New Mexico State University
Branding and Awareness Campaign

The Project

Our higher education neighbors in Las Cruces, New Mexico reached out to us recently to help with the development of a new approach for their upcoming student recruitment campaign. We were definitely up to the challenge and more than excited for this opportunity to go “back to school”. The result was a non-traditional, bold and exciting new look for the university.

The Approach

As with all CultureSpan projects, our first step was to hit the books and take a research-based deep dive into the mind of the target demographic. Our research paved the way for a core messaging strategy and even helped us create a fully-realized persona to aid in the development of a creative direction. Next, we took our show on the road by message-testing our concept with students across the three states that feed NMSU’s student body - New Mexico, of course, as well as Texas and Arizona. Being able to gauge their reactions and listening to their insights was a huge benefit that ultimately led us to our final campaign. 

Our research told us that relatable, storytelling opportunities are an effective way to build trust and form relationships with the advertising-savvy Gen Z demographic. So we did just that and began identifying what we called “tribal leaders” from within the university, namely students with interesting and relatable experiences who could serve as champions of the school. By changing the messaging frame and positioning the student as the hero rather than the university, we were able to create a unique approach that stood out from the competition.

Meeting with these students and hearing their stories helped to inject our campaign with great energy. We knew we had to find a way to capture this in graphic executions, and here’s where we let our creativity fly. Our bold graphic execution was definitely a non-traditional approach for a typically conservative university, but NMSU’s confidence was our muse, and the look speaks for itself.

We created digital and print executions that were both engaging and familiar to our audience, using treatments adapted from attention getting social media feeds and posts and stylized with design elements reminiscent of New Mexico culture.

This campaign really came to life when we developed video content. Again, we wanted to break the mold of traditional university advertising and opted for a new vlog-style approach. The spot itself was shot as if our hero student was filming a "day-in-the-life" vlog, similar to the online lifestyle blogs our demo devours on a daily basis. The result was an engaging sneak-peek into the life of a student that also communicated the value points offered by NMSU.

Research, creativity and the trust of our client helped to bring a fresh face and new approach to NMSU’s branding and awareness efforts. This campaign was a learning experience that we were proud to be a part of. More importantly, our client has reported that the campaign has received positive reactions and an increase in online requests for more information. Score!