The University of Delaware tries a new take on the Admissions video by involving prospective students in its making

February 16th, 2010 Karine Joly 4 Comments

A few weeks before the “That’s I chose Yale” video was released, two admissions officers from the University of Delaware launched another musical into the wild, Reading Season.

Their video struck a chord in admissions offices across the country even though it was just a side project for both admissions officers.

When I interviewed Avi Amon about his video back in December, he hinted that there might be other videos created as part of a recruitment push at the University of Delaware.

Avi contacted me a few days ago to let me know about his new project: creating a full-length admissions video including requests and even photos from students, a video that will be produced based on suggestions from prospective students.

What a great idea!

To get some interest in this project, the admissions office created another tongue-in-cheek video and included it in the email sent to 200,000 prospective students earlier this month.

Here’s this call-to-action video:

Students were asked to submit an online form including basic contact information as well as what they would like to see in the video. They can also challenge the admission office to include some unusual elements in the video.

So, how has been the response so far?

More than 1,400 views on YouTube and some good feedback from the target audience according to Avi Amon:

So far the response has been overwhelmingly positive. Students have been excited that we are reaching out to them! Responses vary from the basic (I’d like to see the engineering building) to the more thought-provoking. (how will I know that UD is a good fit for me?).

I’ll make sure to keep you updated about this project.
In the meantime, tell what you think by posting a comment!

4 Responses

  1. Hi Karine,

    A bit more on this – this was part of their overall student search project with Fire Engine RED. After students submitted the response form, they received a confirmation email linking to the video and the survey – it was not the originally 200,000 send. The video was also linked off of the confirmation page as well. We wanted to target it to the most interested students in a time when they would be most likely to participate. The strategy was definitely inspired by Avi and Drew’s Reading Season video! I was very nervous when Yale came out with their video right before we launched this, but I think we can all agree that execution was key here. It’s great to work on a project with a client that is willing to take this sort of unique approach!

    Karlyn

  2. Christian says:

    First sentence should probably read:
    A few weeks before the “That’s Why I chose Yale” video was released, two admissions officers from the University of Delaware launched another musical into the wild, Reading Season.

  3. Karine Joly says:

    Thanks for sharing the details, Karlyn. Avi didn’t mention you worked on this project. when he approached me. Glad you gave us more info.

  4. […] posted about Delaware, The Musical when it was still a project. Since my last post the video has been produced, published and very well received. Delaware: The […]

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