uwsa marketing strategy report

7/29/2019 UWSA Marketing Strategy Report

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A TACTICAL

MARKETING STRATEGY FOR

UNIVERSITY OF WINDSOR STUDENTS

ALLIANCE

Changethe

spokesnotthew

heel


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Contents

Foreword

01 The UWSA tactical marketing strategy- introduction- whats in a title?- objectives

02 UWSA branding adjustments- improve online presence- unif ied branding

03 Improving your awareness & visibility- event management & promotion

04 Future communication campaigns- focus on first year students- blue out!- voting & elections

05 Organisational strategy recommendations- hiring & recruitment practices- new marketing coordinator- graphics standard manual development

- promotions team- UWSA presence

- what the budget?

06 Summary - measuring success

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Foreword

For the future, the UWSAs marketing, needs to expand

always, in all ways.

Dear Colleague,

Welcome to OutBRANDish ConsultingGroups first UWSA marketing strategy.Addressing areas such as firm strategy and

operations, idea generation, due diligenceand future resource acquisition. Combiningwold-class capabilities with dynamicmarketing expertise, our unique marketingstrategies deliver customized insights to theUWSA.

In the following pages, you will find severalintegrated topics that describe what ishappening today at the University ofWindsor as it pertains to the UWSAsoperations, with a particular focus onawareness. We begin with a brief change in

the way information must be disseminatedfrom the UWSA in the future if it hopes toachieve maximum effectiveness for itsefforts, we examine what needs to betweaked in the current marketing direction.From there, we quickly shift to assess ourrecommendations for future campaigns thatachieve results in the categories the UWSAvalues. We touch on opportunities the UWSAhas available presently and the headwindsthe UWSA will encounter in the next 12months and beyond. We make no claims to

be seers; our crystal ball is nearly as cloudyas yours in many respects. We do bring thefacts to the table in classic OutBRANDishfashion and integrate them with ourquadrigeminal years of experience working

in the business and marketing space tocharacterize the environment all firms mustnavigate - not just to survive, but to thrive.

We conclude by offering some insights intotaking the strategy into the future andmeasuring its success. Its often said whereyou stand depends upon where you sit. Ifnothing else, the processes, and rules of thepast may no longer apply to building asuccessful student alliance for the future.

Through a co-ordinated effort, we can work

together to market the UWSA and make themost of its opportunities - wherever theyare!

Tyler F. ComptonAssociate, OutBRANDishConsulting Group

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UWSA Tactical Marketing Strategy 2012 | OutBRANDish Consulting Group4


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01Its about awareness, students need to

know who we are and what we do.

Andre Capaldi President, UWSA

UWSA Tactical Marketing Strategy 2012 | OutBRANDish Consulting Group 5


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The University of Windsor Students Alliance

tactical marketing strategy

Introduction

The UWSA strategic planning report 2008,acknowledged a need for a clear anddefendable vision and identify areas of strategicpriority. We have developed a tacticalmarketing strategy to promote the UWSAsstrengths.

The Fact that this marketing strategy islaunched against the backdrop of one of themore controversial issues the UWSA has dealt

with three times in 20 years; makes it all themore relevant. The U-Pass bus referendum wasintended to provide each University of Windsorstudent with access to the Windsor Transitsystem. However due to severalmiscommunications and an overall apathy bythe commuter students estimated to consist ofbetween 50-60% of the University of Windsorpopulation and a lack of appreciation for theeconomics of scale at hand to make the price ofthe pass competitive with the majority ofCanadian Universities with the U-Pass alreadyin place. The referendum failed by a largemargin. OutBRANDish believes in the U-Passand sees a future with the University ofWindsor but would adjust tactics if presentedthe campaign from conception to execution.

This marketing strategy sets out a cleardirection for the UWSA to take in its admittedpreviously fruitless efforts to increaseawareness, student knowledge and participationin the UWSAs initiatives.

Whats in a title?

Change the spokes not the wheel is areference to the proclivity of incomingexecutives to reinvent the wheel as it were,every term and impart their own strategies, andinitiatives instead of continuing existingstrategies and adjusting to fit the vision anddirection of a new organisation.



