By MAUREEN JONES
Universe Staff Writer
An international pizza and family restaurant chain will become a client of BYU's student-run public relations agency during winter semester 1998.
Peter Piper Pizza, one of the top-10 pizza chains in the United States, selected the Bradley Agency to assist with its local marketing efforts.
Public relations students with the Bradley Agency, BYU's student public relations agency, will work to increase student awareness and student patronage of its Orem restaurant, at 1515 S. State St. in Orem.
Obtaining this restaurant chain as a client is a good opportunity for the Bradley Agency because it enables them to offer students a good variety of commercial and non-profit clients, said Linda Walton, student adviser of the Bradley Agency.
'Peter Piper Pizza is one of the few big corporate clients we've had,' she said.
The company has 125 restaurants in seven Southwestern states and Mexico. Other Utah locations of the restaurant include Salt Lake City and Ogden.
Don Pijut, director of marketing with Peter Piper Pizza, said Bradley will help build awareness and a campus presence for the restaurant.
Peter Piper Pizza saw working with the Bradley Agency as beneficial due to the impressive reputation the agency has and the fact that students will be designing a public relations campaign, Pijut said.
'Who better to target students than other students?' Pijut said.
In addition to targeting BYU students, the Bradley Agency will also work on public relations campaigns for high school students and elementary school students in the Provo/Orem area.
The Bradley Agency offers its clients an inexpensive way to receive public relations counsel, Walton said.
The students who work with the agency are creative and have new ideas, she said.
The agency benefits the students who work there as well by giving them a strong foundation in public relations and providing portfolio material they can use, Walton said.
'Students can practice public relations skills in a close to real setting,' said Jared Capson, a senior from South Windsor, Conn., majoring in public relations and president of the Bradley Agency.
Public relations students work for the Bradley Agency by signing up to take Comms 398R, for which they earn one credit hour. They meet one night a week, are divided into groups and are assigned to clients.
Beginning next semester, Bradley will begin to restructure the way students work at the Bradley Agency, said Shane Toponce, a senior from Ogden majoring in public relations and the president of the Bradley agency for Winter Semester 1998.
Students will be able to work on different projects and different accounts instead of only working with one client, he said.
The effort students put into the class is the experience they will get from it, Capson said.
During Fall Semester 1997, Bradley had four non-profit clients, Capson said. In the past, their clients have ranged from non-profit organizations to new and established businesses.
The agency first began in 1986, Capson said. The agency has been awarded a Public Relations Student Society Teahan award for 'Outstanding Chapter Firm' in 1993.