"This special welcome gift was designed for the Class of 2025. Due to the pandemic, the vast majority of these students did not have the opportunity to visit campus. Anticipating a higher degree of summer melt among the admitted class, we worked with our admissions team to develop a fun, functional welcome piece that would help students start to envision one of the most exciting parts of campus life: moving into their dorm room.
This piece checks several brand boxes for Carleton: we pride ourselves on our sense of playfulness and commitment to not taking ourselves too seriously. This pokes fun at our sometimes frigid and sometimes hot Minnesota weather with the mailing box sleeve— "When it's hot, it's hot. When it's cold, it's cold." This messaging also teases the insulated water bottle. It is sustainable, both in reducing plastic bottles and paper cups, but also because MiiR is a certified B-Corp and has a climate neutral certification. We also strive for top-shelf design, and that was true for the tumblers we chose, the illustrated welcome insert, and the mailing "sleeve and coffin" (as we took to calling the packaging).
In the end, Carleton's melt was 50% lower than it was in 2020 and back on par with the melt levels we'd seen in 2019 and 2018. Although it's impossible to determine causation, we claim some credit for that outcome due to this welcome kit."
From the Judges
Liked the brochure a lot and the effort to source the bottle. Nice way to identify first-year students. Nice ROI in lower melt.
