Research Project

Report
Analyzing the Effectiveness of the
Shop Shawnee Campaign

Prepared By:
Andrew Hackett Chance Johnson
Dillon Stallings Mary Criner
Prepared For:
The City of Shawnee Manager, Brian McDougal

Tuesday, November 26, 2014

Contents
Executive Summary ...................................................................................................................... 3
Background ............................................................................................................................... 4
Problem Definition ........................................................................................................................ 5
Approach to Problem .............................................................................................................. 5
Research Method ......................................................................................................................... 7
Sampling Plan ............................................................................................................................ 7
Method/ Sampling Frame ....................................................................................................... 7
Questionnaire Development................................................................................................... 7
Results ............................................................................................................................................. 8
Limitations .................................................................................................................................... 13
Conclusion ................................................................................................................................... 14
Recommendations ................................................................................................................. 16
Appendices ................................................................................................................................. 18

Executive Summary
This report was requested to examine the effectiveness of the Shop Shawnee advertising
campaign that ran during the summer of 2014. During the past summer, the City of Shawnee ran
a promotional campaign to promote and raise awareness to how the city gains its funding.
Shawnee is heavily reliant on the sales tax of the business transactions within the city limits, thus
the more money spent in Shawnees economy the more money that the city gets to help with city.
To gather further information, a team of volunteer callers conducted telephone surveys.
Residents of Shawnee were contacted and asked survey questions centering around the Shop
Shawnee campaign.
Results showed that 47% of the Shawnee citizens that were surveyed were aware of the
campaign.1 Further analysis showed that 58% of residents were already aware that their sales tax
dollars were the primary source that benefitted the City of Shawnee.2 Data comparison of age
and income, suggested that older and wealthier respondents were already educated on what their
sales tax dollars funded. 3 Further data analyses suggested that of the residents of Shawnee that
were surveyed, a large portion already shopped in Shawnee despite their awareness, or lackthere-of, of the campaign. Additional survey responses identified that 55.7% of residents
expressed that the campaign was at least somewhat successful on educated them on where their
sales tax dollars were going.4
Our Recommendations:

Widen target market; focus on reaching younger and low income demographic

Appendix C
Appendix D
3
Appendix E
4
Appendix F
2

Increase use of modern media outlets to communicate city goals

Create an incentive program to encourage Shawnee residents to shop locally

Background
The city of Shawnee faced hard times during the recession, as did all towns, and had to
make cuts and changes to save money. Since the economy has been rebounding lately Shawnee
was still not getting the sales tax revenue that helps fund the various parts of Shawnee public life
and safety. Since almost all of Shawnees income comes from the sales tax generated from the
business in Shawnee, and prices for many things have increased, the people seemed to not
understand or know that buying and shopping in Shawnee helps fund Shawnees projects. Since
it seemed that people living in Shawnee had little knowledge of their contributions to Shawnee
and Shawnee needed to gain more money to help fund their projects, the city decided to increase
awareness and use a spur to action advertising campaign.
The city chose Anglin Public Relations to create and deploy the advertising campaign.
The chosen advertising media were merchant flyers, door hangers, movie theater commercials,
social media, and posters at specific locations around town. The advertising was scheduled to run
the length of the summer of 2014.
The advertisement focus was on emergency responders like firefighters, policemen, and a
K-9 handler unit. The advertisements explained briefly that shopping in Shawnee and the tax
generated by shopping in Shawnee helps pay for them. The commercials also did the same thing
but it was spoken parts by the service men and women that helped describe the sales tax revenue.
A primary reason to use these people is to touch the emotional buttons that drive people to
consider/act on shopping in Shawnee. Another thing that the campaign was used for was to
educate the shoppers in Shawnee that most things that are need-based are found in Shawnee, thus
4

it is unnecessary to go to Oklahoma City to get those items. Since this campaign was meant for
the community of Shawnee, the area of Shawnee was the only geographic area the
advertisements could be seen repeatedly.