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Objectives

OutBRANDish Consulting has recognized thatthe main aim of this strategy is to get all of thekey stakeholders in UWSA to speak with asingle compelling voice across campus. Thiswill help position the UWSA where it needs tobe as the representatives of an appreciative andknowledgable student body. To meet this visionit is imperative the UWSA focus on improving

student awareness about the alliance including;what services they provide to the student body.We also realize that the UWSA could benefitwith an increase in student involvement for thedifferent events that they execute. Most of thestudent body does not know or fully understandwhat the UWSA stands for. The UWSAsstruggle to increase student involvement withevents is based on the lack of knowledgestudents have about the alliance and the littleeffort spent to market the events. Improving thestudent body awareness for the UWSA is acritical objective to consider.

As a consulting group, we came up withvarious goals and objectives that fall into threekey targets we wished to accomplish whileworking for the UWSA.

The three key targets that underpin these aims:

Adjust and reposition UWSA branding toincrease awareness and effectiveness offuture information dissemination.

Improve the UWSAs existing initiativesand campaigns

Create several lucrative future campaignsthat leverage the UWSAs key strengths.

From these three broader targets, we haveoutlined and discussed five important goals andobjectives for the UWSA including:

improving their online presence

creating a unified brand

focusing on first year students

how to manage and promote events

how to increase awareness for electionsand increase voter turnout.

The main objective of these recommendationsare to increase visibility across campus, whileincreasing knowledge about what the alliancedoes and how to better represent and promotethe services and benefits that the UWSAprovides to students.



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02Every advertisement should be thought of as acontribution to the complex symbol which is thebrand image.

David Ogilvy Author; Confessions of an

Advertising man



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UWSA branding adjustments

Improving online presence

The first recommendation for the UWSA thatwe would like to see executed in the futurewould be to improve the online presence. TheUWSA should take action to become the firstand only advertisement to be featured on theUniversitys WI-FI login page, this WI-FI loginis a stark blank page that would be a primelocation for UWSA advertisements. Advertisingon this page would be a great way to render

student traffic to the UWSA website. Thisalso would create a constant visualcue and reminder to students aboutthe UWSA. The predominantopportunity that ispresented by placing theUWSAs advertisements,and updates every timeany individual logs intothe WI-FI. As aninadvertent value add;the site as it exists todayhas a 10 second waiting

period before forwarding the user totheir destination home page, they maychoose to skip this, but the conscious effortto do so either imprints the UWSA in theircognitive recall or plants it in theirsubconscious for easier retrieval at a later date,thus creating greater awareness on campus.

Another way to increase awareness is byincreasing social media communications. Bycontinuously updating the Facebook page, theUWSA can keep students informed aboutupcoming events and send out reminders abouttheir services. Also by using social media, theUWSA can discuss their background and how

they became an alliance which will get studentsthinking about the capabilities the UWSA has.To further increase the arsenal of social mediamediums to better reach students the UWSAshould utilize their Twitter account. By tweetingoften, the UWSA will intrigue students to followthem and be increasingly involved in the eventsand services offered by the UWSA. When itcomes to the UWSAs website, OutBRANDishhas done a brief audit and discovered thaturgent action should be taken ensure that allthe links work properly and should providelinks that redirect them to their Facebook page

and Twitter page. After setting up all thelinks on the page, they need to ensure

that they all work properly, hence,when students click onthe links they willredirect them to the link

indicated.

Unified branding

In past years the UWSA hasstruggled to represent

themselves as a unified brand.This may have caused confusion among

many students on campus, thus creating aunified brand among all mediums will create astrong recognizable image. The UWSA hasalready realized this issue and has alreadystarted working to fix it. This is apparentthrough their rebranding efforts in 2008 thatreconfigured and updated the UWSAs logo.OutBRANDish Consulting has realized that eventhough the UWSA is working on this problem,we still have some ideas that would beadvisable to consider. By creating a consistent

logo and aggressively branding it, students willbe able to better recognize the UWSA. Theaggressive branding with a consistent logo for



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all sponsored events will also help withrecognition of all events performed by theUWSA. This branding should also be consistentwith the services they offer. Our consultantsbelieve that the UWSA needs to clarify titlesand decrease acronyms forexecutive position titles and campus events.Confusion is increased when it comes tocouncil elections when acronyms are used forcertain positions, as well as; students areunaware of what specific positions actuallymanage and perform. Often this confusion leadsto decreased student enthusiasm, creating a

deficiency in voting. It would be advisable tohave this phenomenon communicatedthroughout the alliance and make it aware tocandidates who are campaigning.

