FITCHBURG STATE COLLEGE: BRAND DEVELOPMENT
| Industry: | Colleges and Universities
| | Client: | Fitchburg State College offers undergraduate and graduate programs with an emphasis on career-orientated learning that is firmly grounded in the liberal arts as well as selected majors in the traditional arts and sciences.
| | | | Challenge: | The Massachusetts Board of Higher Education raised the enrollment standards for all State Colleges to the same level as the State's university system. For the first time, Fitchburg State College was competing for the same students as the better known and well respected University of Massachusetts. Fitchburg State responded slowly to the revised requirements, and both undergraduate and graduate enrollment suffered for a number of years, until the College realized the need for an increased market presence.
| Intervention:
| Market awareness research established that the Fitchburg State brand was virtually nonexistent. The Wellesley Hills Group consultant hired, realizing that meaningful brand growth is a long-term proposition, implemented several tactics to develop Fitchburg State's brand, including: - Developing a strategy that began with research and positioning exercises to lay the foundation for sustainable brand development
- Instituting immediate measures to build enrollment that reached far beyond traditional tactics
- Creating an institutional brand, featuring a systematic, three-year plan that focused on a steady stream of communications
- Utilizing a wide variety of media to articulate the identified attributes of the College to the target market
- Positioning Fitchburg State's character as small, intimate, and friendly, as opposed to the large, institutionalized nature of the University of Massachusetts
These efforts were supported by various short-term initiatives for the Undergraduate program, and included: - The mobilization of the admissions staff
- Direct marketing campaigns to guidance counselors
- Promotion of open houses and the creation of "open campus" days where the College would provide music, activities and tours
The graduate plan included: - Direct sales to area companies
- Business community networking and advertising
- A tireless grassroots-oriented campaign focused at the start of each semester
| Results:
| Since the integrated marketing plan started: - Awareness of Fitchburg State has increased 44%
- Undergraduate applications have increased 28% on average in each of the last four years
- Graduate enrollment has increased 18% on average in each of the last four years
- A number of Fitchburg State campaigns have won various awards from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, and a recent radio campaign won a gold medal at the annual Admissions Advertising Awards
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Client Comment "Our brand and the integrated messaging it supports are directly responsible for our increased admission numbers."
- Mike Shanley, Special Assistant to the President, Fitchburg State College
