New Hampshire
Community College System of NH
Challenge
& strategy
The Community College System of New Hampshire needed to generate engagement among 16- to 20-year-olds to increase and elevate brand awareness of New Hampshire’s community colleges while promoting the commonalities of the seven members of the system. Ultimately, the goal was to increase enrollment by driving traffic to the websites of each individual college.
A campaign was developed that revolved around the concept “College in the 603.” A website with a memorable URL (www.collegeinthe603.com) was created, and EVR developed a campaign targeting those aged 15 to 20 through multiple platforms, including traditional and digital efforts. Social media, including Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, was a key driver of the target audience to the newly launched website that served as the flagship for the collegeinthe603 sub-brand.
Target audiences
Traditional prospective students (ages 15–20), non-traditional prospective students (ages 25+) and parents of traditional prospective students (ages 40–59).
Statewide brand messaging
Statewide brand messaging was designed to positively link affordability to satisfaction, promoting New Hampshire’s community colleges as providing good value. Diverse program offerings joined affordability as the top-tier messaging priority across all communications.
Creative
A style and tone of voice written from the lens of the teen was created as a fully integrated campaign that conveyed a fun, bold, colorful and vibrant tenor. Messaging focused on communicating quality as a key attribute that could change the perception of community colleges in New Hampshire. Fresh digital content was created to show how the Community College System of New Hampshire represents the concept of “College. Redefined.”
Results
Ninety-five percent of the 94,907 individuals ages 15–20 in New Hampshire were served a programmatic display ad or video approximately 14 times in a 12-month period. Six of the seven colleges saw an increase in organic traffic in 2015. One college saw a 10.35% increase; overall, the colleges saw a total traffic increase of 5.48%.