Another suggestion is tohave the UWSA createsigns that can be placedall over campus on apermanent basis. Notonly would the signscreate a more colourful

campus environment,but also create studentpride and belonging.These permanentUWSA insigniasshould be placedboth outside andinside to allow forgreater exposure.The UWSA shouldlook at placingbanners in a fewbuildings across

campus ifplausible. Byenhancing the

signs and banners throughout campus, it wouldcreate a constant reminder to students aboutthe UWSA, this allows for students to seemnemonically what services they provide andthe events the UWSA hosts or sponsors.

Our last suggestion with branding is for theUWSA to create more memorabilia with theirlogo a fixed to lavish onto students. This wouldhave to be reflexively worked into the budget,or have surplus funds allocated. Themerchandise can include anything fromclothing to school supplies, such as pens,

notebooks, sticky notes and rulers. Thememorabilia would be objects that arecommonly used during daily activities;consequently, students will be more exposed tothe UWSAs logo and would be more inclined toremember or learn about the alliance.



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Improving your awareness & visibility

Event management & promotion

One major concern with the UWSA events isthat it often appears that students are simplynot interested in the events and thus do notattend. It is advised that the UWSA talk withstudents outside the circle of those currentlyinvolved to see what event they would like tosee in the future, what they currently like anddo not like. This should be conducted, bothoffline and online, for a short period of time.

Client testimonials and event reviews arecritical for success no matter what the event is.On the UWSAs website instead of having thecomment box on the home screen asking Whatdo you care about? it should be changed toWhat events would you like to see, add oreliminate? Events can be advertised as heavilyas they want but if the target is not interestedin the event, then attendance will continue tobe lackluster. If students care about the event,attend it and enjoy it then a path is set forperennial attendance.

OutBRANDish Consulting conducted informalresearch with students regarding the best wayto advertise the UWSA and student events, aswell as the best way to communicate withstudents. An overwhelming amount of studentsagreed that the best way to advertise andcommunicate to them about events is throughsocial media, with a strong (95+%) affinity toFacebook. Currently, the UWSA is involved insocial media and promote their events viaFacebook; however they are only reaching alimited amount of students. The main way toincrease this outreach is to substantially

increase the Likes on the UWSA Facebookpage. Strategies to increase these Likes wereexplained earlier, and increasing Likes is the

centerpiece of this proposal. Once students haveLiked the UWSA on Facebook, eventadvertisements and information must be postedon a daily basis so that it appears on studentsnews feeds, in which they can comment, shareand get involved. An important note to anysocial media administrator; the sight of stale orirrelevant information can have the sameadverse affects to brand image as would anegative article.In addition to advertising events through theUWSA page, a Facebook event page needs to be

created for individual events, which can bedone quickly and easily. All the UWSArepresentatives need to be added asadministrators on the event page to enablethem to effortlessly invite their entire networkand can easily encourage others to attend theevent and spread the word about the upcomingevent. These event pages can also act as anactive information page and provide updates inreal time to attendees or invited members.These event pages will also permit the UWSA todirectly inbox invitees. Also, attendees must be

encouraged to engage with the event and shareit to their friends. This can be done byencouraging them to write on the event pageswall, share the event and talk about the eventwith their network. Thus, the event will appearon a wider range of individuals walls, whowere not originally invited, so they can becomeinformed on the event and possibly attend. Theculmination of these efforts is then neatlydisplayed in a measurable track of performance.The problem then lies with how to create buzzfor your event on Facebook.

