Grand prize for PR case study goes to COM students

Olivia Zed (‘19) and Sarah Dasher (‘19), graduate students in COM's public relations program, together won the grand prize in April for their entry to the 2019 Case Study Competition in Corporate Communications sponsored by Arthur W. Page Society and the Institute for Public Relations.

The case, “Dove: A Purpose-Driven Brand in A Crisis of Sincerity,” explores what happens when companies repeatedly ignore stakeholders and fail to carry out their missions authentically. In 2017, Dove released an ad some said was racist and another example of offensive communication from the company. The case analyzes the business and brand implications for Dove and what it means for companies trying to create social value.

IPR’s Tina McCorkindale and Page President Roger Bolton recognized Zed and Dasher onstage alongside their academic adviser, Donald K. Wright, at the Page Spring Seminar in New York City.

The competition challenged students to introduce practical applications of public relations to real-life cases and provide suggestions on how to improve the corporate public relations function. Zed and Dasher drew from resources and experiences gained at COM while writing the case.

“COM appealed to me because the program blended practice and theory, and participating in this case competition with Sarah and Dr. Wright allowed me to take what I learned inside the classroom and use it to address real-world challenges,” Zed said.

Zed added that she applied lessons learned in Managing Corporate Crises and Issues, a course led by COM's Gary Scheffer, about how organizations could leverage communication skills to navigate reputational risks to the case study. Dasher and Zed cited their work in Wright's Public Relations Ethics class, too, when they gained experience in analyzing complex case studies where corporate communicators were faced with challenging decisions related to corporate authenticity, ethics, and principles.

“I made a list of goals when I decided to go for a mid-career master’s, and on it were to blow open my professional network and discover new opportunities," Dasher said. "Of all my mountaintop experiences at COM, pursuing and winning Page with Olivia were the biggest checkmarks for those boxes."

Page is the world’s leading professional association for public relations and corporate communications and executives. IPR is a nonprofit foundation dedicated to fostering greater use of research and research-based knowledge in public relations and corporate communications practice.