Progressions

Mattress in Manhattan: My Experience with FINN Partners for Diversity

As a student looking to dive into the world of communications, my experience in the PRSSA x FINN Partners for Diversity Program allowed me to explore ideas and learn from fellow PRSSA peers and industry leaders.

One activity — a brainstorming session — gave me the clarity and confidence to pursue my interest in healthcare communications.

As communications students, we are no strangers to the classic “brainstorm and create a campaign” prompt from professors, but this activity provided a new environment and new perspectives that challenged our abilities to think strategically under a time limit, communicate clearly to our activity group, actively listen to others, and finally, communicate one cohesive thought to the wider program participants and mentors.   

So, what was the ask? We had thirty minutes to brainstorm a campaign for a mattress company with the key objective of appealing to a younger demographic. Unlike brainstorming sessions with familiar peers, or professors, this activity provided a mock agency experience and brainstorming discussions with different people.

Collaboration and Digital Resources

We knew we wanted something big and interactive that had the ability to go viral on social media. 

With the help of our FINN Partners mentor, we used a digital whiteboard to see similarities within our ideas and build a campaign.  

1. Identifying Opportunities for Success (SWOT Analysis): We started by outlining the key reasons why a younger demographic might be looking for a mattress, like moving into their first apartment, and key reasons why our client may not have been able to appeal to them before.
2. Identifying Target Locations: To determine where the campaign would take place, we brainstormed locations a younger demographic in New York City would frequent, like Washington Square Park, Soho and the East Village. 
3. Leaning into Timely Trends: Finally, to appeal to our target demographic of 18 to 30-year-olds, we researched activities that attract them in person or across social media, like pop-up shops and influencer meet-ups. We saw an interest in overall wellness, conversational influencer content, and a desire to explore the city. The most interesting and timely thing we wanted to leverage was the spike of interest in sleep-related wellness, like the “magnesium sleepy girl cocktail,” mouth taping, and eye masks.  
4. Building a Relationship with the Public: Lastly, we suggested using platforms that younger demographics frequent, like Instagram and TikTok, to reach the target audience before and after our campaign.

Working in a digital environment is not new for many of us. Still, a key takeaway from this session was the importance of the digital whiteboard for seamless collaboration. It allowed us to discuss, take notes and organize all at once. It also allowed every member to participate in their own way. 

The Campaign Results

For our Mattress campaign, we agreed on a two-pronged strategy: a set of smaller events to gain recognition and two large events to close out the campaign.  

Hosting smaller events like pop-up shops around the city in locations like SoHo and the East Village would allow us to put the client where their target demographic was, and by featuring KOLs (key opinion leaders) in the sleep space to speak to the long-term health benefits of getting enough rest as a young adult, would give the client credibility and lean into current sleep wellness trends. The pop-up shop would also partner with local businesses to supply attendees with sleep-related items like eye masks, mouth tape and more.

Our second approach was to have two events hosted in Washington Square Park and SoHo featuring influencers like Alix Earle, who are known for their reliability and conversational style, to host a ‘podcast style’ event. Influencers would film interview-style conversations discussing everything from sleep, wellness and transitional periods in life, with attendees sitting on the brand’s mattress.  

We thought this would be eye-catching to those passing and provide interesting and engaging social media content. Lastly, to measure success, we would utilize Google Analytics to see how many times the percentage of brand mentions increased and measure changes in social media followers across social media accounts. For qualitative data, we would rely on public commentary and feedback collected via QR codes on-site during each event.  

The Key Takeaways

Saying yes to presenting our campaign idea to the larger group was the public speaking experience I needed to gain the confidence to pursue healthcare communications after graduation. This experience proved to me that healthcare communications was worth pursuing, even if I had no prior experience in the sector. After all, we created a city-wide campaign for a mattress brand in thirty minutes, and what do I know about mattresses?  

If this program and activity taught me anything, it is to say “Yes!” and apply feedback for the next time you say yes — which is why you should say “Yes!” and apply for the PRSSA x FINN Partners for Diversity program — to gain the experience you need to catalyze your confidence and push you to pursue the career of your dreams.