Valerie Otten
Senior Vice Chancellor for University Advancement

We don’t bill hourly.
Our fees are based on flat project costs, ensuring that no matter how many hours we spend on making the best possible work, it’s not a penny more than we agreed upon at the outset.

100% Transparent and Accountable.
At the beginning of every engagement, we sign a transparency clause that requires us to share with you any changes to our team, finances, or our business, before those changes could potentially impact yours. We also sign an agreement that prioritizes the metrics you value most, meaning you’re always in control of who is doing the work, and how it’s getting done.

Good. Together.
We believe in doing good within our community as well as within yours. As part of each engagement, we ask our clients to select a non-profit organization within their own community, one that could benefit from our services. We then offer our services to them pro bono. Why? Because it’s our belief that giving back moves us all forward, together.

Drexel University developed a $750M capital campaign that would support students financially, create new approaches to teaching and learning, expand research capabilities, and harness a more profound social impact. The campaign, titled The Future is the Place We Make, is now in its third year and has made significant headway in its fundraising efforts. As the campaign entered its final stretch, Drexel called on heavy to help build energy and make one last push for contributions with an anthemic video that matched the gravity of Drexel’s impact.

Drexel’s existing campaign had proven its success, but it needed a fresh approach that exemplified the human and emotional side of Drexel’s mission. We developed a storyline to establish this new perspective while complementing Drexel’s existing brand. During production, heavy worked to capture a number of scenes from across campus, with distinctive footage that brought to life all the different ways the Drexel community is making the future.

The heavy team started by looking back to the heart of the campaign and used its tagline, The Future is the Place We Make, as an anchor point. Our mission was to create a hype video that proved that this statement was more than just a tagline. For Drexel students, faculty, and community members it was the guiding principle behind every action they take. We realized that Drexel’s goals for the future aren’t aspirational, and we developed a video that showcased precisely how Drexel was in fact, making the future. Through careful consideration of brand and voice, including the inclusion of campaign design elements, we were able to craft a story that was representative of the expansive fields of study, diverse interest areas, and exceptional talent dedicated to fortifying the time ahead. 

When Rutgers launched its Big Ideas initiative in late 2018, the team behind it couldn’t have possibly imagined the relevance it would carry into 2020 and 2021. What started as a challenge to faculty and staff to “Bring us your most imaginative, disruptive, and visionary proposals for bold initiatives that will positively transform our community and change the world,” quickly turned into a movement in its own right. More than 200 proposals submitted. 40 teams selected. 12 final Big Ideas. 1 school working with its best and brightest to make the world a better place, solving the critical issues of our time.

From day one, our mission was to give each Big Idea its time in the spotlight. To showcase each project in a way that was as big and bold as the idea it represented. To do so in a manner that the project champions would not only feel proud of, but part of. All during a pandemic.

We knew film was going to be the best and only option. We also knew coordinating logistics for 12 videos was going to require some organizational prowess. Fortunately, our Project Managers are rockstars.

So, over the course of four months, our team conducted more than forty interviews with project stakeholders, champions, volunteers, and even some beneficiaries. We spent three weeks traveling across the Garden State, filming at all four of Rutgers’ Campus Led Units, safely navigating COVID-19 and holiday break in the process.

The result? 8 terabytes of footage. 24 film deliverables. And a couple feet of snow.

Rutgers Big Ideas Launched virtually to the most attended event in foundation history. Beyond turnout, donors were ecstatic with their feedback for the content and the event. The Big Ideas were a success. As for fundraising, though they began with the lowest endowment in the Big10 in 2019, Rutgers experienced the largest endowment fund growth from 2020-2021 in an entire decade.

As University of Dayton’s Alumni Giving Rate decreased it was impacting the overall U.S. News and World Report ranking for the school and moved them out of the top 100. We developed the Top 100 campaign to communicate how a gift wasn’t just about the amount but participation to motivate alumni to make any gift size. In doing so we were able to impact their ranking and their alumni pipeline.

Building on the success and momentum of the Boldly Buffalo campaign, we joined UB Advancement in efforts to help propel them toward their $650M fundraising campaign goal. As the flagship SUNY institution, UB has been known to continually raise the standard. Beginning with the largest fundraising goal wasn’t enough for the Bulls. After reaching their goal in 2020 they decided to press on announcing in the Spring of 2021 that they would be the first to reach $1 Billion. A bold goal for a bold university.

To kickoff season three we launched with a new anthem to reset the year and ensure our audience was ready for what was to come. Following the anthem we scheduled seasonal content that rolled out each quarter with 4-5 film pieces, a written article, static social content, and supporting digital and out of home campaign elements.

Building on the success with Alumni on “The Optimists” Campaign, we turned the corner with a “Let Their Be” advancement initiative that allows all alumni and friends connected to UCLA to dream about a better future for all.