As trust in digital marketing has waned among our audiences, we have sought opportunities to create compelling in-person experiences that promote our brand. Our hope is that immersive, multi-sensory events and shows create lasting impressions and repeated engagement from audiences as wide-ranging as students, members of the public and alumni.
The Challenge
As more tools incorporate artificial intelligence, folks involved in marketing have become incredibly efficient in creating highly personalized, real-time messaging. While the creative possibilities are just beginning, a sad, early outcome of AI adoption has been much, much noisier digital spaces, crowded inboxes and heavy-handed content filtering. Students, in particular, have expressed distrust in most digital marketing, which complicates our ability to connect them to enriching opportunities and resources.
Because so many digital strategies can be rapidly replicated, it is also difficult to create content that separates our college from other universities. Our team also has a lean budget, and we need to select strategies that offer the strongest return on investment. While we have a compelling brand identity, standing on that message platform alone isn’t enough to garner attention.
Ideation
To begin, our team reflected on what we could do that felt more singular without destroying our budget. We asked, what was distinct to Colorado, to Boulder and to the College of Arts and Sciences specifically and what senses were activated by those characteristics?
With that data in-hand, we considered a variety of events into which we could immerse audiences. Our goal was to create memorable, in-person experiences that facilitated connection to others and, subsequently, to the college. We also considered budget feasibility, and we sought out opportunities to shave project costs below $15k.
Folsom Stadium Suite
The A&S advancement team asked for help designing posters and wall art for the dean’s suite in Folsom Stadium. Kylie Clarke, Erika Randall and I explored attendees’ experiences to-date, and we found opportunity to develop a distinct atmosphere that encouraged mingling in one end of the suite and watching the game in the other.
Thematically, we felt like a higher-end bourbon bar vibe would resonate with our clientele, many of whom are donors, leadership and faculty at CU Boulder. Kylie developed an original wall paper pattern that centered our brand, ordered a custom neon sign and created an interactive gallery wall of photos that link out to stories of individuals who live out the brand in their lives and/or research.
Attendees have expressed surprise and excitement in attending games at Folsom. Folks love to be asked to attend, and many have said they’re thrilled to come back and be with A&S leadership in the suite.
The Ampersand NYC
Because of our podcast’s success, advancement asked us to consider a live show in New York City as part of their CU After Work series for alum. Erika Randall and I reflected on differences between NYC and Boulder, and we decided to design a fully immersive, multi-sensory event. Our goal was to remind alum of their lives at CU Boulder, and encourage them to reflect on how their college experiences propel them into bright futures.
Our priority was to make the event as immersive as possible. We worked with Dawn Spencer Hurwitz of DSH Perfumes to create a bespoke room scent that smelled like Colorado in fall. Ethan Geiger filmed students “capturing Chautauqua air” in small vials, which we showed on a large screen at one end of the event space. Megan Odom performed an original dance in front of the screen, replicating the students’ movements. The vials were given to attendees as a souvenir. After attendees completed surveys about their college experiences in Boulder, Erika and I crafted poems using those answers which we printed and handed out at the event. Nelson Walker composed an original ambient soundtrack that fused Erika reading the above poems with music and sounds of nature in Colorado.
The atmosphere directed the evening’s flow toward a talk on ANDing that Erika gave to cap the night. Attendees expressed tremendous excitement about the event, and many have asked that we figure out a way to return to NYC for a follow up.
Fiske Planetarium
Jason Shelton, Erika Randall and I met to discuss how we might mitigate Erika’s shift into a new role with another campus unit. We hoped to develop a compelling event that furthered the A&S brand and relied on the recruitment team.
Jason wondered if Fiske Planetarium could be an option, and the three of us developed an idea for an immersive show that takes attendees across a galaxy of opportunities within our college, what we called ANDromeda.
Working with Amanda Wimmer and Thor Metzinger in Fiske, I wrote a storyboard for a narrated journey that wove together stories of students and alum, facts about A&S and original motion graphics that amplify Fiske’s unique dome environment. Attendees see comets that explode into constellations of majors and opportunities, then watch videos of campus events and glimpse how their college experience could take shape. They steadily fly out to the furthest reaches of the galaxy, all while we ask, “What will you do with your one wild and precious life?”
The show is ongoing, and we will see how prospective students respond.
Team
Erika Randall
A&S Associate Dean for Student Success
Tim Grassley
A&S Director of Marketing & Content Strategy
Kylie Clarke
A&S Web and Communications Manager
Clint Talbott
A&S Assistant Dean of Communications
Zeni Whittal
Senior Undergraduate Student Recruitment Coordinator
Nelson Walker
Composer
Dawn Spencer Hurwitz
Perfumer, DSH Perfumes
Amanda Wimmer Flint
Fiske Director, Navigator
Jason Shelton
A&S Assistant Dean of Recruitment and Student Resources
Mikki LeVett
Pogram Manager Alumni Relations & Engagement
Megan Odom
Freelance Artist
Allen Krughoff
Cinematographer
Hardcastle Film Company
Ethan Geiger
Videography Intern
Daniel Alas
A&S UX Intern
Thor Metzinger
Videographer
Tim Grassley 