way communication with our target publics.Tactics:• Spark conversations with the public via

Twitter updates.• Use a Facebook page to track fans, invite

people to events, and allow an open forum for communication.

• Create a blog to report on credit and budgeting news.

• Use the blog to establish discussions with the public.

• Create a website featuring the SmartEdge financial literacy training modules, photos, and links to the other social media sites.

Objective B: Educate at least 150 young adults at live events between Feb. 1 and March 7, 2011, on the merits of understanding credit and budgeting.

Strategy: Present the information in fun, fast, and interactive ways that are easy to understand.Tactic: Adapt popular board games and game shows to entice people to learn.

Objective C: Host at least five financial literacy training sessions between Feb. 1 and March 7, 2011.Strategies: • Partner with local organizations on- and off-

campus to reach a varied audience, within our target publics.

• Use current networking relationships, such as connections with recent UMD graduates.

Tactics:• Hold financial literacy training sessions at

organization meetings with more than 50 target members.

• Host a fun, interactive financial literacy training session at a high-traffic area on campus.

Goal #2: To ensure that Ally Financial is considered a bank concerned with improving

financial literacy.

Objective D: To inform at least 150 people between Feb. 1 and March 7, 2011, about Ally’s

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Media Outreach and Promotional Materials

Interactive Website: Our team designed and used an interactive website to house and present all of the information and channels associated with our financial literacy campaign. This online element appealed to our publics and advanced financial literacy by offering several different tools based on the SmartEdge materials. We directed event participants to the website for more information about financial literacy and resources Ally Financial provides, to prepare them for their future. The website included links to Ally’s website, its financial literacy training modules, and our social media sites.

One of the most popular features, unique to our website, was the Champagne Tastes on a Beer Budget tab. This financial tool calculated different savings in a practical way, relevant to our public’s lifestyle. An example from the tab: A basic Venti coffee from Starbucks is $2.07. If you bought one of these five times a week, it would cost you $538.20 per year! However, one bag of store-

bought Starbucks coffee costs $7.99, which means a home-brewed Starbucks coffee costs only $0.90! This feature helped focus users’ spending and savings habits.

Facebook: Our Maryland on the Money Facebook page attracted fans and encouraged two-way communication and feedback from our campaign participants. The Playmakers promoted the Budget Bus Stop Challenge and The Game of Life to Facebook fans. We also used Facebook to suggest helpful tips and redirect fans to our blog.

Twitter: Our Maryland on the Money Twitter account, @MDontheMoney, sparked conversations with young adults through hashtags and retweets. We used Twitter to publish a finance-related Tip of the Day for our followers and to post links to other blogs and websites relating to personal finances. Our unique hashtag, #MDMoney, tracked conversations about our campaign and hashtags like #finances or #credit connected followers to conversations already happening online.

Blog: Our blog targeted young adults’ concerns about personal finances and provided helpful resources. Each Playmaker alternated writing a total of two or three blog posts per week. These

posts featured advice from professionals, videos about budgeting and credit, and links to other financial sites.

Campus Newspaper Opinion-Editorial: The Playmakers promoted The Game of Life through a guest-column written by Playmaker Grace Wahlbrink, and published it in the independently owned and operated campus newspaper. The opinion piece included information on the status of financial literacy for young adults, Ally’s dedication to teaching about credit and budgeting, and The Game of Life event.

Pledge Banner: Our pledge banner asked young adults to promise to be more financially conscious as they moved toward the future. We took the banner to most of the training sessions and had 216 signatures. This banner served as a physical demonstration of the change in attitude toward financial literacy.

EventsLet the Games Begin!Date: Feb. 2

The Playmakers kicked off the campaign during the biggest sporting event of the semester! For the UMD vs. Duke Men’s Basketball Game, students lined up on the Maryland campus 12 hours before the evening game. We used this opportunity at

Game Play: Part I

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the biggest rivalry of the year to distribute fliers branded with Ally’s logo, promoting our financial literacy campaign and social media resources to students. As an added bonus, Internships.com donated coupons that could be redeemed if UMD beat Duke.

Young Alumni Financial Planning WorkshopDate: Feb. 8Contestants Reached: 40 young adults

To reach young professionals, The Playmakers teamed up with the UMD Alumni Association on campus to establish a presence at a Young Alumni Financial Planning Workshop. All 40 attendees had graduated within the past six years, making them perfect candidates for our campaign. We

spread the word about the Maryland on the Money campaign by handing out Ally-branded fact sheets, workbooks and social media resources. We also enticed young professionals with an opportunity to win a Starbucks gift card by playing a quick guessing game about the standing of our country’s present economy.

