Since 1818, we鈥檝e seen almost everything. (Almost.)
When you鈥檙e five minutes from the ocean, weekend getaways don鈥檛 have to wait for the weekend.
The good news is your professor is your neighbour. The bad news is your professor is your neighbour.
AV俱乐部鈥檚 new recruitment marketing campaign certainly sounds different.
But as the team behind the campaign explains, the slightly irreverent approach is simply a new way of sharing with future students what sets AV俱乐部 apart: a world-class education fused with the friendly and fun culture of urban Halifax.
The campaign formally launches this week in advance of Friday鈥檚 Open House and this weekend鈥檚 Ontario Universities Fair. There, mobile bicycle ads will patrol outside the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, playing Jackson Jha鈥檚 鈥淪ee You In September鈥� and offering the 80,000-100,000 students in attendance a different鈥攁nd perhaps more laid-back鈥攐ption than what they find inside: For a school that鈥檚 almost 200 years old, we鈥檙e surprisingly unstuffy. Must be the ocean air.
Those who have seen the new or academic handbook will have already gotten a sense of the campaign鈥檚 style鈥攈istoric buildings mixed with playful text鈥攁nd , with four different faces each highlighting a different element of the AV俱乐部 experience (and each with its only mobile-friendly version as well, accessed via QR code). The web pages also feature new video testimonials from first-year students sharing their impression of life at the university.
New attention to Dal鈥檚 undergrad programs
Also key to the online recruitment effort are a series of rich, new undergraduate program microsites, the first ten of which have been launched; the remainder are working their way to completion through the combined efforts of the Registrar鈥檚 Office, departments across campus, ITS and Communications and Marketing. (The goal is to have microsites for all undergraduate programs live by the Christmas break, with graduates programs to follow in the new year.)
The first ten completed microsites are:
- 听
Each microsite contains a detailed program overview, student and faculty profiles, career opportunities and more. It鈥檚 a new way to share the most vital information about AV俱乐部鈥檚 program offerings with prospective and current students.
鈥淭he new BMgmt microsite is much crisper and cleaner than the old site, and significantly easier to navigate,鈥� says Vivan Howard, associate dean (academic) in the Faculty of Management and the outgoing academic director of the Bachelor of Management program.
鈥淭he visuals are bigger, bolder and more current.听 I particularly like the way the site focuses on key information prospective students are looking for:听 why they should听听 consider the Management program at AV俱乐部, what they will learn and what they can do with their degree. I think this site will really听 help us attract new students to our program.鈥�
Distinguishing AV俱乐部
The microsites, in combination with the new marketing campaign, reflect the scope of the university鈥檚 recruitment strategy today, which increasingly casts its attention nationally 鈥� and internationally.听 The university鈥檚 previous recruitment marketing campaign, introduced in 2005, was originally designed to appeal to students from Halifax (and later, Nova Scotia).
To come up with a new approach to sharing AV俱乐部鈥檚 story, the university worked with Target Marketing & Communications, based out of St. John鈥檚, Newfoundland. The effort involved research with students, recruiters and university staff as well as a competitive analysis of what other schools and companies are doing to reach the high school demographic.
鈥淲hat we found was that, for many, what distinguished AV俱乐部 was its reputation for delivering a world-class education, combined with a beautiful campus and the chance to live and study in this funky, coastal city of Halifax,鈥� says June Davidson, director of marketing at Dal. 鈥淭hose elements, together, resonate strongly with prospective students and it鈥檚 a combination that no other university can claim the way we can.鈥�
She adds that while Halifax has always been a key factor in why students come to study at AV俱乐部, the university hasn鈥檛 combined that message with its academic credentials in quite this way before.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a new twist on our message, one that we鈥檙e working to deliver in a way that鈥檚 smart, clever and designed to speak directly to 17- and 18-year-olds.鈥�
This winter, the campaign will be seen online and in bus shelters, shopping malls, transit and movie theatres.