Making the Case for Creative Services
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Making the Case for Creative Services UCDA Design Summit 2012 Susan T. Evans | Senior Strategist | mStoner
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This presentation was a general session at the 2012 UCDA Design Summit. Summary: The communication paradigm continues to shift. Essentially we're all trying to figure out a way to get a bunch of great people with different skills on the same team doing exceptional work telling the story of our college or university. So how do you take separate organizations and merge them into one high-performance engine of creativity? What steps do you take to blend web and publications into a creative services team? We'll talk about an approach where you forget the past, ignore the present, and imagine the future. And, we'll walk through a case study of a prospective student mailing project that demonstrates how a medium-agnostic team can come together to accomplish incredible creative.
Transcript of Making the Case for Creative Services
Making the Case for Creative Services
UCDA Design Summit 2012Susan T. Evans | Senior Strategist | mStoner
What is it?An in-house creative team
that blends capabilities across mediums
1. What problem are you solving?2. Imagine a bright future.3. Watch what you wish for, you... 4. Take it from someone who knows.5. Making it work: Results!
Tell me your troubles.
Same story, different campus.
Close your eyes and dream.
If you were starting
from scratch...
Use emotion.William & Mary is a place of ideas, exceptional education, and unlike any other university in America. In my view, we are struggling to consistently represent who we are and what we do to those who know us and to those who know of us. A creative services operation could be an engine of creativity, a place where talented people who love the College can use multiple forms of communication to tell the William & Mary story.
Be direct.Currently, a number of committees are working hard to coordinate communication opportunities. I think William & Mary could do better. A creative services team could come to work everyday thinking about ways to explain and promote what happens on our campus. A creative services team could produce an integrated splash where individual creative elements like photos and language and graphics all come together to make a lasting impression.
So you got what you wanted.
Next up, organizational identity crisis.
Who are you? Who? Who?
Who we are...
•We offer the skills and expertise of an award-winning (in-house) creative agency.
•We want to bring currently outsourced creative work in house.
•We promote and explain academics.
I’ve been there.
Year 1: The year of
lessons learned.
Some people just want services.
You’re offering creative services.
Quickly or quality? Both!
Some of our best work didn’t take a lot of time or planning.
Print is different. “In the print world, the word
publish really means something.”
Set people up to disappoint you and they will.Ping them but don’t start.
As soon as possible.
Don’t work back from whenever.
Sometimes you have to say no.
People will thank you for it.
But don’t be afraid to say yes.
It doesn’t always mean more work.
- Mobile website and mobile app- Campus-wide events calendar- 30-second TV spot- Social media aggregator and user group- Facebook splash page for fundraising- New view book and microsite (Ampersandbox)- Foursquare- W&M Experts web database- Simple web forms tool- 15 videos (with no dedicated video position)
Making it work: Results!
CASE STUDYW&M + mStoner = Ampersandbox
“View book, view book, space ship.”
An in-house creative team that blends capabilities
across mediums
The set up.• 7+ year-old viewbook• only parents look at print (?)• award-winning website• popular student blogs• an early adopter of social media• budget for one mailing only• a standout (i.e., a spaceship)
Everything is connected to
everything else.
http://mstnr.me/9uemQS
Warning.
Don’t let the 30-, 40-, or 50-somethings pick the concept.
But if there's a shared passion at William & Mary — and William & Mary is nothing if not a place of passions — it is a passion for books. Printed and digital. Ancient and modern. We consume books. They are our sustenance and solace.
In the first six months: 33,500 page views
9,500+ unique visitors1:55 average time on siteVisits from 64 countries
21% of traffic is Williamsburg
In the first six months: 33,500 page views
9,500+ unique visitors1:55 average time on siteVisits from 64 countries
21% of traffic is Williamsburg
My daughter Holly (high school junior) and my wife went on a campus visit Monday and brought back the new view book. It’s innovative and well done—very impressive compared to the materials we are seeing from other schools.
John Fleming ’82Vice President- MarketingfirstSTREET
Received the box of conjunctions yesterday. Must say I was happy my son had planned on applying before they arrived and now I'm even more pleased. I noticed he had left a few highlighted on the table this morning with notes about why he felt William & Mary would be a good fit for him.
Parent of a prospective student
• Intentional web/print/social integration• Technology informed by “the box” and social• No QR codes• Saved $$ - internal team developed site• Box and microsite complement wm.edu
Points of Success
Questions?#yourturn
Thanks.
Susan T. EvansSenior [email protected]@susantevansoffice: 757.565.1726mobile: 757.903.1120
http://clients.mstoner.com/UCDA2012/creativeservices/index.htm
