OXFORD, Miss. – The Greek community at the University of Mississippi is using an alternative approach to help reduce and prevent issues caused by excessive drinking.
The Ole Miss Interfraternity Council has teamed with University Communications and the Office of Health Promotion to assist in promoting a responsible drinking campaign. IFC members worked closely with a team of university videographers to develop a video, titled “Skip the Risk,” that could be easily shared amongst a young, tech-savvy target audience.
“The opportunity for IFC to partner with Health Promotions and University Communications in producing an educational video for the ‘Skip the Risk’ campaign was a great way to engage students in dialogue and reflection on decision making and the use of alcohol,” said Jenell Bukky Lanski, UM coordinator of fraternity and sorority life.
While the use of video to drive social awareness campaigns isn’t new, a recent report from the Boston University School of Public Health cites social media as a way to create more effective, cost efficient messaging to target students and even change behaviors.
“Short video is proving to be one of the best ways to reach our target audience,” said Win Graham, a producer-director in University Communications. “Over the past year, we’ve found that shocking and funny videos garner more views and shares than other styles with which we’ve experimented.”
The “Skip the Risk” video campaign began in spring 2014 with the launch of five 15-second videos published on the university’s official Instagram account, @OleMiss. A second round of longer videos was completed and released during the fall 2014 semester. To date, the campaign is estimated to have reached more than 100,000 via social media.
In fact, a video that features Ole Miss IFC members was easily the best received of the campaign. In the first two weeks after its release, the video “Bad Decisions” received more than 27,000 views and continues to be one of the most viewed and most engaged videos on the university’s Facebook page. To watch the video, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tM4DA05TXrU.
“We never guessed it would garner as many views as is and are excited to continue this partnership and collaboration moving forward,” said Erin Cromeans, UM assistant director for health promotion.
The campaign has garnered top public relations and communications awards for its strategic approach. The Public Relations Association of Mississippi presented University Communications with a Prism Award for the campaign in April. More videos are planned for fall 2015.