WashU OLIN

EMBA 40th CAMPAIGN

BRAND AWARENESS THROUGH NON-TRADITIONAL MEDIA

The WashU Olin Executive MBA program celebrated its 40th anniversary in 2023. To build excitement and engage with alumni, several events and touchpoints were organized throughout the year. This included 3-5 “quick-byte” sessions with in-person and virtual attendance options as well as a weekend celebration with multiple formal events, speaking engagements, and an off campus gala as the culminating event. Targeting EMBA alumni, faculty, staff and key stakeholders, the WashU Olin team wanted to build additional brand awareness in the St. Louis region and bring EMBA alumni together to network, engage and strengthen the community. The first key deliverable was to provide a strong brand identity for the anniversary celebration. G/L concepted and developed a dynamic logo mark that emphasized the milestone and bridged the connection between WashU Olin, St. Louis and its global network of alumni and industry leaders.In addition to the branded logo mark, G/L developed a brand anthem video, :30 video testimonials with key alumni, digital and social campaign creative, and interactive out-of-home placements including digital kiosks and animated airport boards.

In addition to the branded logo mark, G/L developed a brand anthem video, :30 video testimonials with key alumni, digital and social campaign creative, and interactive out-of-home placements including digital kiosks and animated airport boards.

THE CAMPAIGN WAS A RESOUNDING SUCCESS

Buzz and excitement was built around the anniversary for the prestigious EMBA program. Alumni and the community rallied around the milestone, celebrating WashU Olin’s roots in St. Louis and its connection through a global network of alumni leaders that have made an impact.

COMPANA

FLOCK PARTY FEED CAMPAIGN

TIME TO RUFFLE SOME FEATHERS

G/L helped with the development of the original brand architecture and presentations that lead to Flock Party having a presence on Tractor Supply Company shelves across the country. It was a blast for this brand to come full circle and work on a new seasonal promotion. This fun and edgy campaign focused on promoting Egg Maker Pellets & Crumbles. This playful concept reinforced a meme-able campaign theme and attention-grabbing creative with large, bold graphic treatments. By using mixed media with both real imagery and illustrations, this is a look that reinforces the preexisting creative style of the Flock Party brand, including fonts and general visual language, as well as expanding upon it.

Consumers loved the new campaign and its cheeky, fun execution made it heavily shared and provided sales support and visibility for the brand.

UNION PACIFIC

SAFETY CAMPAIGN

BROADCAST|DIGITAL

CHALLENGE

Raise awareness and educate the general public and community leaders on Union Pacific’s commitment to track safety in the Columbia River Basin area of Oregon. Most of the general public is unaware of the ongoing efforts/technology being utilized to keep tracks safe.

SOLUTION

This multi-media campaign included a mix of digital banner advertising and television. The creative uses real UP employees from the region telling their story and relaying how safety is ingrained in the culture and operations of the railroad. Utilizing the backdrop of the scenic Columbia River basin where UP tracks run, we captured the natural beauty of the region and reminded the public that UP is doing what it takes to keep this special place safe.

RESULTS

Our 12-week integrated campaign (including television/cable and programmatic digital advertising) generated 20% recall among our television target audience while nearly 1 in 10 recall online advertising.

WashU Olin

Leadership Perspectives

DIGITAL|VIDEO

overview

WashU Olin is one of the premier, top-ranked business schools in the world. As with many organizations in 2020, WashU Olin had to take a look at their Leadership Perspectives event operating procedures and determine the best and safest approach for their intended audiences- potential MBA students and candidates. The Leadership Perspectives events are speaking engagements focused on a variety of leadership-oriented topics, hosted by some of the best and brightest leaders in the world.

challenge

In order to accommodate a new approach, the Leadership Perspectives events needed to go virtual. While in-person events offered a great way for speakers to interact with attendees, the virtual approach opened an entirely new channel to reach and engage with prospective students/attendees by catering relevant content directly to them.

solution

Requiring a new way to market and promote the Leadership Perspectives event, G/L developed and created a series of YouTube video campaigns for each unique virtual speaking engagement. Utilizing behavioral and content targeting parameters, our YouTube video campaigns engaged with prospective MBA students with Google’s unique Tease, Amplify & Echo messaging approach, enabling us to tell a longer story in shorter pieces and reach only the most interested viewers. G/L concepted, developed scripts and created a series of :06 bumpers, :15 spots, :30 spots and long-format spots (1-2 minutes). All four campaigns were exceptionally effective and not only fostered a large attendance, but ultimately developed numerous leads for prospective MBA candidates. The highly targeted YouTube campaigns generated a 12.23% conversion to registration rate, ultimately accounting for 21% of the total number of attendees at the Leadership Perspectives speaking engagements.

results

All three campaigns (the fourth and final is in progress) have been highly effective and not only fostered a large attendance, but ultimately developed numerous leads for prospective MBA candidates.

Wash U Olin

BROOKINGS COMMISSION

DIGITAL|EVENT|VIDEO

Challenge

WashU Olin, Brookings Institution and the Bellwether Foundation came together to provide recommendations to bridge the startup funding gap for women and underrepresented minorities. In 2021, only 2% of venture capital money went to female founders and Black/African American entrepreneurs only received about 1.4%.

The WashU Brookings Commission enlisted the help of G/L to promote this live, virtual, and in-person event, which is phase two of a three-phase initiative, to targeted audiences. Audiences included Washington, DC’s media, Business Journal, and WashU alumni and specific key stakeholders.

Solution

G/L created an engaging message and visual concept around the event to promote event interest and registration as well as creative featuring intriguing imagery with custom event iconography. This campaign compelled audiences to discover more about this inequity and attend the event, providing a consistent and thought-provoking message across a variety of platforms including, social, digital as well as YouTube.

