Courtesy of Prairie View A&M University
Excellence. It’s a word that’s synonymous with Prairie View A&M University. It’s also the key term laying the foundation for PVAMU’s new marketing campaign.
The new brand launching today will roll out in two phases, featuring a new look and feel across the University’s homepage, billboards, radio, broadcast, brand experiences, and targeted digital advertising. The new campaign includes vivid imagery and shifts the storytelling to a personal approach that consists of the successes of faculty, staff, students, academic programs, and alumni.
The new tagline line does not replace the University Motto, “Prairie View Produces Productive People.” It is a marketing campaign designed to promote the wonderful things happening on the hill through a series of messaging targeting prospective students and faculty.
“Many big things are happening here on ‘The Hill’! We are welcoming our new president, Dr. Tomikia LeGrande, academic offerings are expanding, and our students are continuing to excel inside and outside of the classroom. I looked at the definition of excellence and paired it with various moments in the history of our University. Excellence has permeated the campus since our humble beginnings in 1876,” said Candace Johnson ’02 ‘05, executive director of PVAMU Marketing and Communications and lead of the new campaign.
The new brand sets PVAMU apart from its peer institutions in a highly competitive higher education market. The Office for Marketing and Communications spent the last year conducting market research, including listening to feedback from students, faculty, staff and administrators. The conclusion: a campaign centered around these brand attributes, community-focused, inclusive, iconic and vivid, empowering, innovative and supportive.
The new campaign has five primary goals centered around awareness and public perception of PVAMU and its recruitment efforts. The brand refresh touts common themes paramount to the success of PVAMU through the years: World Class Academic Programs, Transformative Student Experience, Groundbreaking Research, Inspiring Faculty, and Notable Alumni.
Excellence Lives Here
As PVAMU approaches its sesquicentennial year, or 150th anniversary as the second oldest public institution of higher learning in the great state of Texas, “excellence” was a word that simply “fit” this new campaign.
“I considered in what ways PVAMU has been excellent throughout the years,” Johnson continued. “The answer: we have world-class academic programs that consistently rank in the top ten for producing African Americans in careers where minorities are underrepresented; we have a transformative student experience that builds character, broadens one’s perspective, and inspires them to become the best version of themselves; groundbreaking research and Carnegie R2 status; inspiring faculty who are committed to student success; notable alumni who have achieved the highest levels in their profession, love their university and are committed to positively impacting their communities.”
Changemakers are bred here. Pioneers emerge here.
In short, this new campaign is all about the people of PVAMU. Close to “Excellence Lives Here,” viewers will likely notice the phrase “Changemakers are bred here. Pioneers emerge here.”
“I wanted to find a way to connect real people and real stories to the campaign,” said Johnson. “In my search of historical records and conversations with alumni and students, these words resonated with me and best described the people a part of the PVAMU Community.”