CAMPAIGN EXAMPLES

Texas hopes to prepare and enroll an additional 300,000 students for college by 2015. That is on top of an already projected enrollment increase of 200,000. While the campaign continues to grow and evolve, this strategic plan provides a window into the campaign leaders’ thinking in 2003.

The Florida “truth” campaign was not about college access. But it was aimed at many of the same young people that college access campaigns hope to reach, and it is one of the most creative and effective documented social marketing efforts to date. In addition to catchy billboards, the campaign engaged youth in actions that gained media attention and helped to make anti-smoking advocacy “cool,” undermining the coolness factor of cigarettes. The story of how the campaign was developed is well worth reading. It appears on the website of the Social Marketing Institute, which also features other success stories.

In 2000, leaders in Kentucky decided to try to address the state’s low level of college enrollment and attainment. But they had a problem. Many adults did not even have a high school diploma or GED. “College” seemed unobtainable to them. So the state’s overarching campaign simply encouraged citizens to “Go Higher,” while efforts in 16 local areas targeted more specific audiences. This case study describes the campaign’s development and includes a helpful list of lessons learned from the effort. It was prepared by James L. Applegate, Vice President for Academic Affairs at the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education.

Indiana proved that increasing college participation doesn’t require an expensive media campaign. A combination of efforts helped move Indiana from 40th to 17th place among the 50 states in terms of college participation. The strategies included “branding” a college-oriented high school curriculum, launching a scholarship program targeted to low-income communities, and creating an innovative college/career counseling and information system. This overview was prepared by Cheryl Orr of the Indiana Commission for Higher Education.

The 1990s produced significant changes in North Carolina's economic outlook which galvanized an effort to improve the educational attainment of its residents. Historically known for its manufacturing-based economy, North Carolina's financial well being had not required a majority of its workforce to be highly educated. More recently, however, the loss of jobs in the textile, tobacco, and furniture industries threatened North Carolina's economic stability and future.

In order to move the state toward a more knowledge-based economy and better educated workforce, North Carolina wanted to increase access to higher education for its residents. To address this need, its education leaders and policy-makers began to promote a single, unified approach to increase the college-going rate in the state: the use of a web portal to provide information, resources, and tools to help students and parents prepare, plan, apply, and pay for college.

This white paper, written by Robert C. Kanoy and T. Joseph Watts of the University of North Carolina, with a preface by Liz Dietz of the XAP Corporation, examines the development of North Carolina's web portal, its integration with other systems and resources within the state, and its success to date.