Tips to create buzz for an event on Facebookinclude:



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Ensure to reply to any posts on the eventpage and respond to RSVPs wheneverapplicable,

Periodically comment on your own wallabout the event to reduce the possibilityof information becoming stagnant,

Upload photos/videos to give an avenuefor more buzz through photo/videocomments, shares and Likes,

Make sure to continuously send out

invites, and provide a clear gateway tocurrent attendees; personal messages/inboxes,

The constant need to send out reminders,especially in the last few days leading upto the event,

Event buzz can be paired with the@uwsawindsor Twitter account bytweeting about events, there is an optionavailable to users of both to link them;

thus posts on one are replicated on theother.

Furthermore, to further push the socialnetworking movement, the UWSA should createShare buttons on their website. InputtingLike and Share buttons on a webpage iscompletely free, and is encouraged by Facebookthemselves.

Facebook provides a description on how toinput these buttons on a webpage at thefollowing link: http://developers.facebook.com/

docs/reference/plugins/like/.

This is a simple mechanism that can greatly aidin advertising for events as well as informationand awareness broadcasting.

Although social media is a major part of eventpromotion, the UWSA should not focus solelyon the use of social networks to promote schoolevents. Below are some simplerecommendations on how to increase theeffectiveness of the already established eventpromotion techniques currently used by theUWSA.It is advised that attention be given to create

creative headlines and subject titles for theUWSA emails and for all poster ads. Especiallywith emails, a creative headline will entice thestudent to open the email rather than justskipping by it or deleting it, as this is often thecase with most students. In addition to creativeheadlines and subject titles, the incentive forattending the event should be emphasized toprovide insight on the benefit of attending tothe students deliberating whether or not toattend. To continue with the issue of emails, thesender should be UWSA itself, seeing the UWSA

name in the dispatchers name slot would createmore of an initiative for a student to read theemails. The proclivity for the president andexecutives to only serve for one term (one year)this can confuse students as to who is emailingthem, and thus, they will just delete the emailwithout hesitation.

When it comes to poster ads, efforts need to bedirected towards better poster placement ifpossible. The UWSA print ads need to beisolated from the clutter in order to catchstudents attention. We conducted a study with

a small sample group of students; we foundthat 98% of our focus group was unaware ofthe fliers and print ads that were out there for

http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like/http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like/http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like/http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like/http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like/http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like/http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like/http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like/


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the U-pass and for the AGM. They admittedthat when there are fliers that are clutteredtogether on popular cork boards that they justwalk by and give no attention to the posters orother ads. This should be a concern, especiallyconsidering the amount of the yearly UWSAbudget that is allocated towards printingexpenses. One possible solution would be tocreate spaces where only UWSA ads can bepresented, or to place the poster ads inunconventional places isolated from other non-related ads. Moreover, it would be advised toattempt to establish an arrangement to

encourage RAs to inform their students ofevents as they are impending, as well as serveas the key disseminator of all pertinent UWSAinitiatives to their students. To compliment this,it is advised that fliers be distributed inresidences and major areas for certain events ofsignificance.

When focusing on the AGM and how to betterincrease student attendance and participationwe recommend that the UWSA take extrameasurements to accommodate students wants

and needs. Everybody loves to enjoy food andbeverages at an event, thus, the UWSA shouldallot a certain amount of money for theseextended services. Another recommendation forthe Annual General Meeting is the time anddate of the event itself. Thursday evening from4-7pm is damaging to the total studentattendance. Often, students have already left thecampus area and have their minds set on theweekend due to the small amount of classes onFridays. Holding the meeting Tuesday, mid-week during the day is a much better time for agreater attendance of students and

involvement, this is a day when the studentsbrains are clear and ready for action.

With the product launch of the University ofWindsor mobile application on CampusTechnology Day May 17th the UWSA shouldwork closely with this mobile application. Whatwe advise the UWSA to do is ensure that eventswill be advertised and information about theevents be available through the application.Events should be set out in a calendar forstudent access within the application, andreminders activated via students mobiledevices.



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Future communication campaigns

Focus on first year students

Our next recommendation for the UWSA is tofocus on first year students to create anincrease in awareness. First year students arethe most accessible students in UWSAs targetand present the most inexpensive opportunity,especially for those living in campus residence.Distributing fliers and resources to first yearstudents will allow for immediate awarenessbuilding. In addition this will enable students to

look into the possibilities on campus and couldcreate school pride, whilst giving the sense of acomforting environment.

