TU debuts spring 2017 ad campaign

By Ray Feldmann on March 21, 2017

“Nothing helps you grow as a person more than having a support system and people that are there to help you whenever you need it, and I’ve had that at Towson,” says Heidi, a Towson University senior.

“It’s a very diverse campus. It makes you feel good to be a student learning in a classroom where you can feel accepted,” says Aisha, another TU student.

“Towson has never treated me as just one in 23,000 students,” adds Mary Rose. “All the faculty that I’ve interacted with, they knew my potential and they respected that I am an intelligent individual.”

“Towson is a very diverse campus,” observes Jacob. “The great thing about it is that it really has no barriers and everyone is able to be their true self.”

Growth. Unity. Respect. Individuality.

Those are just four of TU’s values conveyed in a bold digital enrollment marketing campaign that launched this past Monday. The ads will be appearing over the next month on several media sites, including digital display ads on Google, YouTube, and social media platforms Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

View the ads featured in the spring campaign

In addition to mirroring values that are part of the university’s “Tiger Pledge,” the new digital ads also reflect a portion of the initial market research findings from an identity audit conducted over the past several months.

The campaign will specifically target prospective students, who according to the research findings, believe that TU is modeling best practices in diversity and inclusion – one of President Kim Schatzel’s presidential priorities.

The themes and timing of the digital ads are not coincidental. High school seniors and their families must formally select their college of choice before May 1.

“We know that high school seniors are in crunch time of their college selection process,” said Dr. David Fedorchak, the university’s director of admissions. “Our ads say ‘Who we are and what we represent at Towson University.’ More importantly, our own students are showing it, which makes the messages genuine and authentic.”

During a two-week period earlier this month, TU’s in-house team conducted video interviews with students across campus to bring the campaign, “Stacked Values,” from concept to life with Towson University-specific messages.

The final product demonstrates the fundamental difference these values make in shaping every Towson University student’s college experience and underscores the following concepts:

• Values don’t exist in a vacuum, they build. One on top of the next, creating something strong, powerful, enduring.
• At Towson University, our core values of diversity and inclusion form a strong foundation upon which relationships are built, ideas are formed, and dreams take shape. It’s because of this unshakeable base that our students flourish intellectually, socially and personally.

The digital ads cleverly use a gold background with a subtle university logo design and strong visual images of the students that contain links to the video interviews.

Empowerment. Inspiration.

“I think Towson does an amazing job empowering its students,” says Megan, another TU student featured in the spring campaign. “Every organization I’ve been a part of has made me so much more outgoing and involved in this community. That’s the point of college, to figure out who you are and what you want to do with your life.”

“I would definitely say something that has inspired me here at Towson is probably the culture and diversity here,” adds Brianna. “Oftentimes when we walk around campus there’s a lot of things that we’re all familiar with, and it allows me to feel like I’m safe and that I can ask questions here. And that inspires me to keep going and inspires me to ask more questions.”

Diversity and inclusion are values near and dear to Schatzel, who spoke on 'Campus leaders creating healthy campus climates' earlier this month at a joint session of the American Council on Education (ACE) and National Association of Diversity Officers in Higher Education (NADOHE). 

“Diversity has become a hallmark of Towson University and reinforces Towson University’s unique value within the state of Maryland as one of the most diverse campuses in our state," Schatzel told attendees. "This is also critical to the positioning of Towson to the next generation of prospective high school students.

"In Maryland, research provides that currently 52% of high school graduates are students of color," she added. "That percentage can be expected to increase to over 63% in the next 15 years. Campuses that are already diverse and inclusive will be competitively advantaged by this demographic trend."

 The new digital ads are scheduled to run through April 30, but given their strong alignment with the presidential priority of diversity and inclusion, the campaign may continue in future versions in the months ahead.