market what’s

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COLLEGE ILLINOIS!
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COLLEGE ILLINOIS!
Boosting enrollment with some serious straight talk.

What they asked for

Increased enrollment rates in their pre-paid tuition program amid state-wide skepticism

 

What they got

A breakthrough multi-channel campaign, big-time PR support and more than 1,000 qualified leads.

The College Illinois! logo. College Illinois! helps parents to start saving for their children's college tuition.

THE SITUATION: FACING THE FACTS ABOUT FUTURE TUITION

College Illinois! helps Illinois residents prepay and save on future tuition costs for their children and grandchildren. This can reduce the need for student loans—a huge pain point for millions of Americans.

However, beyond the normal challenge of getting parents to think about future college tuition while their kids are still in diapers, College Illinois! was facing negative publicity and misconceptions across the state.

The Answer: Introducing the face of student loan debt

CREATIVE AND DIGITAL

To show the emotional impact that this can have, we used images of children reacting to the news that their future college tuition was covered. Or…that it wasn’t.

The resulting multi-channel campaign was carried out across:

  • Out-of-home (OOH)
  • Print-ads
  • Radio spots
  • Landing pages, display ads and more

Results

1,514+ qualified leads—a 200% increase YOY
426 contracts during general enrollment
77,158 landing page visits
10,874 Facebook page likes
Potential earned media reach of 47,952,141 impressions

Click on video to hear the Pandora ad

Lead generation was critical. So we built a landing page with helpful information about the program and collected data through a limited-time rebate offer.

CBD developed a landing page for College Illinois!, shown here.

PR, SOCIAL MEDIA AND CONTENT

In order to help spread positive awareness of the program to parents and grandparents across the state, we leveraged PR and social media tactics, including:

  • Bylined articles
  • Editorials
  • Paid social
  • E-newsletters

In addition, positive testimonials from current contract holders were shared to enrich the story – and inspire other parents and grandparents to take action.

CBD developed Facebook ads that helped reach a large volume of College Illinois! prospects. One of the ads is shown here on a mobile device.

Last but not least, we created a short, impactful video that looked at factual and emotional reasons to believe in College Illinois!.

THE END RESULT

An emotionally driven campaign that engaged parents and grandparents across multiple channels, helping College Illinois! boost enrollment rates in their pre-paid tuition program. Big time.