From Learning to Marketing
Communicating a new brand after
a major renaming
Challenge
We were engaged by University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC)—formerly University of Maryland University College—to develop and launch a $25M+ fully-integrated marketing campaign that positively impacted brand awareness, consideration, attributes, and enrollment.
Additionally, as part of a strategy to advertise the new UMGC name on a national scale, the university engaged us to identify the most appealing, unique, and true-to-brand logo for the University. This work also included brand positioning research (quantitative and qualitative), brand naming and messaging, and enrollment decision drivers.
Solution
Once the campaign was developed, research was performed to measure the appeal of advertising concepts and post-launch advertising research was implemented to inform campaign revisions and updates. The campaign included TV, radio, print, out of home (metro and airports), and extensive digital advertising.
In partnership with UMGC, another survey for the visual brand was conducted. Using visceral testing and top-of-mind associations among prospective students, a logo was created that best represented the value of a UMGC education and one that would continue to build brand equity and relevancy.
Results
After the launch of the campaign, the university saw significant improvements to brand metrics including awareness (+13%), consideration (+19%), reputation (+18%) and inquiries (+11%) within the first year post-launch of the new campaign.
Updated digital experiences and paid digital marketing increased unpaid web leads by over 400%, overall leads by 12%, lead quality by 15% and lead-to-applicant conversion rate by 10%, with a 15% decrease in media spend.
Finally, as a direct result of the campaign, the university experienced six straight terms of enrollment growth.
