Rochester Christian University Paid Ads Creative Strategy

  • Rochester Christian University was looking to run a brand awareness campaign on Meta, shortly following its name change. As the Creative Strategist on this project, I focused on creating a strategy that boosted engagement and social proof.

  • Creative Strategist

Creative and Strategic Direction

Objective:
To promote Rochester Christian University's (formerly Rochester University) new name and brand through an expansive brand awareness campaign. While RCU has previously run a similar campaign on Programmatic Advertising Channels, we are now expanding the reach to Meta platforms, leveraging their new ad account access.

Strategy:
This campaign is designed to build brand awareness and encourage user engagement, making audiences aware of the transition from "Rochester University" to "Rochester Christian University." Meta's platform is ideal for this purpose, as it encourages interactions such as comments, reactions, and shares, amplifying social proof for RCU.

Tactics:

  • Campaign Type: Post-engagement campaign.

  • Ad Sets: Two distinct ad sets:

    • Prospecting Audience: Targeting new, cold audiences within Michigan, based on demographic criteria determined by RCU.

    • Retargeting Audience: Utilizing data from the Meta pixel, installed on RCU’s website, to retarget users who have interacted with the site in the past 180 days, as well as RCU’s existing Facebook and Instagram followers/engagers.

Creative and Copy Development:

  • Ad Copy Variations: Four distinct ad copy variations will be developed. Each variation will include a headline, main ad copy, description, and a call-to-action (CTA). The messaging will emphasize that RCU remains the same institution with unchanged values and mission, despite the new name.

  • CTA: "Learn more" – chosen to encourage engagement and further exploration of the brand.

Design Concepts:

  • Visual Direction: The design will maintain continuity with the original name change campaign, featuring clean, straightforward visuals. We'll incorporate updated image assets and headlines while preserving the overall aesthetic.

  • Animated Designs: Several animated variations will be created for video placements to enhance engagement.

  • Video Content: While we have videos provided by the client, they may not perform optimally. We may consider testing one video with added context slides at the beginning and end.