A4E Plansbook digital version

by
ASK
FOR
EVIDENCE
An Integrated Maketing Plan for

Yuting Lan Brand Strategist
Yuting’s love for branding and strategy encourages her to think Big
and beyond the traditional marketing realm which makes her a novel
and enthusiastic value addition to Magnets’ team.
Harriet Pan Public Relations
Harriet is Magnets’ personal networking agent! She knows the who’s
who of every business and how to best create grass-root campaigns
with engaging public relations and media presence.
Doris Yeh Media Planner
Doris’ interest and expertise in the digital realm enables Magnets to
select the best possible tactics to devise creative and interactive social
media campaigns for all clients.
Sehrish Virani Account Manager
Sehrish’s passion of branding and a background in management makes her
a visionary leader who brings out the best in all Magnetians, coordinating
their ideas towards successful branding solutions for our clients.
Amanda Cheung Creative Director
Amanda’s creativity and visual instincts brings fresh vision and out-of-the-box
ideas to Magnets, enhancing our ability to service our clients in innovative
and effective ways.
Chloe Miao Account Planner
Chloe’s creative and precise research skills helps Magnets to explore specific
niche and unsatisfied needs for strong brand building and staying ahead of
the competition.
Attracting Great Ideas
The

Table of Contents
4
8
19
23
35
65
Introduction
Executive Summary 5
Challenges 7
Approach 7
Situation Analysis
Organization Overview 9
Market Analysis 13
Consumer Analysis 14
Competitive Analysis 15
SWOT Analysis 18
Customer Profile
Branding
Brand Architecture 24
Brand Value 25
Big Idea 27
Positioning 28
Insights 29
Communications Strategy 30
Creative Brief 34
Execution
Brand Identity 36
Search Engine Optimization 39
Content Generation Phase 41
Content Consumption Phase 53
Consumer Journey 64
Timeline&Budget

Executive Summary
Challenges
Approach
Introduction
Let’s take a quick sneak peak at the agenda within
this plansbook.
04

Executive
SummaryIn January 2014, Amy Vashlishan Murray, an Emerson faculty member and US representative of Ask for Evidence, pre-
sented us, Magnetians, with the challenge of proposing a branding and sustainability solution for Ask for Evidence USA.
Overview
Ask for Evidence is part of a series of campaigns launched by Sense about Science, a UK-based charitable trust that
promotes the public understanding of science. This campaign was launched in the United States in February 2013 in
collaboration with Emerson College as part of the Consumer Awareness Project Grant. It is a one-of-a-kind service that
marries scientific research and creative communication skills to find evidence behind the various claims that are out there
in the market. There is no direct competition for it. It does, however, suffer from two major issues: firstly, it has low brand
awareness and participation, as currently there are minimal marketing efforts, and secondly, there is no business model
in place to ensure sustainability of the campaign after the end of the CAP grant in June 2014.
After delving deeply into market and consumer research and brand analysis, we propose the following recommendations.
Introduction|05

Executive
Summary Roll-Out Plan
For optimal efficiency of this campaign’s execution, it is ideal
to divide it into two phases. The first one, content genera-
tion, is geared towards spreading brand awareness and con-
tent generation. The objective for the second phase, content
consumption, is to increase content consumption and gen-
erate sponsorships and funds to establish Ask for Evidence
as a non-profit organization. The plan for these two phases
will make it easier to gain traction, increase awareness and
participation, and create a sustainability model for Ask for
Evidence.
IMC Plan
With our one-year Integrated Marketing Communication plan, we aim to raise brand awareness and pro-
pose a sustainability plan for Ask for Evidence. Within this plan, we recommend revitalizing the brand iden-
tity and establishing a brand strategy that resonates with the proposed target market. To optimally achieve
these objectives, we propose the following tactics:
College Competition, Website Redesign, SEO, PPC, Social Media, Public Relations, T-Campaign and Print
Campaign.
Target Market
According to the proposed phases, we suggest that the target
market for the content generation phase should be students,
faculty members, and early career researchers. Because they
will help generate content for Ask for Evidence’s database.
The target market for the content consumption phase should
be general consumers who consume the evidence content
and actively participate in asking for evidence and creating
content.
Insights & Branding
Currently there is low motivation for people to participate in this
campaign since high commitment and involvement are required.
People need to reach out to the claim makers, follow up on any
evidence they provide, and then submit a case report to the Ask
for Evidence website. Secondary research shows that part of con-
tent generation phase’s target market, students, can be moti-
vated by ‘gamefication’. This insight reveals that adding gaming
aspects can make the campaign interesting for them. We pro-
pose launching a college competition between several partner
universities and colleges to motivate the students to participate.
The consumer insight that shapes our content consumption
phase is ‘self-actualization’, i.e. people’s innate need to appear
worthy in their own and other people’s eyes by acting in a de-
sired manner to gain acceptance. Once brand awareness is es-
tablished through the content generation phase, people will par-
ticipate in the campaign to achieve personal satisfaction of doing
a responsible deed and playing their part in making this world a
better and honest place.
06| Introduction

Challenges
Approach
Proposing a business
model to provide sus-
tainability for Ask for
Evidence after the CAP
grant ends in June 2014. To design a clear brand
identity for Ask for Evi-
dence, both as an inde-
pendent entity and in
relation to its parent or-
ganization.
To create a marketing and
communications plan to
spread awareness about
Ask for Evidence and get
people involved in it.
Question
Research Insights
Brand Strategy
Sustainability Plan
Marketing Roll-out
Introduction|07

Organization Overview
Market Analysis
Consumer Analysis
Competitive Analysis
SWOT Analysis
Situation Analysis
We begin by analyzing Ask for Evidence’s current con-
sumers and the market competition.
08

