GOSHEN, Ind — Goshen College has sought for approximately a year and a half to shine its light around the nation and world to attract new students. GC officials have done this through a focused marketing campaign that has included regional television advertisements during Super Bowl XLIV and the recently concluded Vancouver Winter Olympics.

“In 2008 we did some focus groups to find out what area students — in South Bend, Mishawaka, Elkhart, Goshen — knew about Goshen College, because we are a top-tier liberal arts college here in Goshen,” GC Vice President for Institutional Advancement Jim Caskey said. “What we found was that people were largely unaware that Goshen even had a college, people right in our own backyard. We realized the whole keeping a light under a bushel wasn’t going to cut it anymore in the venue of higher education.”

So the school launched an expansive marketing effort. The makeover included a redesign of its Web site, radio ads recorded and placed by Grassroots Media, mailers and television commercials filmed by Explore Media, an Elkhart-based company. The first commercial ran on local television station WNDU during the 2009 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

“Our purpose was to create awareness,” Caskey said. “So, the first ad was about highlighting who our alumni are, how they’re out there changing our world. Our second ad was about the students and what they’re doing. The third asked prospective students to join us, essentially a call to action.”

The emphasis behind the college’s current marketing push is “Healing the World Peace by Peace,” a concept that has also been spun off into its own Web site, PeacebyPeace.com. That statement, according to Caskey, stemmed from the college’s efforts to define explicitly what it stands for.

A series of three new commercials for the college feature senior business major Errick McCollum, senior business major Rocio Diaz and junior music major Ashley Walker reading letters they wrote to LeBron James, Michelle Obama and Peyton Manning. The commercial explains what the student respects about them, what their personal experience at Goshen College is like and ties in to the “Peace by Peace” motto.

A fourth commercial in the series brings all three students together in a statement of the school’s quality, supported by statistics shown in the background.



Paying off

According to Caskey, the school’s efforts have been paying off.

“A key is the stealth prospective students,” he said. “They don’t identify themselves to us but they’re driven to the Web site and call for more information or send in an application. We have more of those. More students have also arranged visits and used the online applications. In general I would say we’ve increased our regional applications.”

As for next year, he is unsure what the school’s plan is. Over the next several months, GC’s integrated marketing committee will discuss how its funds will be used moving forward.

“I think we still could get some bounce from these TV ads in different markets,” Caskey said. “It’s possible they may show up in different markets where either we want to do better or we’re already recruiting and we want to add this piece to it.”



On campus

The commercials have been well received around campus. Students generally feel they are a good representation of Goshen College.

Charlotte Barnett, a junior, said that she saw the commercial during NBC’s Winter Olympics coverage.

“It’s kind of cool just to see the school on TV,” she said.

Barnett works in the school’s admissions department and said she encounters many prospective students who don’t know what GC has to offer. So, the commercial benefits high schoolers who may be trying to learn more about the campus.

“Even if it doesn’t result in immediate action,” Barnett said, “people will recognize the name, which is always good.”

First year student Alicia Danner agreed that the commercial turned out well and it was a little surreal to see familiar faces on television during the Super Bowl.

Danner said that having several students talk about their college experiences shows a wide range of possibilities that the college can provide.

“Everyone has different experiences here,” she said, “and a different story to tell.”



Staff writer Justin Cripe contributed to this article.