Tune in as more than 1,000 colleagues, experts and keynote speakers come together to explore the challenges and trends shaping marketing in higher education. You'll see talks discussing smart new strategies to help you differentiate, engage, fundraise and recruit—including innovative approaches for social media and brand building.
Presentations
12/5 8:15-9:30am
The New Trust Mandate for Universities: Why Engagement and Transparency is no Longer Optional
Richard Edelman, President & Chief Executive Officer, EdelmanAs the public shows increasingly less trust in institutions, American universities need to up their game in earning and
maintaining a trusted reputation. A fraying opinion of the state of American higher education, coupled with an evolving
belief of the role universities should play in the public sphere, has changed the way our schools must communicate and
engage.
12/5 10:15-11:00am
Building your Global Brand: It’s not America Everywhere
Avery Waxman, Senior Director of External Communications, Navitas North America; Diego Meeroff, Director of
Marketing, Florida Atlantic University; Marta Giri, Director of Marketing Communications, Navitas North AmericaThe United States remains the #1 destination of choice for international students, yet as this pool of applicants
increases, so does the competition to recruit from this population. This session will examine how – regardless of your
marketing budget – you can capitalize on international student demand while ensuring the integrity of your
institutional brand. We’ll explore the internationalization efforts of one ambitious university that, in spite of already
boasting nearly 50% international enrollment, is continuing to innovate in support of their strategic plan. And lastly,
we’ll offer actionable steps that you can take to achieve maximum ROI from your institution’s international marketing
efforts.
12/5 11:15am-12:00pm
Leverage The Power of Social Listening
Liz Gross, Data-Driven Marketer, Social Media Strategist, Higher Education Researcher; Mike Horn, Senior Director,
Office of Marketing and Communications, Terry College of Business, The University of GeorgiaSocial listening is more than responding to Facebook and Twitter posts. Used strategically, it supports four business
functions: reputation management, brand benchmarking, customer service, and market research. This session will
define social listening, explore use-cases for higher ed, and review tools to support a robust social listening program.
12/5 12:45-1:45pm
Branding SystemnessNancy Zimpher, Chancellor of the State University of New YorkSystem
Branding is an essential part of creating systemness within the nation’s public university systems. Chancellor Zimpher
will discuss why it is important and detail aspects of SUNY’s process and results.
12/5 2:00-2:45pm
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: The Journey of Developing a Successful Academic Sub-BrandKinnari Sejpal, Senior Manager of Marketing Research, Purdue University; Emily Blue, Manager of Brand, Advertising
and Sponsorships, Purdue UniversityWe’ve all heard it before: “I’m different and I need my own logo to prove it!” What started as a request for a new
tagline, Purdue University’s central marketing department built an entire brand, including key messaging and visual
guidelines, for a college within the university using the 3C framework (company, customer and competition). Learn how
to successfully differentiate campus units from their parent institution, get buy in and alignment, and implement
positioning strategies without diluting the institutional brand or confusing audiences.
12/5 3:00-3:45pm
Analytics 201: Building a Reporting Structure with Data VisualizationAndrea Goldstein, Digital Marketing Analyst, R2integrated; Eli Christopher, Senior Digital Marketing Manager, Seattle
UniversityIn order to understand the marketing effectiveness of their graduate program campaigns, Seattle University needed a
reporting structure that could transform multiple data sources into an actionable format. Join this session to
understand how to optimize a results-driven analytics structure and use data visualization to inform decision-making.
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12/6 8:15-9:30amReimagining the University: A New Paradigm for Social JusticeAJ Nair, Senior Vice President and Dean of Campus Life, Emory UniversityMulticulturalism now stands as the great fault line of our society. Ferguson, Charleston, Orlando, and other major
recent events show us that deep social divisions and inequities have been masked for too long.
12/6 10:15-11:00amMulti-Channel Marketing: Five Reasons to Expand your Higher Ed Online Marketing Beyond Google Paid Search
Johnna Weary, Marketing Manager, JMH Consulting; Cristina Ruggiero, Associate Dean, College of General Studies,
University of PittsburghDiscover five important benefits of expanding your online marketing beyond Google Paid Search, and learn how Pitt’s
College of General Studies benefitted from multi-channel marketing. You will leave with ideas for utilizing multiple
channels in order to optimize budgets and connect with prospective students.
12/6 11:15am-12:00pmBrick & Mortar Leadership: How a Nationally Ranked Mid-Size Urban-Fringe University Rose Above the ‘Me Too’
Landscape to Have Four Straight Years of Growth – And is Still Going!Linda Durant, Senior Vice President, University Advancement, Widener University; Brian Tierney, CEO, Brian
CommunicationsA crowded market, indistinguishable characteristics, a muddled story, and tough urban location challenged us.
