UVa-Wise Planner Book

Hannah McNew

Joy Mitchell Shay Mullins

Allie Robinson

Table of Contents

Table of Contents Page Numbers

Introduction 3

Brand History 4

Mission 5

Primary Research & Secondary Research 6-7

Target Audience 8

Competitive Analysis 10

Objectives 13

The Big Idea 16

Billboards 17

Guerilla Advertising 18

Ambient Advertising 19

Social Media 20

Events & Public Relations 22

Budget/Graph/Media Schedule 23

Appendix 24

Introduction

This project has been completed by Communication Majors of The University of Virginia’s College at Wise in order to gain knowledge of the IMC planning process while finding ways to promote the college itself.

From left to right: Allie Robinson Angela Mullins Hannah McNew Joy Mitchell

Brand History

The University of Virginia’s College at Wise was formerly Clinch Valley College of the University of Virginia. Clinch Valley College operated as a junior college throughout the late 50’s and 60’s. In 1999, the Virginia Assembly renamed the school “The University of Virginia’s College at Wise.”

Mission

Proud of our Appalachian heritage, we continue to honor our commitment of service to Southwest VA, the nation, and the world…Above all, The University of Virginia’s College at Wise is a diverse community of people who believe that information can be transformed into knowledge and that teaching and learning create a foundation for wisdom.

Primary Research

•Methods Fifteen first-year students (eight local and seven from Central, Eastern, and Northern VA) participated in a focus group •Results

When asking students why they chose UVA-Wise they answered close to home, close knit community, cheaper than other schools, and sports opportunities.

Secondary Research

• Methods

130 participants completed an online survey

• Results

72.4 % of participants reported location and price as their main reason for attending UVa-Wise.

Most current students at UVa-Wise do not feel as if the college advertises itself well.

Primary Target Audience

The Primary target audience for this campaign are male and female residents of Virginia, Eastern Kentucky, and Eastern Tennessee between the ages 16 and 25.

•These individuals were chosen because at age 16, people begin looking into which college to attend.

•At ages 17-18, people are getting accepted into college and beginning their Freshman year.

•Ages 19-25 are when students complete Associate’s degrees and transfer to 4-year colleges.

Secondary Target Audience

The Secondary target audience for this campaign are parents with young adults age 16 to 25 that reside in the state of Virginia, Eastern Kentucky, and East Tennessee.

•This demographic was chosen in order to gain the attention of individuals with college-aged kids during the time the children are choosing a college.

•The parents are typically the ones who are financially invested in the college that their child attends.

Competitive Analysis

UVa-Wise has a little over 6,000 likes on Facebook and a little over one thousand followers on Instagram. ETSU has over 17 thousand likes on their Facebook, but only just short of 3,000 on their Instagram page. Emory & Henry has around 6,500 likes on Facebook and only 761 followers on Instagram.

When looking at commercials for all three colleges, UVa-Wise is perceived as portraying friendship, history, working together, school pride, diversity, and athletics. ETSU is perceived as portraying entertainment, diversity, closeness, fun, different opportunities, and involvement. Emory & Henry is perceived as much more serious and information based. It also focuses on the landscape and showing the campus scenery.

Brand UVa-Wise ETSU Emory and Henry

Brand Positioning/

Mission

UVa-Wise is committed to enriching the lives of others. They are guided by citizenship and altruism. They also have a strong commitment to Southwest Virginia. Their motto is “leading the region, serving the world.”

ETSU makes liberal education the number one priority, training their students to influence the world. They preserve the heritage of Appalachia. They provide students a total college experience.

Emory & Henry believes in the union of faith and learning, with an emphasis on the Methodist faith. Their foundation is liberal arts, and they challenge their students to think critically. Their motto is “Increase in Excellence.”

Corporate Social

Responsibility

Day of Service, Student Ambassadors, Venue opportunities

Protecting the environment, leading the community, Student Involvement

Appalachian Center for Civic Life, Community Sparkplugs, Degree Programs, National Leaders in Service Learning, Service Scholarships

Logo Design & Meaning

Excellence of learning

ETSU logo is a representation of both our history and our vision for the future. It is a graphic identity that is representative of our deeply rooted traditions and our longstanding commitment to excellence.