Ask for Evidence is part of a series of
campaigns by Sense about Science,
a UK-based charitable trust that pro-
motes the public understanding of
science.
It was launched in the United States
in February 2013 in collaboration
with Emerson College.
Organization Profile
Situation Analysis|09

Ideas
Everyday consumers come across hundreds of claims made by mar-
keters or manufacturers. A lot of claims are just sales pitches that com-
panies or organizations use to attract or trick consumers and stimulate
sales. Not all of those claims are supported by scientific evidence, and
sometimes even claims themselves can be invalid or lack authenticity.
However, consumers are getting used to the way they consume this
kind of information, so most of the time they don’t pay attention or care
if those claims have scientific evidence to back them up. The downside
is that more and more marketers and manufacturers are taking advan-
tage of consumers’ ignorance and apathy to make irresponsible claims
that purely serve their business purposes, often generating exaggerated
promises that they will never fulfill. For consumers, giving up the right to
ask for evidence might cost more time and money if they make decisions
based on the claims they see and end up with disappointing results.
The bigger consequences can be life- and health-threatening. For the
business world in general, consumers’ indifference will hinder marketers
from forging a more organic, fair competition environment. Therefore,
the Ask for Evidence campaign is going to make consumers aware of
how important it is to own the right of asking for evidence by showcas-
ing various questionable claims that are out there and how severe the
impact can be if they trust all of them without doubting the evidence
behind them. Consumers will realize that it is time to speak out and start
asking for evidence behind the claims made by marketers and manufac-
turers in order to ensure the authenticity of the claims and protect their
rights as consumers.
10| Situation Analysis

To hold companies, politicians,
commentators and official bod-
ies accountable for the claims
they make and encourage peo-
ple to exercise their right to ask
for evidence behind suspicious
claims.
The campaign was awarded an Em-
erson Consumer Awareness Proj-
ect (CAP) grant in June 2013 and
received funding from an external
donor who is dedicated to advanc-
ing consumer awareness and edu-
cation.
It is currently managed by Amy
Vashlishan Murray, a professor at
the Emerson School of Communi-
cation, with the support of a few
other faculty and Voice of Young
Science research members in co-
ordination with Julia, the UK Sense
about Science contact person. Cur-
rently, the campaign is integrated
with some courses taught at Emer-
son to establish its awareness and
use it as a framework to discuss
evaluation criteria for claim evi-
dence in a classroom environment.
Mission Funding System Operation

Partnering faculty members of Emerson College have integrated Ask for Evidence’s mission
in their respective courses as assignments and term papers. These courses include science,
psychology, economics, communication disorders, health communication, media studies,
and opinion polling. Presently, the target audience for this campaign is Emerson’s under-
graduate student body. Students can pick the claims they are interested in and investigate
the scientific evidence behind them by contacting the claim makers directly and/or con-
ducting researches themselves. During the first year of the campaign, Emerson students in-
vestigated over a hundred claims. All the investigative work is published on the campaign’s
website, emersonA4E. The campaign also has a presence on social media platforms such as
Facebook and Twitter.

Current Execution Details
12|Situation Analysis

Market Analysis
Use of Misleading Advertisement and Lack of Regulations
According to a study published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, 6 out of 10 claims
made in drug commercials are misleading, and 1 in 10 is downright false.
The study compared claims in 168 consumer-targeted TV drug commercials that aired from
2008 through 2010, and found only 33 percent of the major claims in both the prescription
and nonprescription drug commercials were truthful. This meant 66 percent of the claims
were either false or potentially misleading. The Food and Drug Administration and Federal
Trade commission oversees prescription and non-prescription drug advertising, respectively.
Neither explicitly support nor forbid the use of these potentially misleading claims. There-
by, making it easier for manufacturers and information providers to make false claims to the
public.

Consumer Analysis
What We Know
The current target market for Ask for Evidence is the undergraduate college students at Emerson
College. They belong to the age group of 18-22 years, and can be classified as Millennials. Accord-
ing to Mintel Oxygen database, they are more open to sharing information about their habits and
preferences with marketers. Marketers can use this information to design their targeted marketing
strategy and promotional messages accordingly, which puts these students in a more vulnerable
situation.
On the other hand, Millennials in general are digitally savvy and active on social media platforms
with access to multimedia. They are curious about what’s going on in the world, and since academics
are important to them, ‘grades’ are the strongest motivator for them in this mission to find scientific
evidence behind marketing and information claims. They students are also inclined to participate in
something if their peers are involved, considering how much he or she can value their peers opinion
and public trends they follow.

Search
Engine
Q&A
Website
Search engines like Google and Ask.com, as well as other directory sites
like DMOZ and Yahoo!, provide users with a pool of popular search
terms and generate search results algorithms.
However, Mahalo.com (human search engine), on the other hand, dif-
ferentiates itself by tracking and building hand-crafted result sets for
popular search terms.
Quora, Yahoo! Answers, and Stack Overflow are platforms where users
can ask and answer questions on a wide range of topics. Members of
these platforms can like or dislike questions or answers, they can also
edit the answers, in a fashion similar to a wiki or dig entry.
Those platforms encourage users to generate content, earn credibility,
and build strong bonds with community members. Compared to algo-
rithmic search engines, community-based Q&A websites connect users
in a more human way. As a result, these platforms have a high more
loyal users and followers.

Research-based
Community
Non-profit
Orgnization
Competition also comes from consumer/citizen-oriented non-profit or-
ganizations, such as Consumer Watchdog, Center for Science in the
Public Interest, and Consumer Reports, all of which are investigating
issues ranging from food, alcohol, health, environment, science and
technology to topics related to corporate misbehavior and political cor-
ruption.
Those organizations are dedicated to empowering consumers by build-
ing reliable sources of information consumers can depend on to distin-
guish hype from fact, good from bad, and push policymakers to save
the marketplace and make adjustments.
Some scientific-based communities such as Student 4 Best Evidence
and the American Council on Science and Health bring scientists on
board and help ordinary people make sense of mainstream science and
understand how science and scientific evidence can benefit people’s
daily lives. They help foster a scientifically sound environment that will
benefit policy regulation.

