Marian Court College, located on the ocean in picturesque Swampscott, Massachusetts, awards the Associate in Science and Bachelor of Science degrees. The College provides a solid foundation for future success, whether to pursue further degrees or to obtain a professional position.
The College needed to more clearly tell a compelling story about its mission and programs to increase enrollments. We targeted high school students who are late bloomers and want to improve their academic standings using student profiles to communicate peer-to-peer.
Bergeron Creative facilitated a planning meeting with senior staff and key faculty to build consensus and determine the direction for the brand and messaging. We conducted focus groups with first-year students to help guide the brand messaging and imagery creative process. We then utilized follow-up focus groups to test, validate and refine the branding concepts developed in the creative process.
The College was using several different logos, which were fragmenting its identity in the marketplace. We developed an award-winning logo using the College’s initials “MCC,” rendered in a wave-like graphic to communicate its ocean-side location, and included a complete visual identity and graphic standards program. The brand position was reinforced by the tagline, “Start Small. Think Big.”
Bergeron Creative developed an award-winning direct mail campaign using the theme “Start Small. Think Big.” This four-tier campaign included quarterly mailings that profiled students with “big dreams” and included a three-month calendar of college events.
Bergeron Creative produced college fair displays that also featured students and a quote about their big dream—we chose this approach because prospects received the College’s message more strongly through a peer. The viewbook wove these student profiles into the College’s brand story, encouraging prospects to visit the campus and submit an application for admission.
The advertising campaign targeted graduated high school seniors who still remained undecided about college. The campaign ran over the summer months using a combination of outdoor and print media. The message was simple and powerful: “Where are you headed this fall? There’s still time to apply….”
Marian Court College wanted a website that would complement the brand identity Bergeron Creative created for the College. The main marketing objective for the website was to increase applications for admissions. Therefore, the site needed to appeal to traditional undergraduate and adult continuing education students. In addition, the site needed to support student services and alumni relations efforts.
Bergeron Creative re-engineered site architecture and navigation to make the visitor experience more intuitive using a content management system (CMS) that allowed for the College to easily publish timely content. The site engaged prospective students with streaming news, event photo galleries and student profiles designed to capture their interest. The strategy was to get prospects to spend more time on the website and give them reasons to return—the two most critical success factors found to increase online conversion rates.
In addition, we created a virtual viewbook developed as a microsite flipbook that encouraged prospects to visit the campus and submit an online application for admission. We also developed a secure online form for the College’s annual fund, allowing donations to be made online.
During the years the integrated program was implemented, Marian Court College met or exceeded their enrollment goals. “Bergeron is thorough and professional with exceptional creativity—the calendars produce more inquiries than any other source,” said Jennifer Warren, former Assistant to the President at Marian Court College.
Over the years this branding and enrollment campaign has been recognized with numerous awards from the Admissions Marketing Report. In fact, the editors at Admissions Marketing Report were so taken with theme of the Marian Court College campaign, “Start Small. Dream Big.” that it ran a feature story on the development of the campaign. According to Al Bergeron, President and Chief Creative Officer at Bergeron Creative Studios, “Great ideas are born through great partnerships with clients based on a common vision, trust and mutual respect.”
Call us at 617-834-4840 | al@bergeroncreative.com