Update on marketing for July 2021

Getting ready for the future

Preparation has been the operative word for us as the team gears up for everything that this summer through the end of this calendar year will bring us, namely campaign asset launches and community dialogues regarding our visual identity. Additionally, MarComm has turned into “search central” as we have been working to advance rapidly in our searches for eight positions within our marketing team as well as five others in communications and operations, to augment our efforts and provide additional partnership support. Each week, we are meeting vibrant individuals who are excited about DU’s mission and interested in helping us augment our efforts. Over the past two weeks, we’ve welcomed two new web writers to the team, and I’m looking forward to introducing our new content strategy manager to the team in the coming weeks. A new position to our team, the content strategy manager will be integral in capitalizing on overlap between communications and marketing initiatives. 

Micro-process enhancements

Evaluation is a critical part of any successful marketing program. We’re taking steps to enhance our process and implement a new system of After-Action Reviews (AARs) at the end of major initiatives as well as weave in regular optimization touchpoints for advertising. More robust and a bit more formal than a typical post-mortem, the process will include a thorough analysis of performance and KPIs, process review, and since many of our projects are annual and recurring, recommendations for the strategy moving forward.

Thinking critically of how to leverage the symbiotic relationship between copy and design, members of our team are testing functionality and technology that will allow copy writers to make edits directly in project design layouts to minimize rounds of edits and improve efficiency in the overall process. This micro win will have a huge impact for us down the line as we introduce additional projects and publications to our suite of materials.

As with all processes, we’ll work to continue refining them over the coming year as both the AARs and the editing enhancements are new. Micro wins can become among our biggest wins overall as we seek to continually improve as a team and support DU. Many thanks to Natalie Plaszewski, Evan Cotgageorge, Billie Stanton Anleu, and Tamara Chapman as well as the rest of the MarComm team for their leadership in these areas.

Casting and shooting

Casting is nearly complete for our upcoming commercial. Lynnzee Brown and Omar Barakat have been selected as the featured students for the commercial and we’re excited to be able to feature several additional students in the content marketing surrounding the campaign. Both Lynnzee and Omar demonstrated their commitment to the public good through their respective efforts in youth athletics camps and medical research into EILO, a condition that inhibits exercise and often goes undiagnosed in patients of color. Filming for the commercial will take place next week, and we anticipate the 30-second spot running in over-the-top (OTT) streaming television as well as YouTube, Facebook/Instagram, and many other platforms this fall. We’re also looking forward to continuing our conversations with our partners in Athletics on the best ways to use it in broadcast surrounding DU sports this fall.

Exciting things happening!