Perceptual map
A quick market scan shows that there are no di-
rect competitors, as no existing organization pro-
vides scientific research-based analysis of facts.
Instead, the existing offerings can be divided into
human Q&A websites like Yahoo Answers and
Quora and non-human algorithm-based web-
sites like Google and Ask. These web services are
mainly opinion-based, and so we can position
Ask For Evidence at a more research-oriented
aspect on the perceptual map with a more au-
thentic and credible image.
Human
Non-Human
General
Scientific-Focused

Strengths
Opportunities Threats
• Association with the credible and well established UK-based
Sense About Science gives them access to best-practice mod-
el and shared resources.
• Collaboration with the Voice of Young Science (VoYs) Network
provides them access to early career researchers who are in-
terested in providing their expertise for the cause.
• Creative partnership with Emerson College gives it a unique
position to translate scientific jargon and facts into an acces-
sible language. Moreover, their already established case data-
base provides a solid starting point.
• It lacks of a clear brand structure and brand identity.
• It has low brand awareness among the target market.
• The current model is a bit ambiguous and the evidence asking
process needs some clarification.
• The process requires a high level of consumer involvement at
all stages, and the current model lacks consumer motivation.
• It lacks sustainability as a business model after the CAP grant
ends in June 2014.
• There are potential partnership opportunities with universities
like Harvard and MIT that have research capability and credi-
bility.
• It can partner with non-profit organizations in the United
States to share their resource pool and gain more support.
• Youngsters, who are more health-conscious and social-media
savvy, generally tend to be more aware of false/misleading
claims, so they are more likely to question and share their find-
ings with friends and family.
• The researchers associated with Ask for Evidence work on a
voluntary basis and are likely to switch boats if and when a bet-
ter, more substantial opportunity comes along.
• Lack of responses and involvement by the companies in ques-
tion or provision of false/misleading evidence by them can hin-
der the goal essence of this mission.
Weaknesses

We next develop consumer personas for our proposed
target market.
Customer Profile
19

Customer Profile
Jack is a communications major and is involved in extracurricular activities like sports (ski-
ing, football, river rafting), debates, etc. He loves watching TV shows online from Hulu and
Netflix and listening to songs on Spotify and Pandora. He is very active on social media
platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Snapchat. Whatsapp, Pinterest, and Instagram are just
some of his many daily touch points. He is vocal about his thoughts and ideas and likes to
share his views and feelings with the world at an hourly basis. He is brand conscious and
likes to be well informed with respect to his purchase decisions, not just the look and feel
of the brand, but also its authenticity.
Jack is at a rebellious age. he wants to prove to himself and the world (family and friends)
that he is no longer a kid but instead, an aware and intelligent individual who can make
his own decisions rationally based on careful examination and evaluation of facts. There-
fore, he is always on the lookout for questioning authorities to help him make sense of the
world. Moreover, he wants to be a trendsetter and stand out as a leader among his friends.
Undergraduate Student Emerson College
Jack, 19 years old
Customer Profile|20

Customer Profile
Michelle is currently a full-time faculty member at Harvard University. She has a PhD in nurs-
ing. Her research focus is on urban healthcare. Michelle is thirty-five years old and she takes
her research incredibly seriously. Although she tries to make time for her friends and family,
she is always occupied with student mentoring, grading, and reading new texts. She loves to
challenge existing theories to see what new information is out there so that she can teach
what is best, and most updated, to her students. She would go a long way to find what she
is looking for, whether it is the right outfit, ingredients to a recipe, a great restaurant, etc.
Michelle won’t settle, and this ties into the ambition she puts into her research and work.
She loves teaching, as it keeps her in touch with her academic roots, and she makes an extra
effort to educate her students about the ethical principles and wrong-doings that happen in
the world and how to take a stand against it. She is always searching for opportunities that
can enhance her students’ environmental and ethical knowledge and experience, and chal-
lenge them to realize their hidden potential.
She likes to stay up-to-date with what’s going on around the world. The Huffington Post and
the New York Times are some of her daily readings. She is health conscious and she always
reads the ingredients and details on every product she buys, be it food or clothing. She likes
to be in control of her life.
Faculty Harvard University
Michelle, 32 years old
21|Customer Profile

Customer Profile
Dan, 36, is a scientist and also a faculty member in the Biology department at MIT with 5
years of experience. He has great passion for his field and he even spends his free time
studying said field. He likes to read science journals and related publications such as Scientif-
ic American and New Scientist. He sees data and rationale as an important way to evaluate
statements. Most of his time is spent on research and his job. He doesn’t have much free
time and he’s not brand conscious besides technological products and services. However, if
a brand gives him a good experience, he would be a loyal customer and stick with the brand
for a long time.
His sources of information are online websites (e.g. The Guardian) and emails from his friends
and peers. He reads websites about social/world issues that he cares about. He values his
information sources. When seeing an unproven or incorrect statement, it’s not likely that he
would proactively challenge it; however, he would be willing to provide opinion pieces based
on his professional background to improve the quality of the information if asked.
Researcher Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Dan, 36 years old
Customer Profile|22

Brand Architecture
Positioning
Communication Strategy
Creative Brief
Insights
Brand Value
Big Idea
After studying the service, market and developing
consumer profiles, we then build our branding strat-
egy around them.
Branding
23

Brand
Leveraging the brand identity, credibility and
association of Sense About Science while es-
tablishing an individual and unique identity
for itself in the United Sates.
Endorsed Branding
Architecture
Endorsed
brand
Branded
House
Super
Brand
House of
Brands
Ask for Evidence
Powered by
Sense about Science
Branding|24