The UWSA should target first year students andtheir parents during Head Start studentorientation both during the May and Junesessions, as well as on residence move in day.During Head Start, the UWSA should givepresentations throughout the day; thesepresentations would give the UWSA anopportunity to educate students and promotethe alliance. Through talking to students and

parents at Head Start, the UWSA would beproviding significant information about thealliance to what is for most their problemsolving designate, it is in this vein we assert ifthe student fails to remember the UWSAsservices the parents may. The Head Startpromotions would also build awareness andgive future students material to consider forfuture endeavors. Building awareness early onin a students mind is essential since it instillsthe UWSAs presence in ones mind for laterpotential relations.

After having already given a presentationduring Head Start, the UWSA should look atheavily promoting themselves during move-in

day at residences across campus. The UWSAshould have booths set up with representativesas well as useful memorabilia to give away inindividual freshman welcome packs. Theserepresentatives would be able to provideinformation to parents and students about theirservices and events offered each year, as well asanswering any questions that the students orparents may have. During the school year,parents are going to be the ones who are likelyto remember what influence the UWSA provides

to help the students, thus giving them theinformation directly will be of significantadvantage for the UWSAs future development.

Similar to Head Start, on move in day theUWSA should have a few booths set up in hightraffic areas across campus. Such areas include;the St. Denis Centre, CAW Student Centre andToldo Health Education Centre. The main boothshould be set up just outside of the Bookstore,since most students will look to purchase theirtextbooks, school apparel and school supplies.This is a great location for traffic. The UWSA

should look at keeping the booth at thebookstore periodically through Frosh Weeksince all students will need to buy their books



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within the first few weeks of school. By havingthe booth at the Bookstore, the UWSA can talkabout their services to new students as well asyear twos and up. These booths will help theUWSA refresh more senior students on theirservices. On top of having representatives atcampus residences and the Bookstore, theUWSA should look at getting RAs and WRICrepresentatives involved with them, so they canalso advocate for the UWSA. RAs help firstyear students immensely, so having them moreinvolved with the UWSA would be an excellentasset in grossing more student involvement in

events.

Blue Out!

When evaluating the school spirit at otherOntario Universities, OutBRANDish finds thatamong other things the evidence of their schoolspirit is in their attire. OutBRANDish proposesthe UWSA provide all incoming students withan article of clothing in the University ofWindsor colours and branded with the UWSAlogo as well as an encouraging Like buttonadorned on the rear; this satisfies three valuabletargets the UWSA is aiming towards, schoolspirit, awareness and recognition, andpositively driving social media membership.The UWSA already provides apparel free ofcharge to students during welcome week forevents like Shinerama. The UWSA can eitherreallocate those funds to this initiative or divertsome of the $20,000 surplus that is notuncommon at fiscal year end.

Voting & Elections

Winter semester of every year is the time for anew set of students to be nominated, run andbe elected into a specified UWSA executive

positions. The process of nominations andelections are a stressful few weeks for someindividuals, they want to have their voice heardand make a difference. To make this dream areality the student body must vote for whomthey deem worthy or fit to be elected into eachcontested position. In past years, the UWSAtotal student body voting has been varyinglevels of extreme lows in proportion to the sizeof the University of Windsor. 2012 voting hadreached an all-time high this year, and much ofthat was attributed to OutBRANDishConsultings advertising efforts. This disproved

any arguable effectiveness of current or pastmethods.

