Johnson and Wales
University
Johnson and Wales University has always developed programs to prepare students for careers in demand. Which explains their broad curricula – from Biomedical Engineering to Pastry Arts to Equine Studies. JWU, however, was known primarily for their famous culinary school. Our job was to develop a brand platform to explain JWU’s dynamic, multi-curricula value to invigorate enrollment across campuses in Providence, Denver, Miami Beach, and Charlotte, NC.
Brand Platform
Our internal research uncovered another practical JWU attribute highly relevant today. The Johnson & Wales “Accelerated Curriculum.” It lets students bypass electives to frontload what they most want to study. Students can start compounding the time-value of their professional experiences sooner to give them a jump on their careers. The brand platform – the “why” of the JWU brand – incorporating mission, values, promise and positioning, is incapsulated in the theme “Experience your future now.” This thought directly appeals to students with innate practicality, energy, and intellect striving to move forward without wasting time. It appealed to a lot of students.
Visual Identity
We showcased many dynamic student and faculty stories, always using action shots in class, in labs, or in sports. We developed an “action-oriented” CTA button – “Experience your future now.” The University theme became the actual CTA to great effect. Executions asking entrepreneurs, artists and scientific explorers a simple question “Why wait?”, helped build awareness, recognition, and urgency to join this academic leader in experiential learning.
Influencer Campaign
To speak directly to college-age students, Forge recruited four social media influencers to spend a day at each of JWU’s four campuses and post about their experience.This campaign delivered a reach of 6.5M, earned media at 10x spend, and an engagement rate nearly 4x the EDU benchmark.
Wherever prospects went, they saw where they could go.