The brand value pyramid is composed
by features that Ask for Evidence pro-
vides, the benefits that satisfies con-
sumers’ physical as well as emotional
needs, and the spirit of the brand.
Simply put, it’s the desired perception
of the brand that Ask for Evidence
wants its audience to have.
Brand Value
25|Branding

Brand value pyramid:
Feature
Benefit
Beliefs
&
Values
Making science easy to understand and appealing
Transforming the image of science from “obscure” to “people’s sci-
ence”, which means making science easy to understand without
sacrificing accuracy.
Science in daily life
Ask for Evidence presents claims that are ubiquitous in people’s ev-
eryday lives, claims that worth to be cared about.
Self-achievement
The sense of achievement that audience gain after completing re-
searches and helping others.
Making lives better
Constantly question problematic claims and seek evidence behind
them make consumers more smart.
Trustworthy
The huge base of scientists and researchers that Ask for Evidence
provides makes it different from Yahoo Ask.
Easy to use and search, hands-on introduction video, integrat-
ed with social media, and a accessible researchers base.
Branding|26

27|Branding
Big Idea
We want not only to generate consumers’ awareness about
knowing the truth behind every claims, we also aim to en-
courage them to take action and actively ask claim makers to
provide scientific evidence. The spine of our story is to make
people realize that they can make the world a better place
just by ‘asking’ the right questions. And eventually they can
make evidence-based claim making a second nature to all
claim makers. Hence preaching the notion that “You will
Know only when You Ask! ”
Ask to Know will also serve as our tagline as it reinforces the
asking aspect and therefore will be effective in creating pow-
erful brand awareness.
ASK TO KNOW!

Positioning
Ask for Evidence is a non-profit service that serves
as a platform to the undergraduate and graduate
students, faculty, and researchers.
It encourages people to exercise their basic right as
consumers to question the authenticity of claims
made by marketers or manufacturers and attends
to their basic need of knowing the truth.
Ask for Evidence empowers consumers to make
responsible and informed purchase decisions by
integrating consumer voice and researcher in-
sights.
Its brand character is of a leader, an activist. It is
young, innovative and responsible, honest, and
trustworthy.
Branding|28

29|Branding
Self Actualization
Gamification
People have an intrinsic tendency toward self-actualization.
Self-actualization is the tendency to develop your capabilities
in ways that maintain or enhance the self. People also have
a need for positive regard, acceptance and affection from
others. Positive regard may be unconditional, or it may be
conditional based on a person’s certain way of acting. These
conditions of worth mean the person is held “worthy” only if
he or she is acting in a desired manner. Conditions of worth
can be self-imposed as well as imposed by others causing
you to act in ways opposing self-actualization. Ask for Evi-
dence can be positioned to attend to this ‘self-actualization’
need.
Gamification is the use of game-like thinking and elements
in places that are not traditionally games. The use of game
mechanics and dynamics like badges, leader boards, and ac-
tions can be useful for improving motivation and learning
in informal and formal settings. This may be a great tool to
motivate students and youngsters to participate and spread
the word about Ask for Evidence.
and
InsightsInsights

Communication
StrategyContent Generation Phase
Step 1Modular project setup for universities
We suggest designing modular setups for Ask for Evidence based on the pilot program at Emerson College
that covers 2 semesters, i.e. one year.
Target audience for this phase is college undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty and research-
ers, and we hope that through this phase the awareness for Ask for Evidence will grow and spread to other
segments of the market. To execute this phase we suggest the following plan.
Getting faculty on board
Departments/Subjects: Communications, Journalism, Science, Research
Meeting with various university faculties will be arranged, ( Boston University,
Northeastern, Tufts, Harvard, MIT). In these meetings, a group will introduce
Ask for Evidence and share its mission with the faculty members. The Ask for
Evidence group will consist of an Ask for Evidence representative, an Emerson
faculty member who is involved in the project and had actively incorporated
Ask for Evidence as a class project. The faculty members who are approached
during this phase will be able to get the complete look and feel of the cam-
paign and its execution. Also, participating professors can form an idea club
that meets once every two months to discuss the progress of the competition
on their campus es and their students’ interest, and to learn from each other.
Course Application
Depending on the course, one or two assignments will be given to students
to integrate the Ask for Evidence mission of evidence hunting with the course
objectives, for example, studying the effects of fraudulent marketing claims
(for a marketing class), or the misrepresentation of scientific data in research
(for a research or science class). Students will be graded according to the fol-
lowing ctiteria:
• choice of subject
• depth of research
• quality of evaluation and analysis.
The top ten papers from each class will be revised and published on the Ask
for Evidence website.
Branding|30

31|Branding
Communication
Step 1Modular project setup for universities
University Subliminal Competition
On the website, at the end of each published case there will be a “like”
button and a comment bar. This enables an on-going interactive dis-
cussion among the audience. They can benefit from simply reading the
cases based on his or her interests.
The Ask for Evidence website can also have a tracking and news alert sys-
tem that keeps a scorecard of how different universities are performing
in the competition. For example, each university will be scored on not
only the number of articles posted, but also on the number of likes and
discussion comments it generates. For example, if BU posts 10 articles this
semester but gets only 5 likes and no comments each, whereas Harvard
posts 5 articles but gets over 50 likes and 10 comments each, Harvard has
a fair chance of leading on the scoreboard! Students from each university
will participate in not just liking the posts but engaging in the discussions
and posting more studies.
Outside Class Submissions
If a student reads an article posted by his/her colleague on the Ask for
Evidence website and they are intrigued and would like to do a simi-
lar study, they can conduct their own research and then email the site
through the contact page. Our staff (along with the few VoYS representa-
tives we have on board) will review the article, evaluate its credibility and
authenticity, and publish it alongside their university name and help add
to the university’s contributions.
We suggest designing modular setups for Ask for Evidence based on the pilot program at Emerson College
that covers two emesters, i.e. one year.
Target audience for this phase is college undergraduate students, graduate students, faculty and research-
ers, and we hope that through this phase the awareness for Ask for Evidence will grow and spread to other
segments of the market. To execute this phase we suggest the following plan.

