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Challenge
Could Houstonians be led to believe that a nonprofit institution plays a pivotal role in the future economic development of Greater Houston? That unless significant new investment was made in the institution by public and private sectors alike, the future prosperity of the region and its 5.5 million people could be jeopardized? These questions were put to Edge in the spring of 2006 by the University of Houston System, as the system prepared its ambitious expansion and improvement plans. Public support for the plan is vital. |
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Contributions
Our job was to team with institutional advancement and communications leaders at the UH System to develop a communications strategy, messaging, advertising, a media plan and a special event to lay the foundation for an enlightened public appreciation for the multi-campus system and its flagship. The factual bases for our messaging were a research study by UH’s Institute for Regional Forecasting along with national data on the indispensability of a well-educated workforce in the highly competitive, economic-development game.
Edge helped to arm the UH System leaders for the battle (for attention) in the arena of the public opinion. The UH-Edge team created a consistently themed, highly concentrated campaign using press interviews, public speeches, a newspaper insert, print advertising, PowerPoint presentations, a Web site and brochure. The system launched the campaign at a downtown breakfast hosted by UH System Chancellor Jay Gogue, Houston Mayor Bill White and UH Professor Barton Smith, director of the Institute for Regional Forecasting. Business, civic and media leaders listened and viewed a multimedia presentation on the impact of higher education in Houston, and then saw a video on the UH System’s plans and needs. Each participant received a copy of brochure entitled, “It’s Our Minds that Matter” as well as an invitation to visit a special web site, where they could download a complete copy of the research study and its stunning implications. |
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Summing Up
Together, Edge and the University of Houston transformed dense economic data into a compelling and far-reaching story that began repositioning the UH System in the mind of the public. In the first week after the breakfast, the informational web site received more than 5,000 visitors. City-wide, a new conversation had begun. |
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It is wonderful to find partners whose creative thinking is in tune with while it extends our own. We have found that in Edge.”
Wendy Adair
Associate Vice Chancellor/Associate Vice President, Public Affairs, University of Houston System |
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