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In 2013, Meredith College underwent a comprehensive rebrand that was rolled out in their first ever dedicated brand campaign. MSA was tapped to launch the new brand identity and raise awareness of Meredith College among local and statewide consumers with an integrated media campaign.

• Strengthen Meredith College’s overall reputation.
• Change the perception of Meredith from “girls in pearls” to “strong, capable students.”
• Increase enrollment in both undergraduate and graduate programs. 

In our initial planning sessions, the Meredith clients used “big” and “bold” to describe the campaign they were looking for…and MSA took that to heart.

With an established identity in place and a modest media budget on hand, MSA was challenged to craft a media campaign for the new Meredith College brand that would maintain desirable brand strengths while changing some specific brand perceptions. Ensuring that the core messaging was showcased in appropriate media with sufficient media weight to move the needle was essential.

Local market Scarborough Research was used to capture lifestyles and media habits of highly-desirable target segments, including:

• Media quintiles for each target audience; determining media allocation.
• Media usage by each target to identify and rank programs/stations/titles/sites, etc.
• Media habits of all target audiences as well as leisure activities.

CMR competitive market research data was used to show current spending levels of collegiate competitors in the local market. Knowledge is power; and knowing the share of voice among competitors allowed us to position Meredith College against each target and make smarter budgeting decisions as well as media allocations.

Taking into account the role of primary influencers as well as potential students, our audience goals were to:

• Target women 15-24 (potential undergrads and graduate students).
• Target the influencers 25-54 (parents, high school teachers and counselors, alumnae, and business leaders).
• Identify and target the upscale and affluent households across Wake County as the group most likely to address the attributes of the private college to the influencers.

• Target primarily the local Raleigh-Durham market
• Limited statewide presence

With a fiscal year of July 1 - June 30, key enrollment periods are fall and spring, running concurrently with typical college semesters. Media was launched in September, not only because school was back in session, but also to begin building awareness among current high school students as they began their college decision-making.

The integrated media campaign included:

• Television – local early morning news sponsorships on broadcast networks as well as statewide Public Television underwriting of premier series
• National Public Radio
• Outdoor signage including airport and rotary
• Newspaper – premier front page strip placements
• Key targeted magazines
• Digital – both display and search

Known for pioneering creative media solutions, MSA engaged the following for the Meredith College brand launch.

At North Hills Shopping Center, a street-level 45’x15’ billboard was created and constructed for MSA. The high-traffic location faces the Renaissance North Hills Hotel, Fitness Center and Mia Francesca restaurant. Shopping center demographics are upscale, female, Wake County residents. This unique board appears larger than life to the sidewalk audience. This media opportunity was created by MSA where none existed previously.

MSA also introduced a new ad position (double-truck strip ad) in the local business paper that aligned well with the new creative messaging, and allowed Meredith to boldly introduce their new brand to a key business audience in an incredibly cost effective manner.

The campaign also featured a statewide underwriting of Masterpiece Theater on PBS which included the highly popular “Downton Abbey” series. Underwriting lends credibility in a non-advertising environment and targets an upscale and educated audience.

It also included high-profile, early morning broadcast television :15 news sponsorships. This cost efficient use of television in a credible environment increased exposure to the target audience consistently each day by placing time-locked messages each morning at specific times on each network.

MSA’s vigorous rate negotiation along with added value acquisitions extended client media exposure by 20% of the total media spend. This included:

• Billboard contract extensions - additional months at no charge
• Airport signage - additional creative length
• Transit advertising - additional signage
• Magazine upgrades for 4Color, positioning and marketplace listings
• TV and Radio - no charge billboards (sponsorship tags) 

Throughout the 2013-2014 brand launch, campaign success was monitored through web analytics, inquiries and donor activity. As a result, Meredith College saw:

• A 67% increase in unique website visitors
• A 30% increase in new student inquiries
• A record-breaking 250% increase in fundraising from the previous year

Launched in 2013, the Meredith College Going Strong brand awareness campaign has continued in subsequent years.

The College saw a great response to its ads during WUNC-TV’s broadcast of Masterpiece Theatre and has continued to sponsor Masterpiece airings.

Within the digital landscape, we have increased the use of social media (both paid and owned media), implemented re-targeted tactics for the different graduate programs and added geo-fencing to our digital tactics for relevant efforts.

We continue to optimize marketing efforts based on performance and learnings.