Ohio University officially launched its most recent marketing campaign on Wednesday with four Athens-themed commercials that used the slogan “It’s you.”
The advertisements, titled “Love at First Sight,” “Home Away From Home,” “Supportive Professors” and “Bobcat Pride” cost OU a portion of their $650,000 budget that was allocated two years ago.
“Much of the work was completed in-house by University Communications and Marketing’s professional staff and supported generously by several students and alums, the cost was minimal,” Renea Morris, executive director of University Communications and Marketing, said in an email.
The media portion of OU’s campaign costs about $600,000. Of that money, $50,000 will be used to develop TV commercials and a university website redesign for “early 2014,” Morris said.
A portion of the commercials featured student testimony vouching for OU’s assets.
“I’m very pleased with the new campaign product; I believe it really reflects what Ohio University is about,” OU President Roderick McDavis said.
The marketing wanted to reflect the homeliness factor of OU’s campus, Morris said, who also expressed OU’s need for a new campaign.
The university collected feedback in 2010 and 2012 to see how students responded to OU’s old marketing campaign and determined there was only “some awareness” among prospective students, Morris said.
“In order to continue to benefit from the momentum that we are currently enjoying, we needed to continue our efforts and in fact refine them to have a differentiating, focused message in the market,” Morris said. “The new campaign is aimed to do just that.”
Representatives from the marketing campaign will pass out free T-shirts to students throughout the semester.
“I’ve seen it around campus. It’s a surprise we have a new campaign to get students. It looked fun and bright,” Annie Chester, a freshman studying global studies, said.
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@MeganEagle1351
