The team at UCSD started with a clear set of objectives and articulation of the problem the campaign was to address. Nice use of leveraging alumni staff members to understand your audience and surveys to inform the campaign planning. We applaud their bold departure from tradition to create a new brand identity for Alumni Weekend. Nice to see that decision backed up by data. We were pleased to hear the UCSD team intentionally choose to focus on enhancing overall brand awareness among alumni rather than continue with a legacy, theme-based approach to Alumni Weekend. Rethinking and recasting beloved alumni traditions is no easy task!
We were impressed with their solid understanding of their audience and the comprehensive, integrated marketing campaign for Alumni Weekend 2016 at UCSD. We saw a good, balanced mix of print, digital, owned/paid media to yield robust results. The Night at the Padres event was an effective way to reach more alumni while highlighting that much-desired San Diego lifestyle.
Kudos to the UCSD team for giving thought to the event-branded merchandise to ensure it would be attractive and desirable so people would want to wear/use it, which extended the impact of the campaign. This all undeniably contributed to their outstanding results.
The event seemed to deliver on the university's mission of creating meaningful experiences that engage alumni. Memorable, compelling and effective campaign with limited resources and staff!