Problem Definition
The question presented is; how effective was the advertising on the population of
Shawnee. To find answers the following questions were asked to gain insight; Did you
see/remember an ad this summer about shopping in Shawnee during the summer? Have you
increased your shopping trips/habits during or since this summer? These, along with other
questions that can be found in the appendix, were included in order to gauge the effectiveness of
the campaign.
The objective of this research was used to find the effectiveness of the advertisements
and if the advertisements still have a lasting effect on the population. The population was
supposed to become more aware of where the city of Shawnee gets most of its income to spend
on city protection and projects. The survey wording was thoroughly thought-out in order to
achieve accurate results when analyzing the survey answers.

Approach to Problem
Our collection of primary data was gathered through conducting a survey. We created a
short survey addressing the effectiveness of the campaign. We used the utility accounts of
Shawnee citizens to collect contact information. During the beginning stages of the research
process, we discussed using three possible avenues of administering the surveys: email, direct
mail, or telephone. Email surveys, although quick, was not the best option for this research
project because the client lacked appropriate emails for the target population. The client also had
privacy concerns in using an email to conduct surveys; he felt as though email addresses given
5

were for other needs besides collecting research information. We weighed the options, and if
direct mail were used as the avenue, the addresses would be found on the citizens utility
accounts. When comparing costs, direct mail expenses exceeded telephone, and phone surveys
have quicker response analyses. Therefore, telephone survey was the method chosen to collect
data. Phone numbers were provided by utility account information. Citizens were called through
the City of Shawnee phone lines in order to portray professionalism and increase response rates.
Our goal was that the survey responses would show us three things. First, we wanted information
collected through the surveys to show how many citizens of Shawnee were aware of the
campaign. This information would tell us how far the reach of the campaign was. Survey
questions subtly addressed respondents demographics. For example, this information showed us
which age groups were reached. Our hypothesis was that the data would reveal that the younger
citizens of Shawnee werent reached as consistently as the mature citizens. Secondly, we wanted
the survey to show us whether the campaigns message was clear to people. This information
addressed the question: Did they understand the campaign was raising awareness of the
importance of shopping locally? We sought to understand what the citizens opinion of the
campaign was and wanted to answer this question: Do they understand how their sales tax
revenues are dispersed now? Third, our goal was that the data collected would show the overall
effect of the campaign. For example, respondents were asked whether the campaign motivated
them to shop locally. We also collected data asking respondents how important shopping locally
had become after the campaign.
While collecting primary data we kept in mind that we would present the final research to
Brian McDougal to show overall the success of the campaign. We wanted our research to help

the City of Shawnee better understand the impact of the Shop Shawnee Campaign. The research
objective was to show whether the money spent on the campaign proved to be beneficial.

Research Method
Sampling Plan
We chose to use a population sampling plan containing the City of Shawnees population.
The population of Shawnee is over 30,000 people and we had to slim that down to a more
manageable population to work with. Through a TSE calculation we found that we only needed
to get 626 total responses to gain an appropriate answer that accurately represent the population
of Shawnee. In order to get 626 responses we estimated that we needed to call 4,216 people.

Method/ Sampling Frame

The sampling frame consisted of Shawnee residents who have a utility account set up
with the city. The sampling frame also contained residents from all demographic groups. The
client gave us the contact information that was used to reach the target population. The
participants of the survey were chosen at random, so the only exclusions were on-campus
students at St. Gregorys University and Oklahoma Baptist University who do not have utility
accounts with the city and were most likely not in Shawnee during the campaign.

Questionnaire Development
An example of the survey can be found in Appendix B. Our survey contains a variety of
different questions. Some questions require a scale to answer, others are yes or no, and other
questions have options to choose from. We designed the survey to be as effective as possible,
while still being realistic. It is only possible to use up so much of a persons time over the phone
before compromising the quality of the data. The survey is designed so that it will never make
the participant feel uncomfortable at any point. The questions will be easy to answer for the
7

participant, and the answers will be beneficial to the client for gauging the success of the Shop
Shawnee campaign.
The following paragraph illustrates the beginning of each survey call to ensure clarity and
professionalism.
I am a student at Oklahoma Baptist University. I'm working with the City of Shawnee for a
class research project. May I speak with the head of the household? This summer, the city
launched a marketing campaign to educate the public on how its operations are funded. We are
conducting research to determine the campaigns effect. This survey is 12 questions and should
only take a few moments of your time. May I begin?

