News Article

Knowing your audience


12/13/2010 4:06:27 PM


CNA graduates Evan Willoughby, Christopher Slaney and Joseph May wrapped up a multimedia project meant to attract new students and employees. More than 100 videos were produced for internet viewing and commercial circulation.

College of the North Atlantic (CNA) has launched a new marketing and recruitment initiative: utilizing the creativity of young minds to attract prospective students.

In order to reach prospective learners and employees CNA’s marketing and communications, learner recruitment, and human resources departments joined forces to mobilize a multimedia team. The team consisted of three recent graduates of the college and the project had them develop more than 100 promotional videos to attract new students and potential employees.

Stephen Lee, CNA’s Manager of Marketing and Communications, says three recent graduates were selected because they are familiar with the college and know more about what their peers want to see and hear, and therefore, are more capable of reaching that market.

“A sure-fire way to reach potential students, and connect with them on a level they expect to be connected on, is for graduates of our programs to create the messages we’re sending,” says Lee. “Of course the graduates weren’t allowed to run wild and do whatever they wanted, but they were given creative control of the message, the music and the overall look and feel of the videos.

“We didn’t want to stifle their creativity, and it has paid off with the quality of material they developed.”

Graduates Evan Willoughby, Film and Video Production; Joseph May, Journalism; and Christopher Slaney, both Film and Video Production and Journalism, spent 12 months visiting all 17 CNA campuses in the province. During their travels, the team would interview students, staff and faculty about life at the campus, life in the community and about the college in general.

While collecting these interviews and filming students and staff throughout their day-to-day campus life, the multimedia team compiled 113 videos promoting the campuses, communities and programs from both student and human resources recruitment points of view. The videos range from 90 seconds to 10 minutes in length, depending on the subject matter.

When planning how the videos were going to be shot, the team had two main strategies they felt would get their point across; raw, real testimonials from students and staff combined with poignant, real-life campus shots to demonstrate what the testimonials say. Unlike most promotional materials found in the post-secondary education sector, these new videos are non-scripted to add a level of reality the team says most commercials or promotional videos lack.

“I know that when I see most commercials, I see people spurting rehearsed lines that they have no feeling or connection to,” explains May. “When someone speaks the truth and cares about what they are talking about, you can hear it in their voice.”

“When someone watches one of our videos, they’re going to hear real reactions and opinions of students and faculty who currently attend or work at a particular campus,” adds Willoughby.

“Ultimately, that’s what someone needs to hear if they’re making such an important decision.”

Another important aspect of the endeavor was the use of social media. Social media like YouTube, Facebook and other video-hosting websites has become something people of all ages access every day. And like some colleges and universities throughout Canada have discovered, they’ve become an effective tool in filling classrooms with students.

Lee agrees the videos will have the desired effect on potential students. Since the multimedia team members are recent graduates of the college, they know what students are looking for.

“We’re not trying to dupe students into coming to College of the North Atlantic,” he says. “I honestly believe CNA is the best educational choice for students in Newfoundland and Labrador. We have the lowest tuition, I’d argue the best programming and equipment, very qualified and caring instructors, low teacher/student ratios… we just need to find the best way to inform potential students of what we have to offer to help them make an the best decision possible.”

More than 100 videos are currently being loaded on CNA’s YouTube account where they can be viewed by anyone in the world with Internet access. In addition to YouTube, the videos will be available on the college’s new video library on its website. The crew also made six 30-second commercials, several of which will be shown on cable television throughout the province during the next year.

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Media Contact:

Roger Hulan
Communications Specialist
College of the North Atlantic
(709) 643-7938
roger.hulan@cna.nl.ca