Lindsey is the assistant brand manager for a local chain of frozen yogurt shops. She has been in the position for two months. Currently, Lindsey has been assigned to prepare promotional messages for the upcoming baseball spring training season. As she reviews the shops$$ sales data from spring training last year, Lindsey notices that sales to locals with $$frequent dipper$$ punch cards dropped during the spring training months of February and March. This year, Lindsey wants to make certain that local customer sales don$$t fall off during spring training.

The yogurt shops have a Facebook presence and have acquired quite a following in the local college community. Lindsey would like to target this population with online promotions and social media marketing to bring in customers at off$-$peak hours during spring training.

To date, the yogurt shop has never used any social media marketing, and Lindsey knows she will have to gain approval through the appropriate channels before developing her campaign. Fortunately, she has several months to plan and plenty of time to work the system to gain approval.

Lindsey gains approval from her supervisor, who informs her that she will need to get the company CEO$$s approval as well. The CEO is a micromanager who runs a tight ship and wants to review any changes to operational practices in any area. The CEO will expect Lindsey to deliver a proposal for consideration. Lindsey knows she needs to get buy$-$in from the CEO, but they$$ve met only once. She$$s heard that the CEO$$s not always open to new ideas.

When Lindsey approaches the CEO to request approval for her proposal, what communication channel would be most appropriate and why?

Face$-$to$-$face meeting, because this may be a difficult conversation to have, and Lindsey needs to build rapport

A written report, because the CEO is old$-$fashioned, and they already have an established relationship

Email, because this is a routine proposal request that requires only moderate formality