Results
While conducting surveys, the data was collected using Question Pro. This multifunctional website served as a means to easily collect, store, and analyze survey responses.
Throughout the following section we will analyze the data we collected by using graphs and
charts provided by Question Pro.
We called a total of 1,693 phone numbers. This number fell short of our 4,000 calls goal
we made in our research proposal report. Out of the 1,693 dialed numbers, 688 were bad
numbers. That left us with 1,005 valid numbers. Of the 1,005, 444 went to an answering machine
leaving us with 561 calls that reached a respondent. Of the 561, 199 at least answered the first
questions. This gave us an effective response rate of 35.47%.5
The first survey question identified the respondents familiarity with the Shop Shawnee
campaign. Based on the graph below, we know that 53.27% of respondents did not know about

This rate is based on data collected up to November 18, 2014.

the campaign that aired this past summer. A follow up question attempted to help the resident
remember the campaign by listing ways that the City of Shawnee advertised the campaign. Of
the completed surveys, only 18.69% of the people remembered actually seeing some sort of
advertising after being reminded.6
Were you aware of the Shop Shawnee campaign?

When asked to identify the type of campaign media seen, 32 out of 74 respondents
recalled seeing a flyer. Below is a graph illustrating respondents response when asked where
they remembered seeing the campaign advertisements. According the graph, flyers seemed to be
the most popular form of media, followed by the door hanger. Further data collection identified
that respondents were also aware of the advertisement that was featured in the local newspaper.7

6
7

Appendix G
http://questionpro.com/a/summaryReport.do?mode=data&sectionID=6&surveyID=3978741

Do you recall seeing: (choose all that apply)

50%
43.24%

45%
40%
35%
30%

27.03%

25%
17.57%

20%
15%

12.16%

10%
5%
0%
Facebook
advertisement

Door hanger

Movie
commercial

Flyer

According the survey responses, citizens of Shawnee were not clear on the purpose of the
Shop Shawnee promotional campaign. Data analysis showed that 48% of the people surveyed
said that the campaign was not successful. Below is a graph illustrating how successful the
campaign was in educating the people on how their sales tax dollars benefit the City of Shawnee.
Although a large portion of the people surveyed said that the campaign was not successful,
survey data identified that many citizens already shopped locally.8 Additionally, based on a
previous survey question that asked the caller if they already knew where their sales tax dollars
were going before the campaign, we know that 58.04% of those people already knew how their
sales tax dollars benefited the City of Shawnee. 9

8
9

Appendix F
Appendix D

10

How successful was the campaign in educating you on how

your sales tax dollars benefit the city of Shawnee?
60%
48%

50%

41%
40%
30%
20%
11%
10%
0%
Not successful

Somewhat successful

Very successful

Survey respondents were asked to identify how likely they were to shop locally. In
Appendix H the graph illustrates their likeliness (1 being very unlikely and 5 being very
likely) to shop in Shawnee before seeing the campaign. Based on the graph we know that
73.21% of people surveyed were already likely to shop in Shawnee, as opposed to going to other
cities for their purchases.10 Furthermore, responses to an additional question that asked the
likeliness (on the same scale) of the caller to continue to shop in Shawnee after seeing the
campaign showed the campaign had little effect on self-reported buying habits.11 Based on the
data collected, there was less than a 1% difference in likelihood to shop locally after seeing the
Shop Shawnee campaign.12
After conducting an analysis through an ANOVA, we compared respondents rating of
campaign effectiveness and the respondents likelihood of shopping locally. The means were:
4.38 (not successful), 4.5(somewhat), 4.89(very).13 According to the results, (mathematically)

10

Appendix H
Appendix H
12
Appendix H
13 Appendix L
11

11

the persons likelihood of buying locally went up as their belief that the campaign was successful
went up. The p-value was .109. Thus it approached significance at the 90% confidence level
but was not statistically significant. This could be due to our small sample size. A larger sample
might decrease the p-value such that the result would become significant. From this, we
conclude that surveyed residents were not significantly affected by the campaign; meaning the
residents that were surveyed were not significantly influenced to increase or decrease their
tendency to shop in Shawnee.
Before seeing the advertisements, on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1
being very unlikely and 5 being very likely, how likely were you
to shop in Shawnee?
5 (Very Likely)

