WESTERN MICHIGAN UNIVERSITY.
RETHINK SMART
The Why.
Our challenge by WMU: Think Different. The marketing team sought a higher education agency with a higher-minded perspective. They also selected DBA for its retail experience because they wanted a fresh look at the way a university can express itself to prospective students.
The Way.
DBA took on the challenge as a dare. Being asked to challenge the market in the shadow of other great Michigan universities, DBA heard a passion for meaningful and purpose-based marketing. A potential WMU candidate is more than a grade point and an educational pedigree.
The Work.
We promised to “Rethink Smart,” and after a thorough research study, that agency commitment eventually emerged as the campaign slogan for the university.
students from WMU and
u of M are not the same.
Results:
They valued unique lifestyles and values.
They actually defined smart differently, by their own standards.
Artists, skaters, dreamers, dancers and adventurers from every ethnicity and diverse background emerged as an outsider community that desired a place to find their “why.”
