CSU Pueblo Extended Studies (Online) Enrollment Campaign
Marketing Campaign, Art Direction, Higher Education

Overview

Colorado State University Pueblo’s Extended Studies (Online) program offers flexible opportunities for students to continue their education in top-ranked Master’s programs on their own time. With rotating eight-week course programs, students have the ability to work at their own pace — and are even able to pause classes temporarily without risking the need to drop-out of their studies. The Extended Studies team needed help communicating this flexibility and the value of the investment that a Graduate degree can provide, with the ultimate goal of increased enrollment across the school as a whole.

After crafting a target persona based on the information gathered during discovery, the approach was (relatively) straightforward: there was a need for potential students to feel excited and empowered. With the knowledge that CSU Pueblo Extended Studies offers a dynamic, unique, and opportunity-driven program, it became clear that a strong, unifying call-to-action was necessary to hit this emotional tone with the audience.

With the target information that was gathered from discovery, the above persona was crafted internally and shared with the client so that there was a more tangible way to ensure the creative was addressed to the proper audience.

In an effort to create a rally cry behind this message, the working team crafted a manifesto behind this call-to-action which we called “Extend Your Reach.” Not only was this a play on the Extended Studies name, but it also provided a way for the audience to tangibly see the value that a CSU Pueblo degree could provide for their life and careers. While the manifesto focused more specifically on the first degree program (Nursing), “Extend Your Reach” was able to be easily applied to additional degree programs down the road.

You heard your calling.
And you answered.

You went to school.
And you succeeded.

You’ve raised people’s chances.
And you’ve saved lives.

Now, it’s time to change yours.

CSU Pueblo Extended Studies offers top-ranked master’s programs on asynchronous schedules to let you extend the reach of your mind, your career, and your life.

Extend your compassion and teach it to others.
Extend what’s possible with new career opportunities.
Extend your salary by moving up in your career.
Extend family time by leaving 12+ hour shifts behind.

Simply put, you can extend your reach.
And you can do it all without overextending yourself.

So take the first step in stepping up.

Because extending your reach means more than just taking the next step in your career, it means elevating your whole life.

The opportunity is yours, all you have to do is reach out and take it.

CSU Pueblo: Extend Your Reach.

The approved campaign concept key visual. This design was used throughout the buildout of both the Masters of Nursing and MBA program legs of the campaign.

The campaign visuals featured isolated “heroes” who portray an empowered feeling in their area of work, ensuring that the campaign makes an emotional connection with the audience. It was important that the creative felt both branded to the university as a whole, but also unique to Extended Studies — by utilizing the brand blues, but adding a golden hue, it ensured that CSU Pueblo was still the focus, while also adding a distinct (and uplifting) tone for the Online program.

An example of paid social that was run for the nursing leg of the campaign.

For the MBA program, it was important to show prospective students with families — highlighting the flexibility of the asynchronous schedule in the online program.

Paid social ads that ran during the MBA leg of the campaign.

Various display (retargeting) ads that were run during the course of the campaign.

Overall, the campaign featured numerous paid social and display/retargeting tactics, including several 15 second social videos that used a mix of rational and emotional language to highlight the Extended Studies Masters of Nursing program. A campaign guide was also put together to help onboard freelancers to help with the production of some of these additional campaign assets.