73.21%

4 (Likely)

13.39%

3 (Indifferent)

8.93%

2 (Not Likely)

2.68%

1 (Very Unlikely)

1.79%
0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

Using SPSS, we ran a one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and an independent

samples t-test to test if the given demographics data had any relationship with the campaign.18
We did not find any significant differences between the two gender groups and their responses.
We did find that the young age group and the 30s age groups were less likely to have known
about the campaign compared to the other age groups, and the lower income demographic tended
to not know where the sales taxes went when compared to the other income groups.
18

Appendix J

12

On the survey there is an open-ended question that required us to manually import the
data into SPSS.19 In order to code these responses used a three variable system; 1 = correct, 2 =
incorrect, and 3 = somewhat correct. Originally, we planned to code responses by two variables
(1 = correct, 2 = incorrect) but, we found that some responses indicated a partial knowledge of
how Shawnee receives funding. Thus, we felt it better to add the third variable somewhat
correct. Responses such as sales taxes plus property taxes, federal grantsetc. or simply
taxes were placed in the somewhat correct category. Those that answered specifically sales
taxes were placed in category 1 and those who were unaware of where funding came from were
categorized as 2s. We found that most responses fell into category 2 (incorrect) or category 3
(somewhat correct). Variable 3 represented citizens who understood funding came from taxes,
but were uneducated as to which specific taxes benefited the city of Shawnees operations.

Limitations
There were several factors that limited the effectiveness of our research. The first
limitation we came across was time. The time frame that we had to work within conflicted with
the availability of most of our volunteer callers. This left us with far fewer people calling, and
less often, than anticipated. The other limiting factor was the dated calling list. The massive
amount of out of service numbers hindered the calling process. The impact of these limitations
can be seen in the graph listed in Appendix I. As mentioned in the Results section, we called a
total of 1,693 phone numbers. This number fell short of our 4,000 calls goal. 688 of the calls
made were to out-of-service numbers that did not result in a completed survey. Other phone calls
went to answering machines or residents declined to participate in the survey. Due to these
limitations we also did not reach our research goal of 626 survey responses either. Due to time
19

Question 9 on survey; refer to Appendix B

13

constraints imposed by OBUs academic calendar (i.e. we had to finish the report for course
requirements) we ended our calling campaign for the purposes of this report with 122
responses.20 For this reason, caution should be used when generalizing the results to the large
population.
Another limitation was found in hindsight after looking through responses to the question
how likely are you to shop in Shawnee?. This question is broad, and we wouldve been able to
analyze answers more accurately if we had specified if we gave them examples of different types
of shopping. We do not know if the respondent was referring to their likelihood to shop in
Shawnee for groceries, clothing, or (pick your category). The results would likely be different if
the question had been more specific.
Another limitation appeared because we chose to have one open-ended question that
could help us analyze whether or not Shawnees population actually knew where the city of
Shawnee gets its funding, we found that some knew that sales taxes funded Shawnee, but many
added other funding items like property taxes or they just simply replied taxes with no
description of which taxing method. Because of the responses we received, we found that we
needed to add another variable in our analysis that we were not anticipating.

Conclusion
After detailed analysis of the gathered data, we conclude that the Shop Shawnee
campaign has a somewhat positive impact on Shawnee, although it did not have the impact that
was intended. Although, 47% of those surveyed were aware of the campaign,21 there was also a
large percentage that did not understand the campaigns purpose. Only 19% of responses
indicated a favorable impression of the success of the survey, but 44% of responses said the
20
21