Emory & Henry University and school-level logos are integrated with various Emory entities to create an identity system for this diverse academic community.

Target Audience

College-age/ individuals interested in a college education

College-age/ individuals interested in a college education or graduate program

College-age/ individuals interested in a college education

Place Southwest Virginia East Tennessee Southwest Virginia

Price $9,220.00 per year $14,633.50 per year $30,700 per year

Product University/ Upper Level Education

University/ Upper Level Education

University/ Upper Level Education

History

The dream began with two buildings on the county’s poor farm and 109 full-time students in 1954. The dream now lives on with 15 major structures serving 1,900 students and boasting 7,500 alumni.

In 1911, East Tennessee State Normal School opened with, 29 students registered on the first day. Now in 2015, over 14,500 undergraduate, graduate and professional students.

The cornerstone for Emory & Henry was laid in 1836, and the first students were enrolled in 1838 .Emory & Henry is now the oldest institution of higher learning in Southwest Virginia. Currently, they enroll approximately 1,000 students, almost equally divided between men and women.

Promotion/ Social Media

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Google Plus, LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube

Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, SmugMug

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,LinkedIn, Pinterest, YouTube, Flickr

SWOT Analysis

STRENGTHS • Cheaper price for

education • Smaller class sizes • Personal relationships

with professors • Location in beautiful

Appalachian mountains

WEAKNESSES • Smaller school • Lack of resources • Lack of opportunities • Lack of diversity

OPPORTUNITIES • Use social media to reach

out to a younger audience • Liberal arts education can

be used to draw more students

THREATS • Competing universities in

the area (ETSU, E&H) • Bigger universities

Objectives

Marketing Objective:

Based on the results of our focus group, UVa-Wise is not normally people’s first-choice college. This may be due to lack of awareness and opportunity. With upcoming marketing strategies, our goal would be to increase enrollment by 10% in the 2016-2017 academic year. We would do this by reaching out to the community as well as other areas in Virginia. These areas would include Northern, Eastern, Central, and Southern Virginia.

Advertising Objectives

1. Increase brand awareness by 25% in the 2016-2017 academic year. This could be done by improving commercials, flyers, and sponsoring a large event in major cities across Virginia.

2. Change people’s perceptions of UVa-Wise in recognizing that UVa-Wise is not the University of Virginia.

Media Objectives

1. To increase social media likes (Facebook) and follows (Twitter & Instagram) by 50% in the 2016-2017 year.

2. We also want to increase conversation about UVa-Wise by creating hashtags related to UVa-Wise and future events.

3. We would focus on Facebook as our main social media platform because it is the most popular social media platform and link other social media platforms (Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube) to the Facebook page.

The Big Idea

“I AM WISE” The idea behind the “I AM WISE” campaign is to inform the target audience that in choosing Uva-Wise, students become what makes them Wise.

Highlighting Uva-Wise’s key benefits, (choosing a liberal arts education, an affordable education, a friendly atmosphere, and a beautiful location), the campaign will increase brand awareness and express that Uva-Wise is not only a division of UVA, but it has its own unique brand personality.

Billboards

Are you Wise? Join our family today! #IAmWise

#IAmWise

Guerilla Advertising

Walking Billboard

Ambient Advertising

Cavalier logo on our personal vehicles.

Social Media

The #IAMWISE social media campaign will encourage current students to share why they are ‘wise’ to give potential students access to personal information as to why they should choose UVa-Wise as their future school.

This hashtag will require an additional hashtag that will allow individuals who are not currently enrolled to join in the social media campaign. They will use #MyHome in order to connect with current students of UVa-Wise while posting their own versions of “home”.

Social Media

•#TransformWisely

The #TransformWisely social media campaign will encourage potential students and current students to share their high school to college transformations.

Events and Public Relations

Bristol Race

Our event will be held at the Bristol Race. We will have a tent with the college logo along with a table with information about UVa-Wise.

Budget, Graphs, and Media Schedule

Budget $50,000.00

Appendix