Background: CUNY Arts is a non profit initiative of the City University of New York. It was founded to create opportunities for students to experience New York City’s arts and cultural institutions.
Business Challenge: A lack of awareness and participation by CUNY students in the CUNY Arts program.
Objective: Creating a campaign that boosts involvement in the CUNY Arts program and raising the overall awareness of the program among all CUNY students around New York City.
Target Demographics
To begin, we looked at who the typical CUNY student is. We learned that the vast majority of CUNY students live within the 5 boroughs of New York City, many students come from minority backgrounds and the typical CUNY student falls into a lower income level.
THE CAMPAIGN
We learned that the attitude among CUNY students was that they didn’t see themselves fit in among the establishments included in the CUNY Arts program. To make CUNY Arts feel more accessible to students we created the Culture Within Reach campaign. The goal, theme and messaging of the campaign is to show students that art is for everyone and that they can embrace the aspirational qualities of the CUNY Arts program.
STUDENT JOURNEY
Once we understood who we were targeting, the 18-22 year old CUNY student, I put together a consumer journey. We introduced the campaign using digital social platforms so we can reach CUNY students where they are. We then move onto traditional advertising mediums to create an integrated campaign that makes sense geographically. I also took full advantage of the opportunities we have targeting students who live in New York City.
I decided to make the first step of the campaign a digital launch during the beginning of the Spring semester. Starting the campaign in the Spring gives us the time needed to introduce CUNY Arts to students. We will then have them fully engaged with the program by Summer, when students have more time to interact with CUNY Arts opportunities.
campaign activations
Instagram On Instagram we planned to roll out art centric memes that take full advantage of the platforms capabilities. The ads will make art more accessible and push the Culture Within Reach messaging. We will grow the CUNY Arts Instagram following and engagement through a vigorous posting schedule and high engagement. Through posting content that is on brand for CUNY Arts but also engaging for the young audience it is intended to reach, we will be able to raise the curiosity among CUNY students of the CUNY Arts program.
Snapchat
Snapchat The age demographic we are targeting falls perfectly into the primary audience for social media app Snapchat. I planned to implement GeoTag filters that are centered around CUNY campuses as well as museums and institutions in the CUNY Arts ecosystem. Students on campus will see the CUNY Arts filter while browsing, allowing curiosity for the program to grow. Students interacting with the program will also create user generated content and increase the accessibility factor that the campaign is striving for.
TikTok 41% of TikTok users are between the ages of 16-24. We will collaborate with New York City based visual and performance artists with a presence on the popular platform TikTok . They will incorporate the CUNY Arts Branding into their videos in a micro influencer campaign that will further engage students on platforms they are familiar and comfortable with. The goal is to bring CUNY Arts to students and show them that the opportunities of the program are well within their reach.
Subway and Public Transportation Ads: We know an integrated campaign is not complete only using digital. During week 10 of the campaign we implement highly targeted Subway and Bus stop ads. Starting on social allows us to grow familiarity with CUNY Arts and saves budget for OOH ads. As we learned, CUNY students are commuters, ads are placed in the Subway stations and bus stops that students frequent most. I took advantage of the unique opportunity of having highly trafficked Subway stops located within very close proximity to CUNY campuses. For campuses that do not have direct subway access, such as CSI, Bus stop ads will be placed accordingly.
Additional Placements
Out Of Home: For a complete 360° campaign we planned campus activations that will engage students in person. Guerilla Art executions will be placed on CUNY campuses and will give each schools art department an opportunity to engage with the larger student body.
Digital and more: Outside of social, we will have banner ads to be placed on the CUNY homepage that will redirect to the CUNY Arts website and social media properties. Additionally we will take advantage of the CUNY Podcast network and create a CUNY Arts Radio show where students and professors will be able to discuss events and opportunities relating to CUNY Arts.
MedIa plan and KPI’S
KPI’s The performance indicators we would be able to track are 3 fold.
Social Media Growth and Engagement: Social listening will allow us to get an idea for the effectiveness of the campaign strategies.
Incease in real life interactions with the CUNY Arts programs. By checking use of Student ID’s at the various cultural institutions and events we will know if the campaign is creating real life change.
Interaction with CUNY Arts program. By looking at website and job board page views and seeing an uptick in engagement we will know if the campaign is reaching its goals and make any necessary changes.
pITCH DECK
Project Collaborators - Diane Arutyunyan, Santana Chowdery, Carmen Quang, Everett Mitchell, Keny Medina, Roxie Xie, Nicole Marie Alexander, Marissa Bramwell