Budget Bus Stop ChallengeDates: Feb. 9, 16 and 23Contestants Reached: 120 students and young adults

The Playmakers partnered with the University of Maryland Department of Transportation Services to reach busy, on-the-go target publics during their commutes to and from campus. We stationed ourselves at four bus stops that have stops both on- and off-campus.

While at the bus stops, we passed out questionnaires to test participant’s financial knowledge, as a spin-off of the popular TV show Cash Cab. The University marketing department donated T-shirts as prizes for the top five most financially literate contestants each week. This event also served as an opportunity to hand out materials that would lead contestants to our website and social media sites, as well as to distribute questionnaire pencils imprinted with the name of our campaign and Ally Financial, plus the URL of our website.

Finances in a MinuteDates: Feb. 16 and 20Contestants Reached: 58 students and 17 young firefighters and emergency personnel

The popular TV Show Minute to Win it was the perfect way to show college students and young adults how to monitor their finances. The student edition of Finances in a Minute event was held on the University of Maryland campus at the beginning of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars’ regular meeting on Feb. 16. The young adult edition was held later that week at Berwyn Heights Volunteer Fire Department on Feb. 20.

At both events, The Playmakers stressed the importance of financial literacy, especially

Game Play: Part II

Grace Wahlbrink quizzes a contestant at Budget Bus Stop Challenge!

Chelsea Clark distributes fliers and coupons to Maryland fans waiting for the UMD vs. Duke Men’s Basketball Game.

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in today’s economy. We divided contestants into groups and gave them time to review the SmartEdge workbooks. Then, we handed out a full page of questions and gave the groups one minute to answer as many questions as possible, just as in the TV show. The team that answered the most questions correctly won and received a donated gift card to Starbucks. We took this opportunity to demonstrate which areas people need the most help and encouraged them to come to The Game of Life event.

Maryland MillionairesDates: Feb. 21 and 24Contestants Reached: 14 students and 9 young alumni

The Playmakers planned two financial literacy events modeled after the classic game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire. First, we reached out to a local college campus, The Universities at Shady Grove, which attracts commuter students with full- or part-time jobs. Many of these students are financially independent, but still need financial education. We held the second Maryland Millionaires event at Environics Communications in Washington, D.C., for a group of recent University of Maryland alumni. This event doubled as a networking opportunity where participants could reconnect with one another and build their financial knowledge.

The Playmakers kicked off the event with a PowerPoint presentation that focused on how to use credit and budget responsibly. After the presentation, we divided the contestants into teams of two, to compete for a chance to win one of our prizes ranging from T-shirts to a FlipCam. We asked the teams nine questions that moved them closer to becoming Maryland Millionaires. At each “safe zone,” located after every third question, we entered teams into raffles. The winning team was entered into all raffles and took home Maryland T-shirts. Maryland Millionaires was a fun, interactive way to think about finances. It also served as a successful training session on financial literacy.

Money Smart TerpsDates: Feb. 21 and 28Contestants Reached: 84 sorority members

To gain the support of the Greek Community on campus, our team went to four sororities’ chapter meetings to promote our culminating event and give them a chance to roll the dice. At the meetings, we gave a short presentation on Maryland on the Money, credit and budgeting tips, and information about The Game of Life event. In addition, we sent our information out to about 3,500 students via the sororities’ and fraternities’ listservs to promote the campaign and events.

Game Play: Part III

Meghan Burris trains contestants on credit respon-sibility at Maryland Millionaires: Student Edition.

Univeristy of Maryland Communication Alumni make use of their GMAC Workbooks during Mary-land Millionaires: Alumni Edition!

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The Game of LifeDate: March 2Contestants Reached: 113 students

We held our culminating event on the University of Maryland campus, employing a hand-crafted, life-sized board game to test contestants’ budgeting skills and financial knowledge. Our version of The Game of Life simulated living on a budget for one month. We mapped out a giant board game in the center of campus, where contestants moved across the board and encountered different real-life scenarios young adults might face after they enter the workforce. Contestants rolled the dice to determine if they would receive a college

education or go straight to the workforce. Each participant received a different job title and salary based on his or her assigned education level. They had to use their assigned salary to create a monthly budget and pay their bills, as in the classic board game. Throughout the game, we gave contestants options and they had to choose whether to make financially sound decisions or chance it all. The winners, students who ended the month debt-free, were eligible for an exclusive, second FlipCam raffle.

Another activity at the event was a Spin to Win game. Our team created a giant spinner and asked contestants a financial question from the SmartEdge workbooks. If contestants answered correctly, we gave them the chance to spin the wheel to enter different raffles for our donated

prizes. The number the wheel landed on determined the number of tickets each contestant would receive for the raffles.

With this event alone, we reached 113 students, more than 75 percent of our total target for the month-long campaign.

Game Play: Part IV

One contestant rolls the dice to determine her fate in The Game of Life.

