In 2023, Guilford College’s Office of Advancement and Alumni Relations developed a new approach to the college’s annual giving day: “Guilford Madness.” The idea was to put a spin on college basketball’s March Madness. The giving day was extended from a one-day to a three-day campaign. To introduce this new campaign format to our constituents, our team had to develop new marketing and instructional information. We developed an easy-to-understand video that highlighted the campaign’s purpose and explained how to participate. We developed the concept, scripts, and set; involved students and employees; trained all the "actors"; and filmed and edited the video. This project had no dedicated budget, and staff worked on this outside of their normal duties. As a result of our efforts, the Guilford Madness campaign brought in over 1,000 gifts and more than $235,000, a 6% increase over the previous campaign.
From the Judges
We felt the video was creative and fun and generated excitement for their target audience. They did an excellent job explaining the purpose of the video, and we agreed that we did not feel overwhelmed when watching it.
