Here is the way.

College isn’t for everybody, but it should be for anybody. Heading into their centennial year, Iowa’s Southeastern Community College (SCC) was looking to generate excitement around that milestone in efforts to boost donations and enrollment.

With enrollment across community colleges continuing to decrease 5% nationally and donor fatigue due to the close of a recent capital campaign, the college needed a new set of reasons to engage, enroll, and give. We knew we needed to develop a comprehensive brand that could speak to each of their audiences specifically but without making it to nuanced for their internal team to execute against.

Our content approach was driven by a three year content strategy that would begin by highlighting the accomplishments of the last 100 years and then transition into the challenge of what SCC hopes to accomplish in 100 more.

For 100 years, we’ve built a legacy on helping others define their own. Not just as a place, but as a community within a community—people connected—supporting and pushing each other for greater. Here, we show people the way to make their way, the path to making their own path. Here, we provide the bridge between ambition and reaching goals. Here is how we bring people together to get them where they want to be. Here is the way.

Celebrating a centennial is a huge milestone for any organization. As one of the oldest community colleges in the midwest, SCC was poised to truly set the standard for this moment. With a focus on alumni and donor engagement a robust campaign celebrating the accomplishments of the past 100 years was pushed into market through targeted paid and organic social, and OTT. A custom, stand-alone microsite was developed as the center for alumni and donor engagement. Serving as a repository for centennial-based content but the site's primary call to action is for visitors to share their own "SCC Story." Once added and curated by the college's marketing team this user generated content was profiled on the microsite and on social media. A robust centennial timeline highlights notable alumni and historical moments over the last 100 years to truly celebrate this monumental moment.

Part one leveraged this tremendous moment in time, targeted recruitment campaigns were created for each audience from high school students to future healthcare workers, and degree completing adults. Each message was customized to inspire each to answer their calling and find their way here at SCC.

Three months into year one and the world came to a halt because of the pandemic. This affected admissions for every higher education institution and for the Blackhawks this meant their 100 year birthday would need to be rethought. Over the course of three weeks, we were able to pivot their creative to focus on the most relevant areas of study at SCC: Online education, Professional skills, High school students general studies, and health science. In doing so the revised campaign met students where they were reassuring them although many things were uncertain, SCC was a reliable partner you could count on.

Heading into the 2020-2021 academic year, we knew fall and spring wouldn’t look like semesters past. Without the tools of our traditional recruitment arsenal, engaging the Class of 2025, and likely the Class of 2026, will require some extra creativity. Using state-of-the-art 360 VR cameras, we filmed all of SCC’s common areas to mirror the look and feel of campus as much as possible. The tour includes access to the school’s sports facilities, café, student lounges, dorms, courtyards, art labs – everywhere a prospective student may be interested in visiting. Eight guided, unique pathways were also developed to cater to students of all types, from high school to career advancement. In this augmented reality, visitors can even hold up their phone or tablet and as they walk around, allowing them to feel like they are inside of any building or on the campus quad. Check it out for yourself here: https://tour.scciowa.edu/

As we headed into the fall of 2020 and the hope of a vaccine and a normal way of life seemed promising It was time to renew our focus on fundraising. In the past SCC fundraising initiatives were centered around Annual Giving and Capital projects. Being that we were celebrating 100 years we wanted to provide a new approach for sustained giving. Our solution was the Century Club, a reoccurring gift model that provided donors the option to give each year towards the student impact fund. Although established as part of the centennial year, the Century Club isn't about giving back it is about giving forward, to empower our students faculty and college for 100 more.

Although most of SCC students are from around southeastern Iowa, they all select SCC for their own reasons. They are hardworking and inspiring reasons, and those that we wanted to highlight during a post COVID campaign when the world needed a reminder of the resilience that wasn't new to this midwestern community.

Going into a centennial year is a momentous occasion, but despite how detailed our plans maybe we must be able to pivot quickly. For SCC this meant changing in priorities, messaging, and mediums. But because of that quick strategic thinking SCC's numbers for High school applications are up 10% from 2019. In their Health sciences enrollment is up by 15%. And with the launch of the Century Club in January, fundraising too is beginning to get started again.