Relationships are tricky things. Whether it’s dating, business or whatever. In our case, it was building a connection between high achieving college students and the University of Florida’s College of Pharmacy (UF COP). Even though UF was #1 in Florida and ranked in the top-10 nationally, the high caliber students they wanted were choosing to enroll at places like UNC and the University of Michigan instead. We set out to get to know and understand these students. The takeaway? It wasn’t just about being the best. It was about bettering themselves every day. Pursuing something greater. Which also defined UF COP perfectly. So, we built the brand around the theme of Pursue Greatness and developed videos, look books and social campaigns to attract the best and brightest. It all resulted in out-of-state tuition and out-of-state student acceptance going through the roof. Which not only established a solid student-college relationship but made for a very happy client.
The Challenge
Student retention for UF COP was dropping heavily between acceptance and commitment day – a span of time known as the melt period. Our mission was clear: keep communicating with these students during the melt period and form a tighter bond over our mutual goal of pursuing greatness. That’s where things started. However, UF COP got a little more than they bargained for.
The Approach
It seems natural that high achieving students would want to go to a highly ranked university. But reputation alone won’t sway students who’ve been accepted to several top tier institutions. Through a student-focused recruitment video, direct mail pieces, emails and digital efforts, we made sure they knew UF COP understood what makes them tick. And whether it’s our faculty, curriculum, research opportunities or campus locations, we share their pursuit of something greater. As the results indicate, they got the message.
Delivering More
Because Pursue Greatness had such a broader appeal beyond student recruitment, we created a second video, an anthem video, that really helped tell the full story of UF COP. It gave the college a platform to engage with donors and alumni, as well as help with faculty recruitment.
- Out-of-state tuition increased by a whopping $2.7 million
- 83% of candidates who opened emails from the campaign were retained and accepted
- Acceptance rate of out-of-state students saw an 86% increase
- UF COP recently moved up to #5 in the country in 2020 rankings of pharmacy colleges by U.S. News & World Report