On Monday, March 5, students in Dr. Sadia Cheema’s “Introduction to Public Relations” class took to Ratio Hall, on the second floor of the Wentz Science Center, to engage NCC students and teach them more about Naperville’s newest rideshare program: Tuk Tuk.
What is a Tuk Tuk? Easy: Tuk Tuks are the little three-wheeled, electric vehicles that you can see cruising around downtown Naperville. They’ve already been here for two years but Tuk Tuk Naperville manager, Chris Parker, says that they have failed to identify with the school.
Tuk Tuks were parked outside Wentz Science Center offering free rides to students during the event.
“We are very excited to have worked with the PR class here with Sadia Cheema,” says Chris Parker. “We’re in our second year of operation and we don’t get many rides from the campus, so that was the whole focus behind this social media, social awareness (project) around Tuk Tuk Naperville with this PR class.”
Tables in Ratio Hall were set up with coffee, snacks and interactive displays that not only taught attendees about Tuk Tuk, but also offered prizes, like T-shirts and coupons for local businesses. Student America Villalobos, ’19, was focused on the 13- to 18-year-old demographic and found it interesting just how many people in that age demographic actually used Tuk Tuk.
“What we found really interesting is that it’s not the kids booking the rides, it’s the parents booking the rides to make sure that they actually come and pick them up. A lot of the 13- to 18-year olds use it for Centennial Beach because they are sponsored with Tuk Tuk,” she said.
Students take turns creating slogans for the company and then spinning a wheel to get a prize from America Villalobos’, ’19, and Rachel Elshoff’s, ’18, booth.
However the event was not all about fun and games, Dr. Cheema says that this was part of a longer, term-based project which has seen the students working with Qualtrics research software and assembling portfolios for not only Tuk Tuk, but themselves as well.
“The event is just one portion of it, for engagement — the final part of their project. They’re also presenting their situation analysis, which is the strengths, the opportunities, weaknesses, threats, communication opportunities, to the client on Wednesday (March 7, 2018) in class, so they do have formal presentations and formal portfolio submissions as well.”
Dr. Cheema also feels that the people behind Tuk Tuk are more relatable to the community when compared to a “default” rideshare service like Uber. “Tuk Tuk is here to build a relationship with them, rather than just provide a service like Uber,” says Cheema.
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- America Villalobos, ’19, invited attendees to pitch Tuk Tuk slogans and then take a spin to win a prize.
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- Students Colin Froelich, ’20, and Nick Horkey, ’21, were partnered with both Tuk Tuk Naperville and Nando’s Peri-Peri, handing out coupons for both companies.
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- Sarah Prosia, ’18, Lucie Neyrinck, Andrea Fekete, ’18, and Kelly Schwab, ’19, offered more information on Tuk Tuk and ran projections on the walls of Ratio Hall.
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- Chloe Ma, ’19, Raymond Dragunaitis, ’19, and Samantha Soverino, ’19, offered a perfectly campus-safe version of beer pong and offered even more prizes.
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- Josey Carpenter, ’18, and Grace Klooster, ’20, hosted Tuk Tuk Trivia, offering more prizes.
This is a sentiment that seems to be shared with manager Chris Parker who notes that, thanks to the ConVerge program, this event doesn’t represent Tuk Tuk’s only relation to the school.
“We’re actually working with another class — with Mary Galvin — it’s a market research class doing another project for us and we just love the feedback that we get from the millennials and this age group, what their ideas are about our business,” Parker said.
And how could it have worked out better for either party? While students get real-world public relations experience, Tuk Tuk Naperville gets to save money and avoid going through a public relations firm. Though, Dr. Cheema does say that Tuk Tuk Naperville was kind enough to provide both the T-shirts and the coupons that were offered as prizes at the students’ booths.
From left to right, back to front: Rachel Elshoff, Alexandra Pizarro, America Villabos, Kelly Shwab, Paige Dean, Matthew Pandocchi, Lucie Neyrinck, Joshua Durham, Raymond Dragunaitis, Grace Klooster, Nicholas Horky, Samantha Soverino, Norah Flaherty, Colin Froehlich
Front Row: Dr. Sadia Cheema (Professor COM 250), Marissa Laurie, Grace Phillipe, Sarah Prosia, Andrea Fekete, Chloe Ma
