Before we created anything back in 2017, LEAP Spark needed to learn the mindset of Generation-Z students since that was the main focus of enrollment for the Art Academy of Cincinnati.
Our research showed us that they:
Have short attention spans
Do not want a hard sell on enrollment
Are careful in their financial decisions
We determined that the best platforms to be used for such findings were Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, and Google Display ads.
A presentation of sample creative was then put together to show the Art Academy of Cincinnati that we were aligning our ideas with their business goals.
After winning the business from our pitch presentation to prove we knew their target audience, it was time to work with their local print agency to create four campaign concepts. After briefly collaborating with a Cincinnati based agency, both teams came up with Makers, Romance, Create Yourself and Change concepts.
The Art Academy of Cincinnati chose Spark's “Romance” theme to drive the students to fall in love with the city of Cincinnati, their alumni, and their programs being offered.
romance theme
Fall in love with Over-The-Rhine, Fall in Love with AAC, Create Romance. Fall in love with your surroundings and you will find romance in your work, you will be inspired, you will find your inner-self and your tribe to create and develop as not only an artist, but as an individual. A true sense of discovery.
The campaign lasted 7 months in the 2017-2018 school year and was so successful that the college recruited us again to be responsible for all of the creative for the next enrollment season.
Reach
976,826
Engagement
128,251
Engagement Rates
13.23
Link Clicks
10,333
Google Campaign Clicks
25,019
Average CPC
0.30
Impressions
52,898,357
This enrollment season, Art Academy of Cincinnati wanted to go the complete opposite direction of their brand’s last campaign of black, white, and orange, and move toward a more positive light with the theme: Radiant.
The three creative options presented for this campaign were:
AAMe – Art Academy of Me
Evolving – Impacting by Uniqueness
AACult – The War Against Normal
The Art Academy of Cincinnati chose AACult: The War Against Normal. This year, we ran Facebook, Instagram ads and Stories and Google Display ads. We also ran split testing on some Facebook copy to report which ads performed better.
AACult Theme
AACult is a cult of artists that are defined as being the war against normal. They wear war paint to convey their pride in being different. They want to be an impactful maker with a street team of followers who are also interested in going against normalcy.
They direct cult followers with artistic symbols to enroll and become one of them; whether it be via chalk directing them to the enrollment office or a unique badge of honor to represent themselves.
They tag their city (create murals) to let the community know they are there to make a difference by not being afraid to be self expressive.
