This deck was presented as a media relations campaign for Discover Student Loans as part of a DePaul University graduate course.

2. Agenda
• RESEARCH
• INSIGHTS
• THE CAMPAIGN
– Newsworthy Idea
– Media Involvement

3. RESEARCH

4. Previous Media Coverage in 2013
• MainTopics
– Advocacy from CFPB for restructuring and loan
protection
– J.P. Morgan Chase Exiting Industry
– Issues with loan repayment and debt relief
– Advice for college-bound students
– Legislators seeking action
– Statistics from Discover Student Loan Survey

5. National
Media
Outlet Coverage Loans DSL
WSJ
Most mentions of Discover Student Loans
Financial related news
X X
Chicago
Tribune
“DiscoverGraded on Student Loans” – positive article
Insight: “biggest college worry is student loan debt”
X X
AP
One mention: cited 5 percent growth, but also stated
that private loans tend to have higher interest rates X X
Millennial
Media
HuffPost
Blog post by Jodi Okun
More than 1,000 articles about student loans
X X
BuzzFeed
Investigation by CFPB
“18Things that are Easier than PayingOff Student
Loans”
X X
HerCampus
Previous partnership with SimpleTuition.com
“The Hidden Costs of College & How to Budget for
Them”
X
U.S. News &
World Report
Consistent amount of coverage, articles are read as the
company is well known for its college rankings
X

7. “Young people do not want to entrust the
decision about what’s news to the editors or one
geographically proximate newspaper or another
mainstream media outlet. They want to decide
for themselves via specialized streams.”
Survey by DoSomething.org

8. INSIGHTS

9. SWOT Analysis
STRENGTHS
• Customer service
• Attention to responsible lending
• Directly work with universities
WEAKNESSES
•Third ranking in market
• Higher interest rates
OPPORTUNITIES
• Recent product growth
• Increase in media coverage
• New student audience
THREATS
•Overall perception of loans
• CFPB Investigation (regulation)

10. THE CAMPAIGN
Dream with Discover

11. Goal
To enhance the reputation of
Discover Student Loans so that it is
a leading option for funding tuition
among U.S. college students.

12. Objectives
• To obtain favorable mentions in at least 75 percent of Discover
Student Loans’ media coverageby September 1, 2015.
• To generate one million media impressions about Discover Student
Loans’ campus event panels from media outlets, with a target
audience between the ages of 17 and 25, by September 1, 2015.
• To engage 2,000 students between the ages of 17 and 25 in Twitter
conversations with the hashtag #DreamwithDiscover by
September 1, 2015.
• To generate a 15 percent increase in applications for Discover
Student Loans by September 1, 2015.

13. THE NEWSWORTHY IDEA

14. Event Panels
5 Cities 25 Panelists
Media Opportunities
WebinarsExclusive Interviews
Celebrity Moderator#DreamWith Discover

15. Scholarship Contest
2 weeks to
Tweet
1 Month
to submit
100 Finalists
5 Winners
#DreamWith Discover $10,000 Scholarship

16. MEDIA INVOLVEMENT

17. Outlets

18. Tyler Kingkade
HuffPost College
• Associate Editor
• Higher education &millennials
• Educated & informal
• “The Me Generation” response
• Pitch: exclusive panelist
interviews

19. Stephanie Kaplan
Her Campus
• Co-founder, CEO, Editor-in-Chief
• Large reach
• Career planning & financial advice
• Scholarships
• Pitch: “Dream with Discover”
exclusive

20. PRESS MATERIALS
Dream with Discover tab on Student Loan website
•MediaAlerts
•News Releases
•Backgrounders

21. Measurement & Evaluation
• Amount of coverage generated in national and local news outlets between
March 1, 2015 and September 1, 2015, with particular emphasis on outlets
that were pitched and received information about the “Dream with Discover”
campaign.
• Tone of coverage generated in national and local news outlets between
March 1, 2015 and September 1, 2015.
• Number of tweets that include the hashtag “#Dream with Discover”.
• Tone of tweets surrounding the “Dream with Discover” scholarship contest.
• Number of entries in the “Dream with Discover” scholarship.
• Number of applications to Discover Student Loans between March 1, 2015
and September 1, 2015.

22. The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
- Eleanor Roosevelt