State University of New York Brockport

During the pandemic, higher education experienced a sizeable drop in enrollments. Economic concerns and uncertainty within the industry further fueled this drop, but the SUNY Brockport team was determined to turn it around.

DS+CO was tasked with developing and executing an integrated paid media campaign to help reach prospective students and their parents. The goal was clear: increase applications and drive awareness of the significant scholarship funding available.

Through discovery the team uncovered an internal obstacle: the different schools weren’t aligned with how they positioned themselves. Although each school has a lot to say and even more to be proud of, they lacked a uniform method of speaking to it—a sense of true north they all could connect with. What they needed was to identify their brand core. And that’s exactly what we did.

In close partnership with the SUNY Brockport team, DS+CO connected with stakeholders of all kinds—staff, students, alumni, leadership—conducting surveys and in-depth interviews to learn what truly makes the university so unique. After gathering our research and collaborating with the team, we identified the essence of the SUNY Brockport brand: Excellence within your reach. A multitude of truths pointed the university toward this brand core, but two stood out among the rest: the high-quality education the students receive and the affordability they can access.

Combining this customer-focused message with a creative media strategy, SUNY Brockport crushed its enrollment goals:

• 40% increase in undergraduate applications
• 22% increase in undergraduate deposits year over year

For the 2023-2024 academic year, the university welcomed its largest class of undergraduate students in nearly 50 years and its largest class of graduate students in the past 20 years. Excellence within your reach, indeed.