The Your Story campaign concept was developed to raise brand awareness for extremely local prospective students in the Burlington, West Burlington, New London, and Mount Pleasant markets.
This campaign incorporated data from national research to create a personal, emotional story that encouraged prospective students to connect with the institution while also showcasing the range of educational paths available at Iowa Wesleyan. This age bracket is highly sensitive to marketing and tends to reject highly curated messages. For photos and videos, students were encouraged to dress in any way they chose, bring props, and lead the setting choices and poses. Interviews were question driven and unscripted. Each student received a set of retouched photos from their shoot.
Current students were chosen from the target markets for their diverse experiences. I collaborated with our on-campus videographer and our marketing intern to complete a photoshoot and video interview for each student, based on my original concept. Students’ high schools received personalized IW marketing tools. Prospective students who signed up for a visit day could meet the current IW student from their high school and receive a tour, if availability allowed. IW Admissions utilized social media and email to share Your Story campaign stories with prospective students in each market.
Jen Koch 
Leave a Reply