Empower Alaska
University of Alaska System
Brand + Web + Media + Storytelling
Overview
The University of Alaska system hired BVK to plan and execute a public awareness campaign, positioning the university as a leader in the midst of challenging headwinds. With financial challenges, a highly charged political landscape and a state with lagging high school to college pipelines, the university system had an uphill battle to change minds and captivate hearts of its state’s residents.
UA’s Goal
First and foremost, UA was looking to improve the state’s feelings about its offering and value. In addition, there was a need to amplify the individual universities’ storytelling opportunities, via the system. And finally, system-level initiatives that transcended a particular campus required marketing support, or risk a lack of visibility in the communities that most needed UA.
Our Work
- Brand
- Web
- Media
- Storytelling
Following research completion, the market and account planning teams worked diligently to analyze the various perceptions by audience. As a result, the system identified three key messaging pillars for their public awareness campaign:
- Regaining Public Trust
- Fueling Alaska’s Economic Engines
- Creating Valuable & Affordable Education for All
To wrap these key pillars together, BVK created the Empower Alaska campaign. This theme centered on the university’s mission to empower the state.
The Results
6 %
increase in overall approval of University of Alaska System
+4.7
system enrollments in year 1
66 %
of Alaskans consider the UA system very important to the state
“These growths are from a valley. What’s reflected here is the confidence of the public in the ability of the university that we didn’t have over the past several years.”
According to one regent
Having never invested in a paid media campaign, UA partnered with BVK’s team to determine the best path to a statewide distribution plan. With highly unique consumption patterns within the state, Alaska media plans required use of a mix of traditional, hyper-local and digital tactics.
The Results
In the first year of the campaign:
+3 MM
broadcast and radio impressions
1.57 MM
total YouTube views across 8 different video variations
267 K
total reach in social media promotion
15 K
digital display & email banner clicks
Needing a thoughtful, functional, mobile-responsive option for housing campaign content, the BVK team created a home for the Empower Alaska campaign on the web. Highlighting content that was being promoted via paid media, the website offered quick hit messaging points on everything from scholarships to research, donation opportunities to events.
Stories existed around seemingly every corner at UA. But there was a struggle to make them shine, and to tell them in the context of the bigger picture that highlighted impact and relevance to Alaskans. Covering a broad range of topics—from critical minerals to Native success, construction management to arctic research—BVK production teams created a content series of moving stories that demonstrate exactly how UA affects the lives of its statewide residents.