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Texas A&M University

 
Building Opportunity Through Entrepreneurship at Texas A&M University
 Leveraging a rebrand to promote the new McFerrin Center for Entrepreneurship.



Challenge
How might we help the McFerrin Center for Entrepreneurship become a global leader in multidisciplinary and experiential entrepreneurship education?

Outcome
Develop a strategic marketing plan that communicates benefits and success stories from the McFerrin Center.

Role
Account Manager



In 2017, Mays Business School’s Center for New Ventures and Entrepreneurship (CNVE) was renamed to commemorate long-time University benefactor Artie McFerrin, who bequeathed $10M to advance the center’s work as an international leader in entrepreneurial education. The new McFerrin Center for Entrepreneurship sought to leverage the rename as a growth opportunity. They reached out to our team for support in developing a strategic marketing plan.

Using Human Centered Design principals, we hosted a series of rapid Discovery Workshops with key University stakeholders. Our goal during these Workshops was to understand core competencies, brand perception, growth goals, and available resources. In addition, we reviewed demographic and psychographic data to better understand our audience, which was comprised of students, alumni, and faculty.



Using insights from our Discovery phase we determined that an awareness campaign was the best way to inform people of and inspire engagement with the McFerrin Center.

Our campaign goals were:
  • Increase participation in offerings and initiatives.
  • Increase diversity of people and ideas that engage with the McFerrin Center.
  • Support the McFerrin Center’s 5-year goal of becoming a globally-recognized university of choice for entrepreneurially minded individuals of all ages.

Our team came together and developed a 3-month strategic marketing plan that would roll out on campus pre-and post-winter break. The campaign would:

  • leverage the popularity of existing entrepreneurial programs.
  • become visible in physical spaces across campus.
  • create student and faculty advocates in various departments within the University.

We developed a messaging strategy to complement the campaign with key themes and specific channel application direction. We also mapped out a production plan to develop creative assets and roll out the campaign campus-wide.
Mark