This video was one of the first in a series we created this academic year to showcase Auburn's senior vice president for student affairs, Dr. Bobby Woodard. Our goals were to create content that would appeal to students with humor and relatability and to use that unique content to highlight Dr. Woodard's fun and approachable personality. This series also gave us the opportunity to highlight programs within the Division of Student Affairs—in this case, the Auburn cheerleaders. In this video, Dr. Woodard joins the Auburn cheerleaders to learn cheers and see what their typical practices are like. To add a comedic twist, he takes what he learned back to the office in an effort to communicate better, but finds that he should probably leave the shouting to the cheerleaders. Since starting this series at the beginning of the 2023-24 academic year, we've seen a follower increase of over 20% on Instagram, over 1.5 million total impressions, and more than 450,000 views on the "Dr. Woodard Tries" series alone. We've also noticed that more students recognize Dr. Woodard on a regular basis, which allows him to connect with more students and do his job more effectively.
From the Judges
This is a fun and impactful video. The content and interaction with students makes the video engaging and authentic. By humanizing the administrator, the video creates a friendly and approachable image. The team leveraged Auburn's social media channel to tap into the student audience.
