College Admissions Recruitment Materials Review Some Winners

As promised, here are a few of my winners for various categories that I created just for fun…

College Admissions Recruitment Materials Review
Winner: Most On-Point to My Student’s Future Plans

The University of Dubuque  – Aviation Department, Dubuque, Iowa

This is one piece of mail that the Big One actually opened and read. It came directly from the Aviation Department and announced that on the envelope. It was not a generic mailing covering an entire university. This came from one specific department within the university. It’s a pretty standard piece, a general letter from the director, and a full color glossy brochure about the program. This one was a winner in my student’s eyes, even though she has no desire to go to Iowa.

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College Admissions Recruitment Materials Review
Winner: Best use of College Branded Color and Variety of Materials

University of Tennessee Knoxville

The University of Tennessee, Knoxville sent several marketing pieces. Each one was distinctly different. A couple of them stood out mainly because of the color. Apparently, “Tennessee Orange” is a very specific hue of orange that must be adhered to. There is an entire branding guideline on their website which spells it all out. Check it out if you don’t believe me: https://brand.utk.edu/standards/colors/

Aside from the colors, the Big One received a matte finish full color booklet guide to Scholarships and Financial Aid. Another mailing included a glossy full color booklet giving a general overview of the school, the local area, the history of the school and traditions. The final piece the Big One received was a folded piece that when opened included an illustration of the campus in sticker format which was of course created by a local artist and alumna of the school. It was a broad campaign that I was impressed with.

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College Admissions Recruitment Materials Review
Winner: Most Creative Content

Macalester College (Saint Paul, Minnesota)

We’d never heard of this one, so we had to look it up. A private liberal arts college in Minnesota, Macalester College enrolls just over 2,000 students. That is smaller than the girls’ high school! The envelope has a larger than normal window that shows the beginning of the text. From the outside, you see the greeting of the letter which begins,
“Dear Allison,

Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, Macalester College, blah…”

Not going to lie, it caught my eye. I opened the letter just to see what else it said. The letter goes on to say,  “I know these letters all read alike and I thought I’d save you the trouble of filtering out the less important stuff…”

Of course the remainder of the letter is pretty standard but the intro got my attention. When a second piece from Macalester arrived, I remembered the letter and was eager to open the folded brochure to see what they sent this time. I was not disappointed. It’s a poster-size infographic. A choose-your own adventure type flow chart highlighting some of the more unusual aspects of the college including free bagpipe lessons and a class about dinosaurs. A+ for creativity from me.

Stay tuned for my next post with even more of my amazing Marketing Awards! In the meantime, enjoy this little chuckle!