New recruitment brochures are making people ‘THINK’
Utah State University’s new recruitment brochures are making people think. And that’s exactly what they’re intended to do.
John DeVilbiss, executive director of public relations and marketing for the university, said the brochures are updated annually, but this year the bar needed to be raised with the new emphasis on academics led by President Kermit L. Hall and promoting USU as a student-centered institution.
The university hired Carnegie Communications to help design the new brochures. Carnegie did an assessment of USU based on research, surveys and focus groups in order to reach a conclusion regarding the best way to reach prospective students and make USU a more recognizable name within the state.
“People know [USU] is up in northern Utah somewhere, but despite all of the good things that occur at this institution, a lot of people – because it’s not along the Wasatch Front – don’t think about it,” DeVilbiss said.
Carnegie Communications came up with several concepts, but the public relations team liked the “THINK” campaign the most because it plays two ways.
“It plays on our emphasis on academics – the thinking human being, thinking aspects – and also, the other way of looking at it, THINK: Utah State,” DeVilbiss said.
The THINK concept has been used in the creation of not only recruitment brochures, but also with college companion pieces and other departmental literature, creating what DeVilbiss calls a “golden thread of communications.”
DeVilbiss said it’s hard to successfully promote an institution with 23,000 students, 5,000 employees, 45 departments and seven colleges without using an integrated concept.
“That really does represent overall what we’re trying to do institutionally for the university is create that golden thread of communications all the way through,” he said.
Whitney Wilkinson, a public relations specialist for the university, pointed out that there is a play on the ‘in’ in THINK throughout the brochures as well, emphasizing words such as investigate, innovate and independent to describe each individual college.
“By using a concept [within] a concept, like the ‘in’ word, it still allows their individuality to come through so that [each college] can portray their strengths in the way that they want,” she said.
In addition to the new brochures, the university has also used the THINK campaign to promote USU on a larger scale – with billboards at the Salt Lake International Airport. A dozen billboards have been on display throughout the airport for the past two months, reaching a potential viewership of 1.2 million people.
DeVilbiss said the first step in determining what to push with the billboards was deciding what exactly it is that brands USU as a university. He said there are essentially three main areas people think of when thinking of USU: Space research, land and water research and human services (the College of Education and Human Services, centers for people with disabilities, etc.) As part of a three-year plan, this year’s emphasis was space research. Next year the focus will be land and water research. The ads seem to be doing their job so far, Wilkinson said.
“I’ve heard comments from faculty and staff when they go to the airport and they see those billboards, it just kind of gives them that warm feeling and they feel that Aggie pride. They’re glad to see Utah State represented as it should be,” said Wilkinson.
She said people are happy that through the THINK campaign, USU is moving in a unified direction and being portrayed in a modern, fresh, eye-capturing way that represents the university accurately.
None of this happened by chance, however.
“All this is very strategic,” Wilkinson said. “Every picture, every word is carefully scrutinized.”
She said they tried to involve the whole university by sending proofs out to as many people as they could and making changes based upon feedback.
The effectiveness of the new brochures with regard to recruitment can’t be determined just yet, but the public relations and marketing department does have goals for the new campaign.
“Our most immediate plan is to create a visual identity program for the university,” DeVilbiss said. “USU’s a great place. It always has been in so many ways.”
He said that right now, people think of a million different things when they hear “Utah State,” so essentially they think of nothing. DeVilbiss hopes the THINK campaign will lead the effort to put everybody on the same page and make them think of one clear message about USU.
DeVilbiss compares USU’s image to an old Ford pickup truck – the university is thought of as reliable, dependable and always getting the job done. He said USU has changed and while still maintaining those characteristics, is now more of a sport utility vehicle, covering a “multiplicity of terrain” that people don’t realize.
DeVilbiss said a lot of the university’s improvements and accomplishments have to do with Hall and the good publicity he’s brought to USU.
Wilkinson agrees that USU is a great place and hopes the brochures reflect that and make people excited about the university.
“If you don’t have a good product, you can’t sell it,” she said. “The fact that we have a good product to sell that’s genuine, that’s why great things are happening here.”
-lstapley@cc.usu.edu