In the Office of Marketing and Strategic Communications, we develop the University’s major brand campaigns which are strategically created to express key brand principles before being disseminated across advertising channels, social media platforms and recruitment materials. Our brand messaging and its core attributes evolve with each academic year, much like the wants, needs and priorities of our incoming students.
Our current brand campaign is built around experience-driven learning and ensuring that students are career-ready upon graduating from WMU. Here’s a snapshot of what Marcom is doing to bring this vision to life, highlighting the creative efforts of our team and the opportunities that lie ahead.
Video landing pages
Each ad drives traffic to a unique landing page.
Facebook remains an integral part of our marketing strategy and an excellent way to reach both students and their parents. Our team utilizes both organic and paid Facebook posts to drive traffic and increase applications to our University.
Static Facebook ads
Snapchat and TikTok
Snapchat and TikTok have been two of our best performing social media channels this calendar year. Through the use of short video clips highlighting major campus happenings like Bronco Bash, the WMU Student Center grand opening, athletic events and more, Snapchat has successfully broadened our reach and helped us find new audiences. Much like Snapchat, TikTok has also performed well. With shorter, more engaging clips aimed at the Gen-Z audience, our social media team and student ambassadors have excelled at highlighting life on campus as seen from the student’s perspective. User may need to turn sound on when viewing the ad in a browser.
Organic media
Below you will find top-performing organic video posts that we pushed into our paid campaign. User may need to turn sound on when viewing the ad in a browser.
Enhanced traditional display advertising
StackAdapt is a platform that specializes in delivering dynamic display ads based on the content the viewer is consuming. It offers advanced audience targeting to ensure ads reach the right audience and perform well.
Maximizing our reach through billboard campaigns
Through digital and static billboard campaigns, we’ve been able to effectively capture audience attention while driving, preparing for air travel and more.
Billboard on U.S. Route 131
Public radio
We use radio spots to increase awareness among a select audience. An example of a public radio spot we’ve used previously is:
Support for Michigan Radio comes from Western Michigan University…Empowering today’s students through experience-driven learning and pursuit of purpose. With 9 out of 10 graduates employed in the field of their choice. More at w-mich dot e-d-u.
Admissions suite of assets
In collaboration with the admissions team, we work to provide the creative assets necessary to reach students at various stages of the recruitment cycle. These assets exemplify the totality of Marcom’s creative team, including strategy, design, photography and copywriting.