Communication
Step 2Research Body Development
We also recommend to simultaneously build a research helpline by partnering with early career researchers.
This will add differentiation to our service, as now people who post a question will have the researchers stay
in contact with them throughout the phase as they follow up with the claim makers.
Approaching and getting research communities on board
We suggest setting up meetings with several research communities, including
Voice of Young Science and other research bodies at universities such as Har-
vard, BU, and MIT, and introduce the concept of Ask for Evidence.
Motivation: Science. For a researcher, evidence is crucial, and it is important
that the truth about so-called ‘scientific-evidence’ is revealed.
Creating the Research Help-Line
For starters, we can have a small panel with one or two professional research-
ers and a team of 5 to 10 early career researchers on a part-time and full-time
basis. The panel can be expanded depending on the scale Ask for Evidence
reaches.
Compensation plan
Professional researchers can work part-time with minimum financial compensa-
tion and can be made a ‘patron’ of the Ask for Evidence research body. As they
are the first ones to be associated with this ‘Revolutionary Change Movement’,
they can act as mentors to other early career researchers.
Early career researchers usually want a hands-on experience to practice their
skills and do what they love doing most. Thus, internship programs can also be
offered, paid or unpaid. Having a social cause like Ask for Evidence with UK orga-
nizational roots on their resume can augment the value of the researcher’s work
experience. In addition, they are able to network with and receive mentorship
from professional researchers.
Branding|32

33|Branding
Communication
StrategyContent Consumption Phase
Mass Launch
During the first phase, the service will gain awareness among the college students and researchers. Once that happens,
Ask for Evidence can launch itself on a mass level. It can partner with existing consumer awareness nonprofit organiza-
tions in the United States like Consumer Watchdog, American Council on Science and Health, Student 4 Best Evidence
and the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Ask for Evidence can now be identifed as a
not-for-profit organization since it will easily generate funds and donations because of the already established name
and awareness.
Target audience for this phase is mass level consumers. When this phase is executed, we will already have active stu-
dents on board and a helpline consisting of early career researchers.
To formally launch Ask for Evidence in the second phase, different claim makers will be invited to participate so that
they are aware of this initiative. They will have an equal chance of keeping tabs on any conversations about their com-
panies, clarifying claim queries directed at them or their products, and presenting themselves as consumer advocates
and caring organizations.

CREATIVE BRIEF
Lack of awareness for Ask for Evidence and its mission.
Spread awareness for Ask for Evidence.
Motivate the target audience to question and research questionable claims made
by marketers and manufacturers.
People ignore or do not notice that marketers, manufacturers and information
providers might be producing false or misleading claims. People may either trust
them, don’t care, or don’t know how to evaluate or question the claims.
Encourage them to pay more attention to claims, question the claims they think
are suspicious and make a conscious effort to research the validity of any evidence
received by the claim makers.
Content Generation Phase: Undergraduate, graduate students, faculty and re-
searchers.
Content Consumption Phase: General public / Consumers aged 18+
Implement a two-phase plan.
Content Generation Phase: Create a clear brand identity and create awareness
by combining Ask for Evidence with school courses, utilizing the competitive spirit
between universities through research competition, and aiding the evidence eval-
uation process by simultaneously constructing a research panel.
Content Consumption Phase: Capitalize on the well-established awareness, case
study database and hot topic image created at students level to launch a full-
fledged campaign roll-out for mass consumer audiences.
Time, patience, and commitment required on part of the participating consumers.
Lack of response from claim makers to address scientific evidence questions di-
rected at them.
The UK based parent company, Sense about Science lends credibility to Ask for
Evidence. It is already launched at Emerson college which lends a credible and
authentic base for further launch at other university campuses which is considered
as an authoritative and credible source.
Researcher panel will provide authentic scientific evaluation of claim evidence and
the partnership with communication will make it easier to comprehend and use.
It’s a public benefit cause to support consumer rights and encourage transparency
in claim communication.
What is the main issue?
What is the purpose of the campaign?
Who is the campaign talking to?
What does the target audience currently think/behave?
What should this campaign make them think/behave?
How are we going to achieve the objective?
What is the potential barrier?
Why should the target audiences believe it?
Branding|34

Brand Identity
Search Engine Optimization
Consumer Journey
Content generation Phase
Content Consumption Phase
Finally, based on the brand strategy we designed,
we now develop the campaign tactics and creative
execution for Ask for Evidence.
Execution
35

Brand Identity
After designing our brand and communication strategy, we decided
that we should retain the 3 circles from the venn diagram. These circles
represent the 3 stake holders of this service:
• Researchers
• Faculty
• Public (Students + Consumers)
We changed the color to shades of blue and included the arrow (from
the official logo) in the word ‘For’ in order to maintain consistency
and association with Sense about Science (since we suggest endorsed
branding).
The first step towards building brand identity is to redesign the logo.
The official Ask for Evidence logo is a squared box with an arrow
inside. This is a standard button design used by UK Sense About Sci-
ence for all the campaigns it initiates.
CurrentLogo
Proposed Logo
When Emerson brought the campaign on-campus, their student
team revised it to a Venn diagram showing three circles on different
shades of green and yellow.
At its core brand identity is the visual representation of a brand. It
is paired with style guidelines and is used as a framework to ensure
the corporate image is cohesive and consistent.
Execution|36