WU Olin Brookings Commission Event Details

RESULTS

The event was a huge success and exceeded attendance goals. The creative executions were well-received by all the stakeholders involved in the Brookings Commission and supported the effort to advance policies that will decrease the funding gap for women and underrepresented minorities, providing opportunities for a more diverse business landscape.

G/L was excited to be a part of phase two of this strategically important initiative to help solve real-world challenges through creativity, innovative business strategies and shifts in policy. We look forward to tackling phase three of this initiative next year.

Wash U Olin & Brookings Institution Digital Ads

Ranken Enrollment Campaign

DIGITAL|SOCIAL

Challenge

Ranken Technical College approached Geile/Leon to support its Spring 2023 enrollment period by strategizing and managing a paid social media effort to promote their Bachelor of Science in Applied Management program, active duty military and veteran recruitment, and a new location in Troy, MO. The goals were to not only increase awareness, but also to generate leads and online conversions through application submissions and information inquiries. The campaigns would run for a 12-week period, beginning in November 2022 and ending in February 2023.

Solution

G/L developed a paid social media strategy for Facebook and Instagram with two phases: awareness and conversion. During the awareness phase, we utilized broad audience targeting to reach a large pool of potential enrollment prospects. Interested users visited different website pages for more information about each specific initiative. Due to our relatively short campaign time frame, we ran this phase for eight weeks to maximize exposure for each audience before moving them through the funnel towards conversion.

During the conversion phase, we retargeted users who had previously clicked the awareness ads. To accelerate lead generation during this phase’s two-week window, we implemented Lead Form Ads so users could fill out simple, on-platform questionnaires that pre-qualified them as enrollment leads.

RESULTS

During the awareness phase, the three campaigns combined reached half a million targeted users and achieved an overall click-through rate of 0.96%, exceeding the industry’s 0.47-0.73% benchmark. During the conversion phase, the campaigns generated an overall conversion rate of 20.8% (exceeding the industry’s 11-14% benchmark) and an average of nearly 10 Lead Form Ad submissions per day. Because the Lead Form Ads were connected to Ranken’s CRM, these form submissions were automatically funneled to Ranken so they can be utilized for continued follow-up and monitoring into the future.

Grant’s Farm

HOLIDAY LIGHTS CAMPAIGN

DIGITAL|SOCIAL

Challenge

Grant’s Farm hosted its second annual Holiday Lights Drive-Thru event from November 2021 through January 2022. This holiday lights display is an evening event open to the public and offers the chance to experience one of St. Louis’ beloved attractions, all a glow in holiday cheer. In 2021, Grant’s Farm added an exciting new addition to the Holiday Lights event: the Busch Family Estate House—this presented a unique experience that has never before been offered to guests of Grant’s Farm.

Grant’s Farm engaged Geile/Leon to develop a marketing and media strategy in support of Holiday Lights that would address brand and operational objectives including expanded awareness of the event amongst targeted audiences, promotion of the new event offerings (earlier start date, new decor, increased capacity, dynamic pricing, bundle offers, and the addition of the Busch Family Estate House), continued communication around the Busch Family Ownership Group’s commitment to sharing their family home, and increased ticket sales/reservations compared to the 2020 event.

Solution

Geile/Leon created an integrated marketing campaign targeted locally within the St. Louis DMA. The campaign incorporated the use of public relations to generate earned media around the event, email marketing to the existing guest database, paid and organic social media on Facebook and Instagram to drive online bookings, and broadcast radio advertising to generated heightened awareness leading up to the launch of the event.

Geile/Leon developed the content, messaging, and creative assets for each channel, which featured fun, holiday-themed visuals and messaging points that also integrated a style and tone that aligned with the overall Grant’s Farm brand. In addition, our team was responsible for campaign implementation and ongoing performance reporting throughout the Holiday Lights event.

RESULTS

The 2021 Grant’s Farm Holiday Lights event was a great success, achieving a 28% increase in attendance and revenue compared to the 2020 event. A guest survey incorporated into the booking process showed that the majority of ticket purchases were driven by Facebook—this channel alone generated nearly 30% of all reservations.

Lindenwood University

Digital Management

DIGITAL|SOCIAL

challenge

Lindenwood determined that the students most likely to choose Lindenwood were most strongly influenced by the opportunity to gain real-world experience. Lindenwood developed the “Real Experience. Real Success.” tagline and challenged G/L to bring the brand to life through a new viewbook. Additionally, with the digital space being the primary resource of research and decision-making for incoming students, Lindenwood University enlisted the help of G/L to develop and manage all of Lindenwood’s digital strategies, campaigns and initiatives.

solution

Geile/Leon concepted and designed creative executions and deployed a variety of digital campaigns and strategies to support system objectives across graduate, undergraduate and online programs. As the digital agency of record, we have recommended and utilized a variety of effective digital mediums through Google’s comprehensive and industry-leading ad network. Specific platforms include Paid Search, Retargeting, Display and YouTube. Additionally, working with the Lindenwood IT department we designed and executed an optimized landing page experience for their graduate program offerings.

results

Lindenwood University has entrusted Geile/Leon with management of their integrated digital strategy for the past five years. Our campaigns have been extremely productive, performing significantly better than industry/category benchmarks.

Work Tag: DIGITAL

BRAND AWARENESS THROUGH NON-TRADITIONAL MEDIA

In addition to the branded logo mark, G/L developed a brand anthem video, :30 video testimonials with key alumni, digital and social campaign creative, and interactive out-of-home placements including digital kiosks and animated airport boards.