Marketing campaign takes wing at Bradley airport

by Daniel J. Fitzgibbons, Chronicle staff

The campus display ad at Bradley International Airport. (Stan Sherer photo)

round 3 million travelers pass through Bradley International Airport every year, making the terminal an ideal venue for showcasing the region's business and hospitality resources. But up until recently, the University had no presence at all at Bradley, ceding the territory to the rival University of Connecticut.

     But the UMass name is now part of the airport landscape, thanks to the efforts of several campus programs that pooled their funds to place a 5-foot by 31/2-foot display ad in Terminal B near the American Airlines gates.

     Featuring a glimpse of the UMass hot air balloon, the full-color ad touts the campus's professional and continuing education programs under the headline "a lifetime of learning opportunities." The display also includes a Web address and toll-free number where more information can be obtained along with the phrase "Think, Again," the signature hook for a marketing campaign that began last year.

     "Bradley was looking for a new ad," says Kat Eldred, director of Marketing. "It seemed like an ideal opportunity for some outreach marketing by the professional and continuing education programs at the University."

     The ads are getting noticed, says Eldred, who says she's had positive comments from two alumni who passed through the air terminal.

     Designed by Steve Robbins, director of Creative Services (formerly Publications), the ad builds on the success of the "Think, Again" launched earlier by an alliance of adult education units, including Continuing Education, Professional MBA Program, University Without Walls, School of Nursing and the Video Instructional Program (VIP) in the College of Engineering. The effort has been coordinated by Eldred, whose office is part of Communications and Marketing within University Advancement.

     With the majority of campus marketing geared to traditional undergraduate education, says Eldred, the individual adult education programs for many years pitched their offerings using whatever resources they had available.

     But last year, representatives of various programs began working with Eldred to maximize their reach through collaboration, pooled spending and a common theme: "Think again - about UMass and the lifetime of learning available to you."

     "'Think, Again' was developed to coordinate the marketing clout of the individual units," says Eldred. "It positions the University as a recognized provider of professional and continuing education."

     To support the campaign, a template ad was designed for the different programs to use. The ads all provide the address (www.umass.edu/think) for an online portal where information on all of the adult education programs can be accessed from a single point.

     "We've been getting amazing hits out of that," says Gloria Fisher, coordinator of publications and publicity for the Division of Continuing Education. "It's been enormously beneficial."

     Fisher also praises Eldred's success in placing a professional and continuing education link on the campus's home page. Before the change, "You could never find Continuing Ed. from the UMass Web site," she says.

     According to Fisher, the "Think, Again" campaign ads have solidified marketing for the programs involved.

     "We're all using the ads," she says. "We reinforce each other's message and present a unified front."

     Heather Miller, director of graduate programs at the Isenberg School of Management, agrees. "We've had greater impact because of the unified image," she says, "and its fits with the new UMass logo."

     As Eldred notes, the impact of the ads spills across the participating departments. "Everyone benefits because it's coordinated."

     That rings true to Miller. "We hear from people who say, "I saw your ad in the Hartford Courant,'" she says. "But really, I'm getting the benefit of someone else's ad."

     The programs are banking on similar results from the airport ad, to which the different units are committing funds to cover the $10,393.53 cost for the first year.

     Communications and Marketing is sharing about a third of the expense and the rest are paying according to their means.

     "The only way to leverage anything is to get everyone to chip in," says Eldred, who adds that the airport display also enhances the visibility of the entire University.

     One of the prime beneficiaries of the "Think, Again" offensive and the coordinated marketing approach has been University Without Walls, according to director Gary Bernhard.

     "It's been a great boon to us," he says. "We can't afford to do expensive advertising."
The ads have been particularly useful by pointing to the Web portal, he says. "A lot more people are finding us on the Web."

     Another side benefit of the inter-program focus, according to Continuing Education's Fisher, is that each of the units is helping to promote the others through other venues.

     Fisher notes that Mary McCulloch, acting director and marketing coordinator for VIP, routinely brings materials from the other programs to college fairs she attends.

     Over the Isenberg School, Heather Miller takes the same approach when she's on the road promoting her school's graduate programs.

     "Some of our markets overlap," she says. "Why compete? We should all help each other as much as possible."

     For Miller, off-campus visits are about more than pitching her own programs. "When I'm there, I'm representing my school, but I'm also representing the University."