UNO came to Ervin & Smith with an image problem. Prospective students were not seeing the university as “the total college experience.” In response, Ervin & Smith recommended a more integrated experience, which is particularly important to women. Paying attention to women in the education market is critical, as they make up nearly 60% of undergraduate students nationwide. Mothers also play a vital role in the student's college decision, making the university's appeal to women even more paramount. Ervin & Smith developed a strategy that would appeal to the preferences of female students and moms without alienating male students. The result was the Maverick Mojo/BeAMav campaign to reinvent UNO’s image as a place where students could come and have a full, traditional college experience on their own terms. Ervin & Smith redesigned the BeAMav.com recruitment site to reinforce this messaging in a more graphic,
interactive format that would allow students to
create their own UNO story.
In the first year alone, Ervin & Smith’s marketing
efforts increased applications for admissions by
42.39% compared to the previous year. As a result of the refreshed image campaign, overall enrollment for the school year increased by 2.6%. Now that the new BeAMav.com recruitment site has launched, UNO has already seen a 3% increase in applications over the previous year.