Next Generation Undergraduate Recruitment:
WPI’s Undergraduate Admissions
Client: Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Project: Marketing Research, Strategy, Planning, Creative Direction, Execution, and Implementation
Collateral: Sophomore, Junior, and Senior Print Mailers with Augmented Reality; Microsite; Videos; Drip Email Campaigns
Platforms: WordPress, YouTube, Blippar AR, Salesforce Marketing Cloud
In 2019, I oversaw a complete redesign of Undergraduate Admission’s suite of high-level marketing collateral to adhere to a predominantly digital approach. I conducted a lengthy research analysis of 125+ colleges and universities which resulted in my proposing a digital marketing strategy consisting of a video-heavy storytelling microsite, interactive print pieces infused with augmented reality, and a UX-optimized email drip campaign, all mobile-first to align with the desired experiences of our target audience of high-school aged prospective students. The new suite of digital experiences was very well-received by the prospective student population and recognized by both industry peers and creative partners.
Marketing Research and Strategy, Microsite Creative Direction, Email Design and Development: AnnMarie Nichols Burtt
Print Design: Lynn Saunders
Augmented Reality Design: Gabrielle Nunes
Content Writing: Allison Racicot
Photography: Matthew Burgos
Videography: Michael Koslowski
Replacing the Viewbook:
Print Mailers with Augmented Reality
Traditionally, Universities have three prominent mailers sent to prospective students during their Sophomore, Junior, and Senior years of High School. Most often, these are 30+ page color booklets including anything and everything about the University from majors to dining to extra-curricular activities and starting salaries. They are incredibly expensive to produce, print, and mail, and difficult to measure the effectiveness or return on investment. In a predominantly digital landscape where all of this information is already featured on the University’s website, why re-create the wheel when this could be an opportunity to cut through the noise and engage students on a more personal and interactive level?
After conducting several focus groups with current undergraduates, we discovered that they still enjoyed receiving packages from Universities in the mail (these days, it is a bit of a novelty), but what they really desired was to be able to “see [themselves] there”. Much of the feedback we heard was “I want to picture myself there”, or “I want to know if I will fit in”. They were also seeking us out for our science and engineering programs, and they were very tactile thinkers. They liked to manipulate items with their hands and enjoyed puzzles and things they could build. We chose to lean into this feedback and create items that were very tactile but also personal, that made them ask questions about themselves, and then flow them into AR that would bring them to videos of real students talking about how they had found their fit at WPI.
Sophomore Mailer: “Chart Your Own Course” Wheel
This multi-layered wheel asked students to align their prospective major with a personal interest such as acting, athletics, music, or community, thus expounding on how “WPI’s Got That” and is host to 250+ clubs, activities, and organizations. An AR marker in the center opens an animated screen on the user’s phone with three Calls to Action and a short video focusing on slices of life at WPI.
Junior Mailer: “Only at WPI” Map
This illustrated map calls out various iconic locations on campus that speak to the history, culture, and quirkiness of WPI, its students, and alumni. It’s legend not only calls out locations and amenities, but traditions that take place, routes to trace, and activities to participate in that will help you feel at home on campus. Scanning the Earle Bridge icon on the map brings you to an AR experience of drone footage of many of the featured locations and Calls to Action to plan a visit or explore the virtual tour.
Senior Mailer: “Project Gompei”
Based on WPI’s goat mascot Gompei and the iconic “Proud Goat” statue overlooking the Quad, students are given the opportunity to build their own statue from a cardboard punch-out and personalize it with provided stickers associated with their individual passions and interests. The statue was accompanied with a booklet of anecdotes and information about WPI’s unique undergraduate experience as well as an insert directing prospective students to an Augmented Reality experience that invited them to show off their creation on social media by taking a picture with one of our custom Snapchat-style filters and posting with the hashtag #projectgompei. The AR experience and insert also directed students to the video storytelling microsite “Explore WPI” .
A Visually Rich, Storytelling Digital Experience
Microsite: Explore WPI
Since all of our transactional undergraduate enrollment information was already available on our main website, we wanted to create a stand-alone microsite that was a concise storytelling exploration of “Why WPI”?
By focusing on a dozen hand-selected, diverse undergraduate students of varying disciplines and years, we used video and accompanying content to carefully craft five journeys with the themes of Explore, Build, Innovate, Thrive, and Achieve. Each pathway featured a main video and 4 slice-of-life vignettes to aid prospective students in visualizing their possibilities at WPI.