37|Execution
Web presence is a key component as it will not only facilitate Ask for Evidence’s
awareness but will also act as the go-to resource for the target audience to learn
more and participate in the campaign. Therefore, Ask for Evidence’s web presence
will be a replica and extension of the campaign’s brand identity in order to maintain
consistency and create an engaging experience.
The existing website, created by the Emerson team, is not very clear in terms of
brand and communication objective. The navigation on this page is not easy to
understand hence potential visitors per page visit and layover time is likely to be
low.
Brand Identity
We propose to change the color to blue which is consistent with the new logo, as
part of the identity extension.
The next step is to revamp the website’s architecture into a one pager format. The
benefits of this include aesthetic appeal and availability of all main information on
just one click, which makes it convenient for the visitors to visually see, read and
take necessary participatory action.
To see what’s going on with the campaign, all they have to do is scroll down!
Website Analysis
Current Website
Proposed Website

Search Engine Optimization
Domain Change
A catchy domain address will help consumers find the destination easily.
We suggest Ask for Evidence US to use “www.ask4evidence.us” instead of its current domain address. This aims to broaden its
community and help it evolve with the 2 phases.
Duplicated Content
Duplicated content can keep many of a website’s pages from ranking on search engines at all.
We’ve found the current Ask for Evidence US website has 8% duplicated content. To better organize the site, duplicated content
will be eliminated.
404 Error Handling
404 Errors are currently being handled properly.
From the website analyze tool we know the current website of Ask for Evidence has a bunch of broken links and skipped pages.
Ask for Evidence needs to fill in the content in a timely manner.
XML Sitemap
A sitemap lists URLs allows search engines to crawl the site more intelligently.
The current website does not have an XML sitemap, which could cause indexing problem. We suggest A4E to generate an XML
sitemap to ensure proper indexing.
Analytics Installed
Web analytics Allow Ask for Evidence US to measure visitor activity on website.
Ask for Evidence US should have at least one analytics tool installed. Continue to review analytics on a regular basis to grow
understanding of Ask for Evidence US traffic.
Meta Description
A strong and concise Meta description will give the audience a clear picture of the mission and purpose of the website.
The current meta description is not handled. The improved meta description could be: “Ask for Evidence is a non-profit platform
to encourage the public to question the misleading marketing cliams and look for evidence behind them.”
This aims to enhance Ask for Evidence Website Presence.
Execution|39

Search Engine OptimizationThis aims to enhance Ask for Evidence Website Presence.
Analytic Tool: Siteliner
We first analyzed the current optimization
level of the emersona4e website to get an
idea about the current status of the key-
words usage in order to build our recom-
mendation effectively.
Followings are the keywords currently be-
ing used, they represent a very weak as-
sociation with Ask for Evidence.
Evidence
ask
emerson
asking
campaign
animal
proposals
resources
blog
message
misleading advertisements
false claims
evidence based claims
products with false claims
false marketing
Ask for evidence US
evidence seeking
asking for evidence
how to ask for evidence
false marketing claims
marketing claims
&
Content Keywords
We analyzed the keywords associated with
Ask for Evidence, e.g. terms like ‘scientific
evidence’, ‘evidence hunt’ etc. to see and
highlight the keywords with high average
monthly searches. We suggest to choose
these high traffic generating keywords
to optimize the Ask for Evidence website
and we also recommend to use these key-
words in meta description of the pages,
the webpage names and in the content
so that we can organically raise its search
result ranking.
After generating a stable base of website
visitors, we suggest Ask for Evidence to
then include keywords highly relevant to
its own brand. By doing so, Ask for Evi-
dence can lower the searching cost of its
consumers. Besides this, use more key-
words about the content that are to be
presented on the website so as to make it
more current, relevant and targeted to the
interested group of consumers.
Current Situation Google AdWords Further Suggestion
+
40|Execution

Content Generation Phase
On-campus Advertisement
Public Relations
Digital Media
This phase targets toward students, faculty members and re-
searchers and gears toward building brand awareness and
generating content regarding claim evidences.
Execution|41

Rationale
These two advertisements are to entice undergraduates
and graduate students to enroll in the competition. The
posters will be hung around college campuses citywide in
high walking traffic areas to catch the eye of any students
passing by.
The ads are meant to be eye catching without being too
wordy. Considering, students are normally on the run to
catch their next class. Therefore, with a quick glance, it will
convert them to visit the website and the Ask for Evidence
social media pages.
On-campus Advertisement
Audience: Undergrad & Graduate Students
Location: College Campuses in Boston
42|Execution: Content Generation Phase

To generate awareness and interests among university
students about the school competition, the first step is to
create and distribute a press release. With the strategic
placement of the press release and messages that are tai-
lored to each university’s publication, students and faculty
will get an idea of what Ask for Evidence is all about. Also,
the messages are meant to be conveyed to prepare and
motivate them for the upcoming voting.
A variety of school publications will be chosen for the
placement of the press release to ensure maximum cov-
erage of the story and reach. As students, both under-
graduates and graduates, are the major contributors of
the school publications, they, themselves are Ask for Evi-
dence’s target audience in phase one. Therefore, A4E will
gain an audience base and possiblly word-of-mouth in
other schools even before the story is out.
PublicRelations
Press Release
Rationale
Distribution
Media Selection
Tufts Observer Harvard Press NUScience
The Tech The Berkeley Beacon
Execution: Content Generation Phase|43

PublicRelations
Rationale
In order to motivate students to further look
into Ask for Evidence’s mission and join the
conversation or actively participate in the
whole process, a carnival-like school fair will
tour around the participating schools. Formal
information session and press conference will
be held simultaneously. The school fair will
convey Ask for Evidence’s mission and values
by utilizing fun and engaging games while
information and news of the school com-
petition are delivered inside the conference
room. Giveaways with Ask for Evidence’s vi-
sual identity will be distributed to students
and faculty as a device to advance awareness
and promote Ask for Evidence.
Information Session
Launch Fair&
Giveaway Kit: Tshirt, Pin, totebags, etc.
Example of School Fair

Public Relations
School Ambassadors
Rationale
One vital source of information for college students roots
from their peers. Reaching out to these opinion lead-
ers among students to get them on board, invite them
to take the initiatives, respond to the contest, as well as
“advertise” the contest and relevant events are effective
ways to engage students.

