New Home, New Role for CCPR

Left to right: Danica Schultz, Divya Thirungagari,
Hannah Avdalovic and Katie Lovelace 

Cal Poly Journalism’s Central Coast PRspectives (CCPR), the student-run public relations firm, has a new client.

Fall 2017 marked the beginning of CCPR as the in-house public relations agency for Mustang Media Group (MMG), which includes Mustang News in all its platforms, KCPR-FM and the business operations of student media.

This is an important step to more fully integrate the student-run firm into the media organization. In addition, the CCPR office has moved from the current journalism technology office into the Mustang Newsroom, marking the beginning of its larger role within MMG.

Journalism senior Hannah Avdalovic is this year’s CCPR manager, selected by the faculty last spring to help transition the agency into its new role as brand manager for MMG. She and her team — community outreach coordinator Danica Schultz, marketing and PR assistant Divya Thirungagari and event planner Katie Lovelace — work on projects with students in the JOUR 415 class.

In the collaborative effort to re-brand Mustang Media Group, Avdalovic and faculty adviser Dr. Yan Shan have plans to increase CCPR’s role in strengthening the relationships between MMG and the Cal Poly community.

“We’re trying to unify and work collaboratively with all the units within Mustang Media Group as well as doing alternate programs in order to establish and maintain relationships between MMG and clubs and organizations on campus as well as entities outside of Cal Poly,” Shan said.

This quarter, CCPR executed several community-building events, including:

• Pizza with the Press
  Campus clubs and organizations spent an hour meeting with reporters and editors to learn more about how to get events covered.
• SLO Fest
  Local businesses and student-run organizations like Mustang News set up vendor booths on Dexter Lawn to get to know students and do community outreach.
• Careers and Conversations
  Students and the Journalism Advisory Board met for a networking reception downtown at the new Alumni Welcome Center.

“We’re trying to bring more awareness of the student media organization by sponsoring or hosting various events and programs that help us to grow relationships,” Shan said.

In addition to hosting events, CCPR will adjust its branding to its audience, both the students and advertisers, Avdalovic said.

Avdalovic envisions Mustang News, KCPR and Mustang News TV retaining their unique identities while still maintaining consistency under the same umbrella of Mustang Media Group’s brand.  

“It’s working with each group and developing their own brands and creating this overarching umbrella of how are we truly going to integrate,” Avdalovic said. “My hope is that we expand a little more so that it’s not all MMG and all external groups... something beyond traditional PR to give students some more experience.”