As of November 18, 2014

Appendix C

14

campaign was somewhat successful.22 The data collected tended to indicate that the campaign
did not have as measurable impact on buying habits. Data analyses showed that citizens are
somewhat loyal to shopping locally. We do know that younger responders to the survey tended
to be unaware of the campaign and that the lowest income level tended to respond that they did
not know where the sales taxes went towards. The campaign did more likely reach those
respondents who were older and wealthier, and they were more likely to have known where the
sales tax goes.
Although our sample size was small, (especially for the $70,000-$99,999 income group
and the sub 40 age groups), the data collected showed that there was a large portion of Shawnee
that either were not aware of the campaign or were not affected by the campaign. As stated
previously, the likelihood of shopping locally before seeing the campaign and after seeing the
campaign did not have a significant different. Older people were reached, but based on survey
results those residents are already prone to shop locally. Several of the respondents who were
aware of the campaign were a part of the older demographic. Even though the older demographic
was successfully reached, they frequently stated they did not understand the campaigns
purpose.23
We do know through our survey that consumers in Shawnee (at least from the data we
collected) does tend to shop at Shawnee stores. Although the campaign seemed not to spur
people to shop locally more, the research does show that Shawnee is loyal to Shawnee shops. We
have uncovered that the citizens want to shop in Shawnee instead of going to other nearby towns
or OKC to shop. This does not account for what Shawnee citizens shop for primarily, this is
based on the responses to the survey question.
22
23

Appendix F
Appendix F

15

Many of the elderly citizens became aware of the campaign by reading the newspaper, a
medium that younger families do not regularly read. The survey indicated that only12% of
respondents saw the campaign via Facebook.24 Social media is a fast-growing platform for
marketing that needs to be included in a marketing plan if the younger demographic is going to
be reached. The only income demographic that tended not know where the sales tax goes (the
lowest) also needed to be more educated about sales taxes, although they were the second highest
in the successfulness of the campaign question.
By continuing efforts to engage, educate and encourage citizens to shop local, the City of
Shawnee may see a huge increase in sales tax revenue in the coming years. The Shop Shawnee
campaign could be the starting point for a major revolution of local shoppers.

Recommendations
After our analysis of the data collected, we have three recommendations for the City of
Shawnee in regards to increasing sales tax revenue. The first recommendation is to creatively
reach out to the younger demographic of Shawnee. This demographic can easily be overlooked
because they can be hard to reach. In order to educate them on how sales tax revenues affect
Shawnee, they need to be made aware of the local shopping opportunities.
As stated previously, social media is a great way to connect to a wide array of
demographics. Other avenues of communicating to unreached Shawnee residents could be
through Spotify, Hulu, and Pandora commercials. Local college students, young professionals
and young families have major buying power and if they can be persuaded to shop locally, sales
tax revues are sure to significantly increase.
We recommend an incentive program to encourage citizens to shop locally when buying
non-household goods. We understand that almost everyone will eat and grocery shop in Shawnee
24

http://questionpro.com/a/summaryReport.do?mode=data&sectionID=7&surveyID=3978741

16

out of necessity. However, our local businesses and mall could benefit greatly from the younger
population shopping here, rather than in Mid-West City or Oklahoma City. These incentives may
involve raffles that customers automatically enter when they shop at small local businesses or the
Shawnee Mall. Periodically a drawing could take place, with the winner getting differ prizes.
Giving options to the winners could also attract the attention of the older demographic, which
would mean more overall revenue for the city.
These recommendations are made with the goal of increasing the reach of future shop
local marketing campaigns. The Shop Shawnee campaign helped the City of Shawnee gain
traction towards a more involved and connected consumer economy.

17

Appendices
APPENDIX A
Works Cited
AMIBA | Buy Local Campaigns." Buy Local Campaigns. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Oct. 2014.

18

APPENDIX B
The survey can be found at http://shopshawnee.questionpro.com.
Survey of Shawnee Residents
1. Were you aware of the Shop Shawnee Campaign that aired this summer?
Yes or No (If yes, please go to question 3. If no, go to question 2.)
2. The campaign media consisted of flyers, door hangers, etc. and featured local police and
fireman explaining how their salaries and equipment are funded. Do you recall seeing any
of these advertisements?
Yes or No (If yes, please go to question 3. If no, please go to question 9.)
3. Where do you recall seeing the Shop Shawnee Campaign?
_______________________________________________
4. Do you recall seeing:
a. Movie Commercial? Yes or No
b. Flyer? Yes or No
c. Door hanger? Yes or No
d. Facebook? Yes or No
5. Before the campaign, did you know where your sales tax dollars were going?
Yes or No
6. How successful was the campaign in educating you on how your sales tax dollars benefit
the city of Shawnee?
Not successful

Somewhat successful

Very successful

7. Before seeing the advertisements, on a scale of 1 to 5 with 1 being very unlikely and 5
being very likely, how likely were you to shop in Shawnee?
1

8. On the same scale, after seeing the advertisements, how likely are you to shop in
Shawnee?
1
2
3
4
5
9. What is your understanding of how the city of Shawnee receives funding for its
operations?