Digital Media
Website Twitter Facebook
In the Content Generation Phase, new
features will be added to drive targeted
traffic to the Ask for Evidence’s website.
The “True or Flase” event page can also
be reached on the website.
New look of Ask for Evidence’s Twitter
page and some improvements from the
older look.
We provided some suggestions to im-
prove Ask for Evidence’s fan page. Along
with the examples of how to promote
the college competition on its feed.

Website
Action Generator
www.ask4evidence.us
Rationale
Tied it with courses
This email template provides an easy way for
college students to submit a claim question. All
they have to do is fill out the blanks. This email
generator can show students how easy it is to
inquire a misleading claim.
Although, this template simplifies the process,
one question remains: how to drive students to
actually use it? Our answer is to use this template
as a part of the class materials. Students need to
use this email generator to submit a claim re-
port, as it will become a course requirement.
Example of email generator for Content Generation phase.

Websitewww.ask4evidence.us
Rationale
Simple but Visually appealing
To generate excitement among the target student
group, we suggest adding some fun elements in
the college competition. This will be an individual
webpage that can be reached across selected digi-
tal media platforms.
As is shown in the image, once a visitor access the
“True or False” competition page, he will be greeted
by four shuffling images: the rules of the competi-
tion, the Scoreboard, the Arena of the competition,
and the Challenge icon that enables the visitor to
participate in the game.
Content presented in this way can draw visitors’ at-
tention instantly once they enter this webpage.
Campaign Page
Example of “True or False” campaign page on Ask for Evidence website.

From the end of 2013, Ask for Evidence tweeted its first
tweet in Feb 2014. A4E US currently has 6 followers on
Twitter. The hashtags oftenly used most by the account
are: #AskForEvidence and #EmersonA4E.
Majority of the interactions @EmersonA4E had were
with @Senseaboutsci and @voiceofyoungsci, associat-
ed organizations. Ask for Evidecne rarely interacted with
its followers.
Twitter
Current Situation
#Hashtag Power
We suggest Ask for Evidecne to take advantage of the
power of hashtags. Utilizing more hashtags when tweet-
ing to increase its presence among a broader commu-
nity.
In the Content Generation phase, we suggest updating
Ask for Evidence’s twitter frequently, yet consistently for
the college competition. Hashtag #Ask4Challenege will
be used for promoting the event on Twitter.
Ask for Evidence US @ask4eviUS
Current Twitter
Improved Twitter
• No description of the account.
• No cover photo to enhance brand image.

More tweet examples
Tweet of “True or Flase” scoreboard update.
Example of updating the campaign and using of campaign hashtag.
Example of college student participate the campaign by tweeting.

Currently, Ask for Evidence has 28 fans on its Facebook
page.
Ask for Evidence updates its Facebook every three days,
but only twenty times since the account was built at the
end of 2013.
There are rare interactions between Ask for Evidence
and its fans. Judging from the few likes and shares, we
diagnosed that Ask for Evidence is having difficulty en-
gaging their fans.
Facebook
Current Situation
Strategy
In the Content Generation phase, the “True or False”
college competition will be highlited on the Ask for Ev-
idence’s Facebook fan page. The cover photo will be re-
placed by “True or False” event banner to catch visitors
eyes when they enter this page. Also, updates about
how the college competition is going will be posted on
a daily basis.
Ask for evidence US
Current Look
Improved Look

More feed examples
Post of “True or False” campaign.
Promoting Action Generator to
increase participation.
Example of uadating “True or False” score.

T Adervertising
Public Relations
Digital Media
This phase targets consumers in a broader sense: the
general public. The idea behind this phase is to increase
content consumption, generate sponsorship, and funds
to establish Ask for Evidence as a sustainable non-profit
organization.
Execution|53

The idea of the campaign is to draw people’s attention
and curiosity towards Ask for Evidence by showing
claims that can be depicted in everyday life. Consid-
ering, people do not know what they should be ques-
tioning about. The T ad provides the public with a
good example and reminds them of the missing evi-
dence they should be asking for.
The ad aims to drive more traffic to the Ask for Evi-
dence’s website and to motivate general consumers to
question false claims.
Advertising
Audience: The Public
Location: Boston T
Rationale
Goal
54|Execution: Content Consumption Phase

Launch
Event
Rationale
At this point Ask for Evidence has gained enough momentum
and is ready to launch its service to the mass public.
To generate awareness among a larger audience, we suggest
Ask for Evidence pitch their story to nationwide distributed me-
dia.
Press
Release
PublicRelations
Besides pitching to media nationwide, we
suggest A4E to invite claim makers, re-
searchers, and media to attend A4E’s mass
launch events, press conferences and
workshops.
Rationale
An American magazine
that presents facts and
trivia in a humorous way.
A magazine that shares
creative solutions for
living well and doing
good.
An online science mag-
azine looks at important
issues at the intersection
of science and society.
A magazine that reports
on how emerging tech-
nologies affects culture,
the economy, and poli-
tics.
Mental_floss MagzineGOOD MagzineSEED MagzineWIRED Magzine
Some media outlets proposed are:
Execution: Content Consumption Phase|55

PublicRelations
Sponsorship
Rationale
Ask for Evidence’s cause correlates with what most educators
advocate, sponsoring one of the largest science conferences
that brings together educators nationwide can further am-
plify Ask for Evidence’s impact.
Sponsoring:
NSTA Conference on Science Education
Every year, the NSTA Conference on Science Education gath-
ers science educators from all grade. As a sponsor, Ask for
Evidence will support the event and advertise at the venue
with banners and giveaway with its visual identity on. But
what is more important is to create concrete content to be
featured during the conference. For example, an Ask for Ev-
idence workshop explaining how educators can draw stu-
dents to question daily claims made by different entities, or
an Ask for Evidence lecture exploring how self-initiated eval-
uations of claims can impact the world we are living in.

