Daniel Webster College breaks through the clutter with new, humorous “Career Makeover” campaign

 

http://www.dwc.edu/GCDE/makeover.shtml

 

(Nashua, NH) — Daniel Webster College’s new advertising campaign is creating a lot of attention. The college, located in Nashua, with a campus in Portsmouth, N.H., recently kicked off a new series of ads aimed at attracting adult students to the college’s accelerated MBA and EXCEL degree completion programs.

 

Called the Daniel Webster College (DWC) “Career Makeover” campaign, the catchy, humorous ads feature men and women in both “before” and “after” scenarios, showing what life was like before and will be like after attending the DWC programs.

 

According to Dr. Robert E. Sweo, dean of DWC’s Graduate and Continuing Studies, “There is a lot of advertising for adult higher education in the area, most of which looks and sounds the same. It’s difficult to get across that there are real quality differences between programs, real differences in the types of students the programs attract, real differences in the level of experience of those teaching in the program, and therefore, real differences in the value students gain from the programs.”

 

Jane before the DWC Career Makeover

 

Because Daniel Webster College’s has been successfully offering its EXCEL degree completion program for 10 years and its MBA program is highly respected by employers in the area, the college decided it wanted to break through the clutter of similar advertising.

 

“The point of higher education has always been to help people change themselves, not just the piece of paper a student receives at the end of a program,” Sweo explained.  “We recognize that people come here for a career transformation — anything from a worker looking to become a supervisor up to a senior manager looking at a top executive position.   We understand that, and at DWC our professional programs are focused on that goal.”

 

“There is no reason why you can’t have fun while doing this.  Transformation is a bit scary, but it also is exciting, fun and enriching.  We wanted an advertising campaign designed to highlight both sides,” Sweo added.

 

According to Nancy Granada, marketing manager for the college’s adult division, “We were looking for a more memorable way of getting our story out — not the stuffy approach that is standard for adult higher education — one that is more fun and more relevant, but still speaks to the audience.”

 

The college turned to Carnegie Communications of Westford, Mass., a marketing firm that works exclusively with colleges and universities. “We designed a campaign that tells the story of how any busy adult who wants to transform their life and move on to a better place can do that by attending Daniel Webster College,” said Elizabeth Landry, a marketing consultant with Carnegie Communications. 

 

The campaign and its tag line, “It’s never too late to become what you might have been,” are designed to work for 18 to 24 months in print, radio, television, direct mail and interactive web advertising mediums.  “The beauty of the campaign is that it will evolve with time to stay fresh, as it builds on telling how student have ‘made themselves over,’” Landry said.

 

 The ad campaign is running in print ads in the Southern New Hampshire and Boston area papers, on radio in Southern New Hampshire, and on the Internet using flash animation with direct e-mail and interactive ads on targeted web sites.

 

Although it is too early to measure the campaign’s effect, early results are encouraging.  “The radio ads have drawn more responses than I have seen in the last four years of radio advertising,” Granada said.

 

Future plans include adding television and some direct mail to the marketing mix.   Over the next 18-24 months, people will be able to see the evolution the “DWC Career Makeovers,” which will include not only fictional characters, but alumni who have experienced the makeover for themselves.