 "Photo: Karl Henkel / The South End")
The man leading Wayne State’s “Aim Higher” advertising campaign can be found in his office with his feet on his desk, more than willing to hand anyone within arm’s reach a credit card-like “cheat sheet” of WSU statistics and attributes.
“As ambassadors to Wayne State, which I hope we all are, we talk about the elevator speech: What do you say when … someone says, ‘Oh, I got a junior in high school. Why should they go to Wayne State?’” Michael Wright, associate vice president of marketing and communications, said during a March 24 presentation to the WSU Board of Governors.
His goals for increasing the notoriety and reputation of Wayne State — and ultimately increasing enrollment and monetary grants and donations — drove the “Aim Higher” brand campaign, the first of its kind in recent memories, Wright said.
One priority was to raise the school’s visibility in “Tier 1” national media outlets — something Wright said was increasing at a “phenomenal rate.”
But locally, Wright said it was important to change the people’s perceptions.
“To do that, we call upon students and we call upon faculty …” to tell their stories, Wright said.
Beyond traditional TV spots and billboard ads, Wright and his staff are taking advantage of the Internet and social media, targeting younger audiences, while updating the overall appearance and experience online.
For example, a Wayne State-branded series called “One Minute Professor” features professors explaining everyday scientific questions, like the explosive result of dropping certain candy into diet cola.
“People that are in the seventh and eighth grade tend to really have an interest in (these videos),” said Carolyn Berry, director of strategic planning and marketing operations. “Our goal is find things they’re interacting with and find a connection with them, or we can bring our professors to them. We can introduce Wayne State.”
Unlike these infotainment-type ads, which were the idea of the WSU marketing team, Wright pointed to spontaneous, student-generated content as a way to promote the university. Specifically, Wright played a YouTube video created by several pre-med freshmen, led by premed freshmen Ridwan Alam and Bipin Sunkara, called “I wear a coat,” a parody of the Saturday Night Live online hip hop music video “I’m on a boat.”
“We’re setting up opportunities for students to tell their own stories” and to make a personal connection, Wright said.
Wayne State Marketing Professor Richard Beltramini said in order for any ad campaign to work, it requires proper legwork, which Wright accomplished.
“The way to evaluate any integrated marketing communications campaign is to first look at what it’s supposed to accomplish,” Beltramini wrote via e-mail. “(Wright) gathered faculty, staff, and most importantly students in a series of focus groups to discuss at length where Wayne State is and where we’d all like to see it grow.”
Recently, marketing for the upcoming Spring/Summer semester hit full throttle, with advertisements plastered all over campus. It showcases a small taste of the general overhaul taking place in the “Aim Higher” campaign.
“We look at the response to things like the spring/summer stuff, I think we’re up 469 students as of (March 30) based on the year before,” Wright said. “We see the data created in the last few years … and we’ve received a lot of anecdotal feedback.”
Using the information, a new campaign in the works will build off the groundwork paved the last two years, Wright said.
“Our goal is to make people think of Wayne State in a positive way,” he said.
Though he did not mention the marketing department’s budget, he said Wayne State operates “in the middle of the pack” compared to other competing institutions.
“There are other universities that pour a lot of money into marketing. This board and president have stepped up and provide more money toward marketing, because they recognize the importance of people understanding this university,” he said.
Beltramini said WSU is very fortunate to have Wright during Michigan’s recession.
“Given the very limited media budget available, I feel the campaign has performed amazingly well-particularly in a tight economy with most competing schools far out-spending us,” Beltramini wrote. “It’s important to note that Michael Wright brought us into the 21st century with a strong presence in social media as well, ‘fishing where the fish are’ as the media adage goes.”
Since moving from the automotive private sector to Wayne State more than two years ago, Wright wants to celebrate the overall package of the university rather than his own accomplishments. But it won’t hurt him to hear positive feedback from his employer.
“You’re worth every dime,” Tina Abbott, vice chair of the WSU Board of Governors, said of Wright.
Wright did not want to disclose his salary, but he said, “it was awfully nice of her to say that, wasn’t it?”
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