The UWSA would find it in their best interest tocreate a greater awareness on campus of theelections and voting process, as well as whatone can do to make a difference. Thus, creatingmore awareness about the elections along withmaking the process more streamlined andconvenient should be the UWSAs primaryconcern. There are reasons to believe thatOutBRANDish Consulting can create a greater

want for the student body to vote for nomineesby marketing the campaign with more ferocityand offering updated convenient ways to voteand discover nominee information.Within the following we will discuss someactions that should be taken into considerationin order to help create habitual voters. The firstmain issue is awareness on campus when itcomes to elections. Many methods of reachingstudents havent been working as intended. Forexample, by holding student focus groups wewere able to identify that while campaignposters have made some students aware of

elections, it does not prompt positive action forthem to vote. Also, an overwhelming amount ofstudents suggested that the voting campaigningprocess be redesigned as they cannot seethrough the clutter and identify specific



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candidates. The first main attribute that wewould like to see implemented would be tohave a page on the UWSA website, as well asthe voting webpage, provide job description foreach council position. Currently students areunaware of what each position entails becausethere is very little information externallyprovided regarding positional functions. Also, itis advised to avoid the use of a lot of acronymsto decrease confusion as students will knowwhat each position entitles. This would allowfor the majority of the student body to be ableto access the information as well as incline

them to potentially run themselves.

Furthermore, on the UWSA website, Facebookpage, and on the voting webpage, individualcandidate platforms should be summarized andpresented. This can be done through creatingshort standardized videos of each candidatepresenting their platform. These videos can beuploaded on Facebook and be shared bythousands of students. If the videos arestandardized this will eliminate bias, as oftenstudents base voting on perceptual features of

posters and other signage, not based on specificpositions and platforms. These testimonieswould include the nominees intention for therole they are running for, as well as anyspeeches that they would like the students tohear, this would allow for the nominees toexpress themselves and give each candidate afair chance against opponents. Once the videosare recorded and posted online, each nomineeshould also do a write up of their thoughts,posted beside their video. This will allow forstudents to download the word document to seethe candidates personalized summary page.

Creating these candidate videos as well as asummary page of each will allow for thestudent body to be more involved which willcreate a greater need to take part in voting andelective actions.

Moreover, it is advised that on the onlinevoting webpage short summaries should beprovided that outline the basic platforms ofeach candidate. This will allow a student tomake an informed vote even in unfamiliarcircumstances. These summaries should also beprovided at the on campus polling stations, toinform those not voting online.

The next step in the marketing campaign wouldbe to schedule class presentations to informstudents about the upcoming elections andvoting possibilities. During these presentations

the UWSA representatives should do a quickrun-through of where and how to vote fornominees. Online or offline, students shouldknow what their resources are and the methodsin which they can express themselves.

With the addition of these new innovativeelection ideas, the UWSA should focus andadvertise the complete convenience of votingand the ability to vote online in the comforts ofyour own home. With past voting experiences,the University had to set up multiple locations

where students could go to vote. The votingturnout has steadily increased since 2005, thispast year there was a huge jump in studentvoters due to increased involvement to marketthe elections and create a greater awareness. Amain aspect of this would be through socialmedia. If these efforts were to be continuouslyimitated in years to come, the UWSA couldhave a great spike in their voter turnout.

The final phase to implement when creatinggreater awareness for the elections is to craftmore visuals around campus. By printing and

posting election posters in faculty buildingsacross campus. Students need to see postersthat are eye catching and create a want to votefor a particular candidate.



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Organisational strategy recommendations

After identifying the current condition of theUWSAs marketing efforts, some directionrecommendations regarding organisationalstructure and management to better assist inthe implementation of this strategy aresuggested verbatim.

Hiring & recruitment practices

If you wish to acquire the best talent it is illadvised to simply post the opportunity andhope the best applicants apply, you must

actively recruit the best into your ranks. Whenlooking to fill a position ask faculty membersof the relevant departments who they believethe best student for the position is, thenapproach them and encourage them to apply.

Incentivize new, current, and future employeeswith some form compensation. Prior to thisyear UWSA executives received a foodallowance at the Basement pub. OutBRANDishrecommends the UWSA replace the now defunctincentive with one of equal or greater value. Ifa company no matter the mission or not-for-profit intentions begin cut compensation theresult will with little variance be; the bestcandidates and employees transitioning topositions elsewhere, where their expertise isrecognized in conventional terms, and theremaining pool of applicants will be of a caliberless than the industry standard, never more.

