Challenge: The Office of Residence Services (ORS) at Wright State University wanted to market to enrolled students and incoming freshman with an end goal of 100% occupancy by the academic year of 2012. The task was to create a brand for campus housing, create awareness of the housing opportunities and help to implement new and innovative ways to market for ORS.

Solution: To begin, a marketing plan was created for the department as a whole, outlining facts that would be paramount to the success of the ongoing projects. The plan covered the current market situation of the ORS, a competitor assessment, room retention and selection goals, and overall marketing strategies. The plan covered objectives and goals leading up to fall of 2012.

In order to hit the target segment of students moving onto campus for the first time, a microsite was created with a more modern look and feel and revised navigation structure. The site was designed to instruct students on the items that they would need to bring with them, a to-do list, a First Weekend guide and many more informative materials for both students and parents.

Based on feedback from students and RA’s, the ORS website was redesigned to have a fresher, more exciting appeal and a more intuitive navigation structure was implemented. Highlighting the superior facilities and opportunities that come with living on campus was one of the main priorities. In addition to developing the new website, new strategy was put in place for the already existing social media efforts resulting in large increase in student and parent participation on it’s Facebook page and other channels.

In addition to the website redesign and social media marketing strategy, new print materials were designed. Each new print piece had a specific purpose and was designed to keep a consistent branded look across the board. A door hanger was designed for each Hall and Apartment to increase student room retention. A brochure specifically targeting parents was created, highlighting the safety benefits and affordability of living on campus. Large-scale posters to use in open houses were created.  

Lastly, a unique 9”x24” “accordion” brochure was created to replace a bulky pocket folder. The accordion brochure was created with multiple panels, each highlighting a specific living community on campus, community amenities, the Wright State Fitness Center, and Campus Dining. QR codes were placed on the piece and when scanned, would direct the end user to a landing page created to enhance the experience of what campus was like. This landing page consisted of videos that corresponded with each panel of the accordion brochure. The video landing page was created with a Content Managed System in order to change out videos and their titles or descriptions easily.