The Playmakers at The Game of Life, with our Spin to Win game!

Contestants enter their names into various raffles after playing our Spin to Win game.

Part of our life-size The Game of Life board!

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EvaluationMaryland on the Money was a winning campaign. The Playmakers engaged the target publics and provided essential tools for them to play in the financial game of life. We surpassed our campaign objectives by increasing financial awareness and education of hundreds of young adults in the Maryland and Greater Washington, D.C., area.

Objective A: Exceeded! The Playmakers reached out to far more than 300 young adults through a combination of engaging and online resources.

• In total, our Maryland on the Money social media sites received at least 11,900 impressions.

• The Facebook page alone reached more than half of our target with 185 fans and more than 3,000 post views.

• Our Twitter, @MDontheMoney, had 51 followers by the end of the implementation phase and at least 10 unique mentions.

• Our website receieved 1,225 unique visits and 5,145 page hits during February.

• The Wordpress blog receieved 546 all-time views and 23 original comments.

In addition to the statistics above, the Bateman opinion piece published in the campus newspaper The Diamondback, was also featured online and reached a potential readership of 14,000 students, faculty and administrators.

Objective B: Exceeded! The Maryland on the Money campaign tripled this objective by educating 452 young adults.

Our post-test survey results from the Maryland on the Money is as follows:• 100 percent of contestants from the

Maryland Millionaires events revealed that they would think more critically about their financial decisions in the future.

• 84 percent of contestants in The Game of Life said they learned helpful information.

• 76.5 percent said they are interested in learning more about managing their own finances.

Objective C: Exceeded! The Playmakers coordinated eight financial literacy training sessions for our target publics and various other promotional events both online and off. We made financial education convenient by meeting young adults where they already were -- in the business district of Washington, D.C., at university bus stops, and at workshops and meetings. By partnering with other organizations, The Playmakers were able to extend the number and reach of financial literacy events far beyond the original resources of our team.

Objective D: Exceeded! The Maryland on the Money campaign tripled the objective to inform target publics about Ally’s effort to promote

positive credit and budgeting habits. We informed at least 452 young adults about Ally’s role in the campaign. Information from the SmartEdge workbooks played an integral part in each training session. We featured the Ally logo on the pledge banner and campaign fliers. Pages that featured information from Ally’s financial literacy modules ranked sixth most popular of all 120 pages on the Maryland on the Money website.

ConclusionMaryland on the Money served as a successful pilot campaign to promote Ally’s financial literacy materials to young adults. The training sessions we developed during our public relations program demonstrated the importance of financial responsibility to young adults while also drawing on the entertainment value of popular games.

Based on the attractiveness of our games and the positive feedback from contestants, we believe that the training sessions and interactive games during the Maryland on the Money campaign can easily be adapted for other locations nationwide.

Feedback and results from Maryland on the Money show The Playmakers were very successful with the campaign. We enjoyed working with the Ally brand and hope that Maryland on the Money is able to grow and thrive as part of the overall Ally financial literacy program.

Winning

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Appendix

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Executive SummarySWOT Analysis.....................................................................1

ResearchIRB Application....................................................................2Recruitment Email.............................................................8Questionnaire......................................................................9Short Answer Questions...............................................12Secondary Research References...............................17

PlanningSolicitation Letter............................................................18Budget..................................................................................19Timeline..............................................................................20Event Details.....................................................................21

ImplementationWebsite Screenshots.....................................................22Facebook Screenshots..................................................26Twitter Screenshots......................................................31Blog Screenshots............................................................34Diamondback Opinion-Editorial..............................41Pledge Banner..................................................................42Internships.com Coupon.............................................43Fast Fact Tip Sheet (Full)............................................44Fast Fact Tip Sheet (Quarter)....................................45Budget Bus Stop Challenge Flyer..............................46Budget Bus Stop Challenge Questions...................47Budget Bus Stop Challenge Cards............................48Finances in a Minute Questionnaire.......................49Panhellenic Association Email.................................50Maryland Millionaire: Student Edition Flyer.......51Maryland on the Money Presentation...................52Maryland Millionaires Presentation......................56The Game of Life Flyer..................................................60Interfraternity Council Email...................................61The Game of Life Posters.............................................62The Game of Life Volunteer Directions.................64The Game of Life Volunteer Charts.........................66Maryland on the Money Event Sign In...................74

EvaluationPost-Test Survey............................................................97Post-Test Survey Analysis.........................................98

Testimonials................................................................100Website Statistics......................................................101Facebook Statistics...................................................103Blog Statistics.............................................................111

The Playmakers pass out fliers at the Duke game.

“Hey, Recession. Fear the Turtle” on a campus bus.

Students at The Game of LIFE sign our pledge ban-ner, answer financial questions and enter to win raffle prizes.