Rethink Smart launches, resonates with our audiences
Dear colleagues,
After months in creative development, Rethink Smart’s purpose, well-being and career-readiness messaging launched in September at the start of student recruitment season. For our target audiences, Rethink Smart has been everywhere—featured in ads on websites, Facebook, Instagram and other social media platforms as well as placed in more traditional media, such as TV ads and billboards.
We’re redefining what it means to be smart, and that’s resonating with our audiences. Since the Rethink Smart campaign launched three months ago, we have delivered some 62 million impressions, or ad views, which is 12 million more than planned. And we’ve had 63,000 individuals visit the Rethink Smart website, where students learn more about the University and apply.
We knew from our brand-development research the WMU attributes exemplified in Rethink Smart were meaningful to prospective students—as 92% of influenceable prospects surveyed indicated the idea of pursuing the combination of purpose, well-being and career boosted their interest in becoming a Bronco.
As we near the end of the fall semester, I want to update you on the Rethink Smart marketing campaign as it reaches an inflection point and also share some early indications of successes. You’ll get these updates from me periodically in the form of a Rethink Smart Update newsletter.
Right message, right person, right time
The digital era gives us the ability to precisely target our audience, finely tune our messaging and appeal to people when they are inclined to listen. About half of our ads are digital—on various social media platforms, news websites and on streaming services. Our promotions are consequently primarily focused on our prospective undergraduate and graduate students and their households.
Our prospective students largely live their lives online and we’re going to the digital spaces they frequent. YouTube—the No. 1 place teens get their entertainment—is a platform we’ve been increasingly leveraging. Rethink Smart videos are enjoying a 55% completion rate on the video-sharing website. That means more than half of viewers watched the entirety of our ads amid enumerable alternatives vying for their attention.
Here is a short roundup of the campaign in case you are outside our core demographic and have not yet seen the ads. Our digital ads are enjoying a high level of engagement among target audiences. For all of our Rethink Smart advertising in the digital realm, for example, we’re seeing a click-through rate that is four times the industry standard.
recruitment + marketing = a powerful partnership
When Rethink Smart left the gate this fall, it had a running start thanks to partnership with Provost Jennifer Bott and the Office of Admissions. In January 2019, we teamed up and began promoting the Western experience to prospective students much earlier than was previously the practice—as early as the sophomore year of high school. We have cultivated those who have engaged since we began, giving them reasons to consider Western as their collegiate school of choice.
As a result of quickly establishing this long-term strategy, we started this year with an additional 20,000 prospective students already interested in becoming Broncos. They applied at a significantly higher rate than other student segments.
While applications are not the only metric we aim to affect, it's a leading indicator that pairing the good work of admissions with a meaningful message and strategic effort is having some success. At the time of this writing, applications and admitted students are up significantly at Western compared to large universities across the U.S., which are down more than 7%. The pandemic still means uncertainty and a more difficult yield season than ever. But we are off to a strong start.
This is just one example of the many ways MarCom and enrollment management collaborate and partner to advance our recruitment efforts.
As we continue to raise prospective students’ awareness of what the WMU experience overall has to offer them, one of our next steps is working closely with the marketers, communicators and recruiters in our academic colleges. The promise of Rethink Smart can be found in every corner of the University. We are creating alignment among all of our efforts so we can tell our story with a single, compelling voice.
Please explore our brand website. What is represented throughout is the work of many Broncos. I am honored to have the opportunity to bring to life what is truly excellent about Western.
In partnership,
Tony Proudfoot
Vice President for Marketing and Strategic Communications