Enrollment suffered. But then things changed. Come and discover the soul-searching, resurgence and real success of
Widener University.
12/6 12:45-1:30pm
Content Strategy for the Web: Providing Prospective Students with Content They Need
Matt Walters, Vice President, Director of Account Services, Vision Point Marketing; Tony Poillucci, Vice President,
Creative Director & Senior Strategist, Vision Point Marketing; Noel T. Manning, Associate Vice President for
Communications & Marketing, Gardner Webb University
At most institutions, content lacks strategic direction. It’s driven by courses, events and random requests. Meanwhile,
website visitors are looking for relevant content that helps achieve their goals. This session will walk through the
process of developing a content strategy, from goals and personas to creating a detailed publishing schedule.
12/6 2:15-3:00pm
Beyond Sugar vs. Substance: Rethinking Brand-driven Social Media
Rob Zaebst, Director of Digital Strategy, Michigan State University; Ellen Doepke, Social Media Manager, Michigan State
University
With a data-driven approach, Michigan State University restructured its social media strategy to include “brand
potpourri”, social-specific content that effectively communicates the brand message, while driving excitement and
engagement. Learn how social media performance is tracked to yield the highest engagement per brand post.
12/6 3:15-4:00pm
Brand Storytelling for SEO
Joshua Dodson, Director of Digital Marketing, Bentley University
Branding is essential. Content is king. Search algorithms change. Keyword stuffing is dead. We know this all to be true,
but how can we make it work together? This presentation explores how to build a brand-based content strategy
through SEO research and data.
12/6 4:15-5:00pm
Brand Advertising for Small Brands: How to Make a Case for Brand-building Advertising
Matthew Ward, Vice President, Enrollment Management and Marketing, California Lutheran University; Christie
Harper, Assistant Vice President for University Marketing, California Lutheran University
Think brand advertising is just for the D1 schools with athletics prominence and network airtime? Think again. In 2
years, mid-size California Lutheran University went from $0 investment in brand advertising to a $300,000 annual
budget; and then proved that the investment paid off. Learn how we did it.
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12/7 8:15-9:45am
Informed Action: Using Market Research to Align Campus Stakeholders and Drive Strategic Success
Brad Bohlander, Chief Communications Officer, Associate Vice Chancellor for University Communications, North
Carolina State University; Andrew P. Careaga, Executive Director of Marketing and Communications, Missouri University
of Science and Technology; Stephanie Judge-Cripe, Director of Marketing Strategy, Butler University; Jason Simon, Vice
President & Partner, SimpsonScarborough
You’ve gotten your campus stakeholders to support a marketing communications effort; maybe even to help fund it.
But how do you align differing viewpoints on strategy, creative, outcomes or whether the effort is worth the
investment at all? This session will focus on putting market research into action with real-world case studies from
Butler University, NC State University and Missouri S&T.
12/7 10:15-11:30am
Driving Brand Attachment in Higher EducationLarry Vincent, Founder and Chief Branding Officer, UTA Brand StudioAttachment is an increasingly important element of brand health. It measures how much consumers view a brand as
part of their own identity—how much the brand is “like them.” Recent research has uncovered ways to quantitatively
measure attachment. This research has also revealed that attachment drives critically important consumer behaviors,
such as willingness to pay a premium price, a tendency to defend a brand when under attack, and a compulsion to
recommend the brand to others.
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On-Demand Exclusives
Building a Social Media Strategy to Yield Gen Z
Lisa Coetzee, Senior Manager of Marketing, Emory University
How do you build a powerful social media strategy with a small staff? See how we leveraged solid project management skills and eager students to build a multi-platform approach in yielding the Class of 2020. (Platforms include Wordpress, Instagram, Google Hangouts, Buzzfeed, Twitter, Facebook, and Snapchat).
GivingToHoosDay: How the UVA Alumni Association Leveraged a University-Wide Giving Day into Individual Success
Timothy Zepp, Associate Director of Marketing, University of Virginia Alumni Association
Have you ever been the smaller part of a greater initiative? At the University of Virginia Alumni Association, we
participated in GivingToHoosDay, a University-wide giving day. Learn about our communications efforts, challenges,
metrics, results and more!
People Are Brands Too: Marketing a New University President
Jackie Ostrowicki, Assistant Vice President for University Affairs, University of Nebraska
Getting a new president is a game changer for universities. Find out how the University of Nebraska team built a
successful brand platform for their 7th president—new to the university and new to the state—from his first week on
the job to his installment one year later.