New marketing coordinator

The first of the general strategies is the creationand implementation of a dedicated marketingcoordinator position. The currentcommunication and social media functions are

currently carried out by the CommunicationsCoordinator. In the case that the need for aseparate position is unnecessary, modificationsto the job description should include that thecandidate possess a strong working knowledgeof major forms of social media and haveproven working application of marketingstrategies. In the call for applications ofqualified candidates it is recommended that thenotice be forwarded to the Odette School ofBusiness. It is the expectation that students whohave taken marketing classes or have hadexperience in marketing be encouraged to

submit their name to the candidate pool. Theduties of this position should include theimplementation of unified branding of allUWSA internal and external communications,implementing the graphics standard manual,coordinate and hire the promotions team, andto ensure that UWSA is visible on campus.Several of these duties will be discussed as aseparate recommendation.

Graphics standard manual

developmentTo adhere to a consistent brand image for theUWSA on all advertisements andcommunications, a recommendation is to createand follow a graphics standard manual. Themanual is to outline the proper and improperuses of the UWSA brand, the logo, and itsderivative forms. The manual should alsoinclude the typeface to be used in officialcommunications and the imagery to be used indifferent forms of media. An example of agraphics standard manual that can be used as aguideline is the manual published by the



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University of Windsor, which can be found atwww.uwindsor.ca/brand.

Promotions team

In addition to elected student members andstaff promoting UWSA services and events, adedicated group of students should be recruitedto solely serve as a promotions and marketingteam. This team should consist of energeticstudents who have experience promoting eventsand able to talk to students comfortably. Anycampaign the UWSA holds should be executedthrough the outreach by this team andsupplemented by elected student members.

UWSA presence

To promote the existence of the UWSA,recommendations to increase the visibilityinclude including signage in the student centrecommons by way of a large vertical bannerwith the website URL and the location of theoffices. It is OutBRANDishs findings thatindicate as author Malcolm Gladwell concursthe golden box technique; insists that for anadvertisement to be successful it must not onlybe of relevance to the viewer but it must

provide them with direction - hours ofoperation and a simple located on the secondfloor corridor will spell the difference betweenwhere is that? and an increase flow ofincoming students to the UWSA offices.

UWSA executives and elected members shouldstrive to attend all UWSA sponsored events andrepresent the organisation at University ofWindsor sponsored events. To increase thepresence in the University of Windsorcommunity and the City of Windsor, pressconferences should be held for majorannouncements and campaigns such as theannual general meeting and the election resultsof the new executives.

What the budget?

OutBRANDishallocated the following funds toour completed initiatives:

Social networking was all free sweat

equityPrinting costs - $ 240 total

In terms of budgeting, we were assigned nodeterminant budget, but were advised by Andreto keep in mind it is a student run organizationwith limitations. As far as costs, OutBRANDishis fortunate that the majority of our advertisingwas via social media, which carries no costbeyond sweat equity. Thus, our costs werestrictly related to printing costs which onlytotaled $240.00.

Through our campaign we were able to createdefinite impact for little cost, well within theperceived budget.OutBRANDish has researched the costsassociated with our recommendations hereinand present them as follows:

Blueout Initiative Roughly $6000 per1000 t-shirts. Pre-existing vendorrelations may lessen our cost estimatePermanent signs dependent on existingpartnership with Superior Signs And More

Increase in advertising budget with 20%increase = $ 1136Social media efforts - FreeVoting videos and standardization - FreeUWSA memorabilia - $ 4040 for 2000notepads and 2000 pens with FestivalPromotions partnershipPresentations and UWSA booths Volunteer - FreeFacebook event pages - FreeFood for AGM - $ 200Student Council incentives reallocationof existing funds as well as an addition ofminimum $ 4000Wifi login page Strategic Partnershipdependent on negotiations with University

Total = $ 15, 376 (with only 1000 shirts and nomonetary value for permanent signage)

http://www.uwindsor.ca/brandhttp://www.uwindsor.ca/brand


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06When advertising 1 + 1 has to equal 15. The result

has to be greater than the sum of its parts. Vincent Georgie Assistant Professor,

Odette School of Business



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Summary - measuring success

It is obviously important to put mechanisms inplace to measure the success or otherwise of thenew strategy.