19

10. Please indicate your gender.

a. Male
b. Female
c. Refuse to Answer
11. Which age category do you fall under?
a. Younger than 30
b. 30-39
c. 40-49
d. 50-59
e. 60-69
f. 70 or older
g. Refuse to Answer
12. Which income category do you fall under?
a. Less than $25,000
b. $25,000-49,999
c. $50,000-74,999
d. $75,000-99,999
e. Greater than $100,000
f. Refuse to Answer

This concludes our survey. Thank you for your time and participation. The City would like to
thank you for continuing to Shop Shawnee! If you have any other questions please visit the
Citys webpage at www.shawneeok.org or contact the City Managers office at 878-1601.

20

APPENDIX C
Were you aware of the Shop Shawnee Campaign that aired this summer?

21

APPENDIX D
Before the campaign, did you know where your sales tax dollars were going?

22

APPENDIX E
Which age category do you fall under?

23

APPENDIX F
How successful was the campaign in educating you on how your sales tax dollars benefit
the city of Shawnee?
60%

50%

48%
44%

40%

30%
19%

20%

10%

0%
Not successful

Somewhat successful

24

Very successful

APPENDIX G
The campaign media consisted of flyers, door hangers, etc. and featured local police and
fireman explaining how their salaries and equipment are funded. Do you recall seeing any
of these advertisements?

25

APPENDIX H
Before seeing the advertisements, on a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being very unlikely and 5 being
very likely, how likely were you to shop in Shawnee?

73.21% *

5 (Very Likely)

4 (Likely)

13.39%

3 (Indifferent)

8.93%

2 (Not Likely)

2.68%

1 (Very Unlikely)

1.79%
0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

On the same scale, 1 being very unlikely and 5 being very likely, how likely are you to shop
in Shawnee now?

72.32% *

5 (Very Likely)

4 (Likely)

13.39%

3 (Indifferent)

9.82%

2 (Not Likely)

2.68%

1 (Very Unlikely)

1.79%
0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

*less than 1% difference between the two Very Likely groups; (73.32%-73.21%=.11%)
26

APPENDIX I
Analysis of Calls Made

Do Not Call Again: Respondent refused to participate in survey.

Bad Number: Phone number was no longer in service.
Call Back later: Respondent declined to take survey, but suggested a call back at a more
convenient time.
Good Number: Respondent participated in survey.
Went to Answering Machine: Call was placed, but resident was not reached.

27

APPENDIX J
Data Analysis of age and income using an SPSS One-Way ANOVA test.
Age Analysis Part 1

28

Age analysis Part 2

*the red circles show the relationship between age.

Income Analysis Part 1

29

Income Analysis Part 2

*the purple circles show the relationship between income.

30

APPENDIX K
TSE Calculation
Given the data, the sample size suggested by the numbers is given by the following equation (n is
sample size):

(1 ) 2
2

Thus if we plug in the numbers from the paragraph above we would see this formula:

. 07(1 .07)(1.96)2
(0.02)2

Which n = 625.2 626.

If we use the sample-size equation number of 626 and our estimates of the RR, IR, and CR for
the phone surveys then it would look like this:

Number of Contacts =

626
(0.3) (0.99) (0.5)

31

APPENDIX L
Comparing the following three questions : Before seeing the advertisements, on a scale of
1 to 5, with 1 being very unlikely and 5 being very likely, how likely were you to shop in
Shawnee? and On the same scale, 1 being very unlikely and 5 being very likely, how
likely are you to shop in Shawnee now? and How successful was the campaign in
educating you on how your sales tax dollars benefit the city of Shawnee?

32