September 6, 2002

Integrated marketing campaign enters second year

Loyola's integrated marketing communications plan enters into its second year of implementation with the 2002 - 03 academic calendar. The plan will continue to promote Loyola's unique combination of academic excellence, ideal size, and rich Jesuit tradition that distinguishes the university from other institutions.

This plan supports our institutional strategic agenda of national preeminence by integrating marketing efforts and promoting Loyola's strengths through consistent messages, according to University President Bernard P. Knoth, S.J. These messages will facilitate audience perception shifts by emphasizing the quality of a Loyola education and promoting the successes of our students, faculty/staff, and alumni. They will promote moving away from the "small" descriptor through emphasis on not only the attributes of a small school, i.e., our excellent faculty/student ratio which allows personal attention to students and small class size but also the large school attributes such as wide range of strong academic programs and co-curricular opportunities. They will also clarify the benefits of our rich history and more than 450 years of Jesuit heritage.

The student-driven, grassroots Proud to Be Part of the Pack campaign, which was so successful last year in promoting school spirit, will be continued this year. The effort will be headed by sociology and political science junior Mary Grace Stewart and managed through the Shawn M. Donnelley Center for Nonprofit Communications with direction from advertising professor Teri Henley.

Our advertising program this year will expand to include our target cities with a full-page image ad in the September 23 "Best Colleges" issue of U.S. News & World Report in metro Houston, Miami, St. Louis, New York (Manhattan), Atlanta, and Los Angeles. The issue will reach over 400,000 subscribers plus it will be on the newsstand in Manhattan and L.A. We will renew our image campaign at the New Orleans airport for five monthsJanuary - May 2003targeting more than 800,000 passengers monthly or four million New Orleans and national/international travelers to the city. Once again, these signs will be up on each concourse during peak travel season including Mardi Gras and Jazz Fest.

Specific action steps for this year's plan are being developed within various units and committees of the university. Media relations will be expanded in target cities to tout Loyola successes; the Alumni Association will join in the effort through the work of an integrated marketing subcommittee; and the School of Law is continuing to develop a plan specific for the law school through its marketing committee.

The integrated marketing communications plan enhances current efforts taking place in the Office of Admissions, each of the colleges, Student Affairs, Institutional Advancement, Human Resources, and other departments within the university. It is based on constituent research conducted during the 2000 - 01 academic year.

Julia McSherry