A Lutheran institution,
Concordia University Texas offers a variety of educational programs for traditional and nontraditional students at the undergraduate and
graduate levels.
The Challenge
In 2006, the university contracted FrogDog for a robust admissions campaign to increase the number of students inquiring about the school and to clarify its vision and message among key audiences: students, parents, school counselors, and the Lutheran community.
The school is scheduled to move campuses before incoming freshman will graduate. There is a lot of regional excitement about the move, and the new campus is already under construction, so the university didn't want to over-emphasize its current bricks-and-mortar identity.
The university wanted to ensure that prospective students knew the importance of a faith-based education at Concordia, and they also wanted to convey the institution as a first step into the real world for incoming students—a place to explore and try new things while in a nurturing, Christian environment.
The FrogDog Solution
After extensive consultation with the university, FrogDog developed a theme for the university's admissions campaign: “Choose Your Own Adventure.” The theme emphasizes how college broadens students' worlds and that, at Concordia, students are nurtured and guided in developing their future adventures.
The campaign's look-and-feel highlights important historical and spiritual aspects of the campus to ensure that the history of the established school is evident. Yet it emphasizes a broad-horizons, academically focused “adventure” world where students have a variety of options and bright futures.
The text for each deliverable has an “adventure” angle and provides numerous case studies of people who started their adventures at Concordia, had great experiences while there, and went on to exciting futures.
For deliverables, FrogDog developed a direct-mail piece that looks like a boarding pass, a brochure that functions like a road map (and unfolds into a poster for students' and high school counselors' use), a pocket folder and three standard folder inserts about the school, sixteen flyers (one for each major), and a university view book, which is a high-end, multipage marketing brochure for prospective students.
