New Student Recruitment Tool Recognized by IABC and CCAE
Wednesday, June 3rd 2009
Trent Universityʼs online virtual tour (www.trentu.ca/takeatour) has been honoured with a 2009 Gold Quill Award of Merit by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) and has won a Bronze Award in the 2009 Canadian Council for the Advancement of Education (CCAE) Prix dʼExcellence.
The tour was designed and developed by Londonʼs Resolution Interactive Media (ResIM)(www.resolutionim.com) as part of a broader strategic marketing plan to increase awareness and encourage applications to Trent University.
“Research tells us that one in five students uses the web as their primary source of information when considering universities. We also know that close to 50 per cent of students who visit our campus will register as Trent students,” said Marilyn Burns, director of Marketing & Communications at Trent University. “We needed a way to allow students to tour our exceptional campuses from anywhere in the world – and to hear about the distinct qualities of Trent from the students and professors themselves.”
“The tour is a well-planned convergence of strategic planning, user experience design, web development, video, and motion graphics” notes Jonathan Kochis, Partner - Accounts and Strategy at ResIM. “From the beginning it was important that we deliver an honest, informative, and target-audience appropriate online experience that wasnʼt over-produced or disingenuous.”
Since its launch in March 2008, Trentʼs online virtual tour has had over 85,000 visitors. The tour has been promoted through a targeted campaign on Facebook and other advertising that drives traffic to the Universityʼs 50,000-page website. Features in the tour include a graphic “fly-in” that situates Trent in North America; video of student and faculty “heroes” who speak about different aspects of the University; photo galleries; information about the cities of Peterborough and Oshawa; and various entry points to the Trent website.
The International Association of Business Communicators is a professional network of more than 15,500 business communication professionals in over 80 countries. Well over half of the IABCʼs members are private sector organizations. According to the 2009 Chair of the Gold Quill Awards, “entries are judged rigorously against international criteria that consider strategic alignment and tangible outcomes as key measures of excellence.”
The Canadian Council for the Advancement of Education is the professional association for educational advancement professionals. CCAE judges gave the tour a near perfect score and a “unanimous bronze” stating that Trent “succeeded where others couldnʼt with virtual tours.”
ResIM is a specialized interactive marketing studio providing exceptional online strategy, web design, web development, and digital marketing services with a strong practice in helping clients engage youth audiences online.
For more information, please contact Jonathan Kochis, Partner - Accounts and Strategy, Resolution Interactive Media at (519) 860-6674 or jonathan@resolutionim.com