Digital Media
Website Twitter Facebook Mobile App
The Ask for Evidence app is de-
signed to make scientific facts
more accessible; it is also a tool
that assists consumers in making
more informed buying decisions.
The Facebook page will serve as a
reminder and a platform to cross
promote Ask for Evidence.
During this phase, we expect to
have an increase of activity on
Twitter by inviting brands/ compa-
nies to join the conversation.
In this mass launch phase, www.
ask4evidence.us will have a new
feature, designed to arouse inter-
ests of the public to question claim
and identifiy existing claims.

Websitewww.ask4evidence.us
Rationale
Fun and Easy to engage
In order to get rid of the hard-and-boring association of scientic
claims, we propose to use product images instead of text-heavy
content. It will capture visitors’ attention if they are familiar with the
products they see.
Once a product is clicked, the visitor will see the claim behind the
product. They can simply join the existing conversation or submit
a new claim via our Email Generator. Therefore, the public will per-
ceive the process of questioning a claim as fun and easy.
People don’t know what they don’t know about. Hence, we rec-
ommend that Ask for Evidence to provide them with a pool of
suspicious claims to swift through. Such a pool can intrigue them
and give them a basic idea of what kind of dubious claims are out
there. By then, not only will consumers keep an eye out for the
claims but they will also question these claims and share their find-
ings with their family and friends.
A4E HUB
Example of A4E HUB section on front page.

Simulated page of Food category in A4E HUB.
Example of a misleading marketing claim the visitors will see.

Twitter
Ask for evidence US @ask4eviUS
It’s important to utilize various hashtags while
tweeting. The right hashtags will let Ask for Evi-
dence talks to the right groups.
To let the mass public know they do have the
power to make their life better, we will invite the
brands/ companies to join the tweets by tagging
the official accounts. Ask for Evidence will be the
aid to make this happen.
Involve Claim Makers
Overview
New Look
Example of utilizing hashtag in tweets.
Example of invit-
ing brands involved
in conversation on
Twitter.

Ask for Evidence will keep updating its status and pro-
moting events, as well as, the A4E HUB to increase traf-
fic to the website.
This fan page should also serve as a place where cus-
tomers and other aware parties can ask questions
about the process of executing a research or submit-
ting a claim report.
Overview
Facebook
Ask for evidence US
New Look
Examples of cross
promote various
digital channels
of Ask for Evi-
dence.

Mobile App The Ask for Evidence app is designed to make scientific facts more accessible.
With this app in hand, consumers will be exposed to up-to-date facts.
Main Features
This allows users to scan brands be-
fore making purchase. Once scanned,
users can access the A4E HUB that had
been made by the specific brand and
facts.
In this fact library, consumers can ex-
plore claims that had been made by
various brands and manufacturers as
well as the facts behind these claims.
User will be greeted by this “Fact of
the Day” page that presents them
with the up-to-date fact.
Main Page
Daily Fact
A4E HUB Build-in Scanner

Mobile App The Ask for Evidence app is designed to make scientific facts more accessible.
With this app in hand, consumers will be exposed to up-to-date facts.
Add-on Features
Activity Tracker
Social Media
Integration
Users can login with their social media accounts.
This feature enables them to save facts that interest
them and makes sharing easier.
This feature records how active an user is regarding
app usage, and correlates the data with the user’s
level of consciousness towards questioning claims.

ConsumerJourney
Research
Participation
Involvement
Content Genration
Phase
Content Consumption
Phase
• Press Release
• Social Media
• T Ad
• School Ambassadors
• NSTA Conference
• Mobile App
• Launch Fair- School Tour
• Press Conference/ Info
Session
• Sponsorship
• Digital Media
• Press Release
• Launch Event
• Social Media
• T Ad
Awareness
64|Execution

Strategy Flowchart
Budget Structure
Now we know what tactics we are doing and how we
are doing it, let’s look at the cost and timeline under-
lying these proposed tactics.
Timeline&Budget
65

Strategy Flowchart
Main
Activity
2014 2015
May - July Auguest September - December January - April May - July Augest - December
Building
Support
Launch Event
Scout for Interns
Spoke People
Research Panel
Development
Researcher Email Marketing
On-campus Posters, Flyers
School Ambassador Blogs Marketing
Social Media
NGO Funding and Establishment
Mobile Phone App
Magzine Ads
T Ads
Strategy Flowchart|66

67| Budget Structure
BudgetStructure
Website
Website Domain $16.99
Website Development $1,000.00
Booth $1,200.00
Table/Setting $900.00
Posters (200) $1,500.00
Brochures (5,000) $431.20
Flyers (1,000) $389.98
T-Shirt ($8*1,300) $16,000.00
Notepads ($6.74*1,600) $10,784.00
Pins ($2.95*4,500) $13,275.00
Pens ($1.38*5,500) $7,590.00
Sub Total $ 53,087.17
Mobile App Development Cost $3,000.00
Launch Cost Per Year for IPhone $99.00
NSTA Conference $2,500.00
Magazine Ads (Average Cost for 2 Publications) $40,000.00
Sub Total $45,599.00
Grand Total $ 98,686.17
SchoolFair:6Universities

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