The main aim of the strategy is for the potentialand existing students to change anymisperceptions they have of the UWSA. Thiswill enhance the UWSAs reputation as thestudents advocate in any and all University ofWindsor related matters that may adverselyaffect them. Ultimately, it is hoped to bringabout an increase in Facebook Likes and bothvoter turnout and candidates in future

elections.

While it can prove extremely difficult to assessthe success of a perception-changing campaign,it has been proposed that the UWSA develop abaseline in relation to the new marketingmessages by undertaking independent,objective research with potential and currentstudent members.

To meaningfully measure the success of themarketing strategy, it will be important to

better understand the perceptions of thealliances constituents. This will be achievedthrough a series of independently-run, in-market consultations that score the UWSA onits ability to deliver on its mission statementto provide a baseline. It will then be repeated atyearly intervals during the life of the strategy,to gauge success of the marketing strategy inchanging the perceptions of potential andcurrent student members.

The efforts made by OutBRANDish both viaword-of-mouth and social media that

contributed to the formulation of the newstrategy provides a baseline against whichfuture changes can be gauged.

Key takeaways

If the UWSA aspires to achieve winningresults they need a clearly differentiatedstrategy of past administrations and afocused blueprint for delivering positiveand lasting impressions.

By way of clever advertising positioningand possible co-advertising partnershipswith the University of Windsor, there is a

substantial awareness opportunity to behad by occupying a previously barren butfrequented space by the majority of theUniversitys Wi-Fi users.

To limit confusion, especially duringelection time, limit acronyms.

Leverage the popularity of Facebook toyour advantage with strategic andmeaningful posts, it is used by nearly allbut posts need to be meaningful lest theyblend in, and become advertising noise.

Convert them promptly, if you buildbrand awareness early on in a studentsUniversity career and educate theirparents on your services, the prospectthey will forget diminishes.

Hire a marketing coordinator thatpossesses both knowledge of marketing,advertising and promotion and has agrasp of the key concepts of thephotoshop suite.



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Acknowledgment and thanks

OutBRANDish Consulting would like to thankall of the individuals and organisations whomade a contribution to the development of thisstrategy, whether by providing information,responding to surveys, providing personalinterviews or taking part in group workshops.

The input of the following was particularlyappreciated:

University of Windsor Students Alliance

University of Windsor

Odette School of Business

CAW Centre staff

Staples Business Depot

UWSA Executives

Odette Professor Vincent Georgie

As the delivery of the strategy progresses, thecontinued commitment of these and otherorganisations to advancing the cause of theUWSA will be crucial to our success.

Disclosures

OutBRANDish Consulting Group wascommissioned by the UWSA and the OdetteSchool of Business to develop a tacticalmarketing strategy. The majority of the studentsinterviewed by OutBRANDish Consulting were

provided and selected by OutBRANDishConsulting. The UWSA did not participate inthe interviews, and was not involved in the

analysis of the data, or development of thestrategies observations or conclusions.OutBRANDish Consulting provided this strategyand its materials to the UWSA without input ordirection received from the UWSA, andmaintained full control of the content of thestrategy, its analysis, and conclusions.

OutBRANDish Consulting makes no specificclaims for the potential financial, operational,or risk factors involved with managementdecisions taken by a specific organisation.

Please note that where the results of analysisare discussed in this publication, the results arebased on the application of logic and specificassumptions. These results are not intended tobe predictions of events or future outcomes andhave been provided solely for the readersconsiderations.

Key contacts in OutBRANDish

Consulting Group

Tyler Compton ([email protected])Elise Bolton ([email protected])Matt McGarva ([email protected])Melissa Thibeault ([email protected])Will Ma ([email protected])

Please direct questions and comments aboutthis report via email.



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hereas every effort has been made to ensure that the information given in this document is accurate,ither OutBRANDish Consulting Group or the Odette School of Business accept liability for any errors,

missions or misleading statements, and no warranty is given or responsibility accepted as to theanding of any individual, firm, company or other organisation mentioned.

e paper in this document is made from 50 per cent recycled waste pulp with 50 per cent pulp fromell-managed forests. This is a combination of Totally Chlorine Free and Elemental Chlorine Free.

bli h d A il 2012 b O BRANDi h C l i G

uwsa marketing strategy report

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