Campus marketing campaign invites potential Broncos to 'Strike Gold'

KALAMAZOO, Mich.—A call to define "gold" as the heart of the Western Michigan University identity is at the core of a new marketing campaign developed internally by campus professionals and rolled out on Sept. 1.

With phrases like "Strike Gold," an infusion of sharp angles in graphic materials, a new accent color and a unique photographic style, the campaign was launched with a new 30-second television spot that is being seen around the state. The TV network and cable buys mean the spot will be seen during broadcasts of NCAA football games as well as prime time and highly rated cable programs in West Michigan, Lansing and Detroit.

A coordinating digital campaign also was launched Sept. 1 and includes, search engine marketing, digital display ads and the use of Spotify throughout Michigan. On Sept. 5, billboards carrying the WMU message went up in the Kalamazoo, Lansing, Detroit, Grand Rapids and lakeshore areas.

The campaign was developed by a campuswide group—the Integrated Marketing Team—made up of those charged with various marketing roles at WMU. The group worked with a team from the Office of University Relations to transform the findings of 2015 marketing research into a new set of messages that matched the WMU brand.

"We wanted to have a campaign theme broad enough to serve all of our campus and specific to the 'treasure' we see a WMU education to be," says Christopher Hunt, director of marketing communication. "We'll use a 'Strike Gold' theme for student recruitment, but the campus will see other phrases like 'Gear up with Gold' and 'The Gold Standard.'"

A new 60-second video can be viewed at wmich.edu, while the 30-second TV spot can be found on the University's YouTube channel. Campaign resources will be available online after Sept. 15.

For more news, arts and events, visit wmich.edu/news.