Princeton University’s video “A Year of Forward Thinking” announced the start of a year-long community engagement campaign of the same name.
In lieu of forging ahead with preparations for a campaign launch at the university in the fall of 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic closed our campus and required new approaches to nearly everything, we quickly pivoted to launch in September 2020 “A Year of Forward Thinking,” an engagement campaign that spotlights all the ways Princetonians are responding to the challenges that face us, and pioneering solutions for the future. This new effort has spanned the 2020-21 academic year, and has featured the voices of the university’s “forward thinkers”—students, faculty, staff, alumni, and friends.
The video signaled to our audience that Princeton is a place that will weather this storm, through a commitment to our values, and the strength of our community. It acknowledged both the difficulty of this moment and the optimism that our forward thinkers represent. The narrative leaned into resilience, and the power of ideas to move us out of the dark moments at the start of the year.
From the Judges
The video provided a thoughtful way to introduce their community engagement campaign. Additionally, the narrative was well-written, and the visuals and music created a crescendo effect that led to a dramatic ending.
