At the 2018 Council for Advancement and Support of Education District VII Conference held last Friday, March 2nd Margaret Wong, Digital Media Coordinator  and Rob Warren, Communications and Marketing Officer for the Veterinary Medical Teaching Hospital were recognized for their mini-campaign leading up to the October 13th Veterinary Medical Center campaign launch. The communication initiative was designed to promote the campaign’s tag line “Leading the Way” and build interest and attendance at the announcement event, both in-person and online via livestream.

The team developed a number of materials including five 30-second video teasers and a number of 11 x 17 posters that stated “Leading the Way in _________.” They then filled in the blank with the veterinary hospital’s specialty services and fundraising priorities. With this cache of posters they engaged faculty, staff and students to share the poster for a photo that was used on the school’s three social media channels and the local electronic screens (kiosks) in multiple buildings on the veterinary campus.  Additionally, they created three 10-second videos with the text “Leading the Way” overlaid on engaging video which was distributed on Instagram such that when you visited the page, “Leading the Way” appeared side-by-side in the feed.

For those unable to attend the event in-person, Wong established a live feed and linked it across our social media pages to reach a larger audience. Following the event, the video feed was posted on the school’s web site for follow-up viewing. The event was timed with the school’s “Fall Festival” alumni reunion weekend to engage alumni as well as the campus community, hospital clients, philanthropic partners and the general public.

The overall results were very successful. The 52 social media posts (includes Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) over the 3-week period garnered more than 200,000 impressions and 12,000 engagements. The Livestream garnered 415 views in addition to the more than 130 event participants.

This initiative is a wonderful example of a targeted communication initiative using multiple media platforms and technologies, with assistance from internal community members as the “talent,” to achieve its goals. Congratulations Margaret and Rob!