Ashford University
As the Creative Lead for Ashford University my role included everything from directing efforts to evolve the brand through multiple channels and tactics; leading creative for $50M+ multi-platform customer acquisition campaigns and ongoing optimization (CRO), to mentoring and inspiring the creative team and external partners, including agencies and freelancers.
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Customer Acquisition
Enrolling new students at optimum costs and on a consistent basis is critical for any higher education institution. Ashford University was no different—our team was held to very high lead generation goals. Creative plays a critical role on the effectiveness of any lead generation effort: amplify engagement and generate more qualified leads.
I led the ideation, execution and on-going optimization of highly targeted advertising campaigns. These campaigns took into account all ad platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Hulu, Pandora, YouTube, Google Display Network, Yahoo), funnel stages, and different target audiences based on multiple data points. The data included demographics (income, job title, education), behaviors (websites visited, keywords searched, in-market for education), and interests (engineering, business, technology).
Creative included HTML5 banners, video, custom photography, animated and static display, emails, paid and organic social, as well as podcasts.
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Branding
A brand's vision, mission, and culture sets the foundation for its day-to-day operations and employee interactions, to the products and services they choose to offer. Ashford University was in need to revisit its core belief and values, and rethink the way those values were being communicated and experienced to all of its 4,000 plus employees. I helped to identify, re-write, and create innovative ways to communicate and get everyone to live the brand values—from the executive business strategies to every day task execution. Not an easy job, but a very rewarding and welcome challenge.
Tenacity Made Me
This brand campaign for Ashford University was created to strengthen the connection between the brand and its student body by strategically focusing on a specific set of brand pillars. The campaign also has a unique proposition and differentiator that speaks to prospect students in a unique, fun and engaging way. As a result, the creative idea helped the university standout and generated very positive results in multiple platforms including email, paid social (Facebook, Instagram), display (Google, Yahoo), social media, digital video (Hulu, YouTube), and direct mail among others.
In addition to a broad university messaging, the campaign included specific creative for strategic areas of interest (e.g.: Business, Education, and Psychology), and specific degrees (Masters of Human Resource Management and Bachelor of Science in Nursing).
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UX/UI / Web design
Ashford is an online school offering Associates, Bachelor, and Master Degrees to a wide audience. The website is a key branding, informational, and lead generation tool responsible for providing information to prospects students, and enrolling over thousands of students each month. The website needed a new robust Content Management System, a more intuitive information architecture, easy to use interface, and more engaging content and visuals. SEO and on-going conversion optimization were key considerations. Project included everything from web-development partner selection and RFP reviews, CMS research, UX/UI design, to photo and video production.
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Branded Content + Social Media
I had the opportunity to tell many stories that spoke directly to the brand’s values and its core audience. I met some awesome and inspiring people along the way, from the subjects of our stories to the film-maker themselves. Featured here are just some of the stories we created and shared in video format, among many others. Most were real people sharing their life and experiences, shot in a raw, documentary style.
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