The Challenge
Graduate school can be a daunting proposition for many people. How will I pay for it? Will I be able to fit it into my life? Will the challenge be worth it in the end?
To support people on the cusp of applying to graduate school, Northeastern University’s enrollment team came up with the idea for a large-scale direct mail campaign, specifically targeting people who had started, but not yet finished, their applications. I was brought in to lead the conceptualization and design of this four-part mailing.
The Field Guide
After much mood boarding and research, my team pitched the idea of “The Grad School Field Guide.” The themes of the campaign revolved around exploration, hard-fought achievement, and that feeling of scaling your own personal mountain, with Northeastern providing you all the tools to navigate your way on the journey.
I developed a system of imagery and illustrations that harkened to classic outdoor adventure imagery; browncraft paper textures, maps and elevation charts, and half-tone icons and photography.
The Campaign
The four mailings consisted of postcard teasers with small gifts like water bottle stickers and culminated in a large gift box. Inside, we gave recipients school essentials like a Moleskine notebook, custom-designed productivity cards, and the Field Guide booklet to help them along the next steps of their grad school adventure.
The campaign was an enormous success. An increase in applications and registrations was directly tracked against the population of the campaign. Additionally, the project broke records for our marketing team with an ROI of over 1000%.
Credits
Creative Director: Kris Knight
Art Direction, Design, Illustration: Tim Durning
Copy Writer: George O’Connor
Photography: Adam Glanzeman, Ruby Wallau
Completed while employed at Northeastern University.