Marketing staff are expected to communicate a wealth of information to a wide variety of stakeholders. They are asked to convey the benefits of on-campus housing in an increasingly competitive market as well as provide the vital information that will enhance the student experience. By collecting and sharing examples of work from a variety of campuses, departments can be inspired to create innovative, high-quality work of their own.

In recent years, one of the highlights of ACUHO-I Business Operations Conference has been presentation of entries in the annual Marketing Awards competition. Viewing entries through the years provides evidence of design trends, emerging strategies, and the issues of the times.

Compiling an ever-growing online repository of samples is a valuable way to educate and motivate all campuses to improve their marketing efforts. While it is understood that there are differences in resources, staff, budgets, and organizational structure from campus to campus, each one holds the potential to find creative ways to convey the value of campus housing.

Ohio University – Housing and Residence Life:

Room Selection Mock Draft

Series of videos to show how past room selections have happened to allow students an idea of what halls will most likely be available what days. Our hopes were students had a better sense of where they were at in the process and what halls will probably be the ones they can choose from. We also released this near when room selection times were released and our open house to encourage students to see not just the most desired halls, but ones they most likely were going to see at their time.

Kent State University – University Housing & Culinary Services (UHCS)

Kent Kraziness

Following the upcoming fall housing selection that occurs in February, there is an engagement cliff within the department. Students mentally check out of the housing community and engagement on and offline suffers as a result. Kent Kraziness is a fun campaign, loosely based on March Madness, designed to represent the communities in each Residence Hall and engage students across campus in a friendly competition where different squirrel designs go head-to-head. Unlike March Madness the victors in each match up are decided by popular vote. Polls are open every weekday on the University Housing Instagram Story and last for 24 hours.

 

Kennesaw State University – Campus Services Marketing

Move-In 2023: Your Move, Your Moment

In Spring 2023, the Campus Services Marketing team and the Housing and Residence Life team brainstormed to top our Move-In 2022 campaign and create an even more memorable Move-In experience. We designed the campaign around a fun, Full House inspired theme with bright, busy backgrounds and classic 90s iconography. This campaign was chosen because the 90s/bright look was very trendy during this season cargo pants, claw clips and platform sandals are back in style! This campaign included more than 60 deliverables and took months to complete. Each element had our colorful Your Move, Your Moment theme to get students excited about starting their journey at KSU.

University of Pennsylvania – Residential & Hospitality Services

Latch Your Windows!

In preparing for Winter Break, Penn’s Residential Services took a new approach to reminding students to close and latch their windows before leaving for break. These reminders were imperative to preventing sub-zero temperatures and strong winds from causing frozen pipes in the College Houses resulting in extensive floods and water damage. To accompany traditional signage, door hangers, and emails, Penn’s Residential Services Communications team created Instagram Reels utilizing trending CapCut filters layered on videos and photos of College House windows, or damage caused by windows left open. Leaning into popular video format and taking a humorous approach to the messaging, not only reached the Penn student community, but vastly increased engagement while the campaign ran.

Michigan State University – Residence Education and Housing Services

Safety Squirrels Social Media Campaign

We wanted to find a newer, more creative way to share important safety tips surrounding laundry usage, winter weather, gameday safety and door locking, alcohol around March Madness and St. Patrick’s Day, and the solar eclipse. Squirrels are extremely popular on our campus, some student organizations have even been created around them, so we used them to share this important messaging in a less formal, intimidating way.

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill – Carolina Housing

Home of the Heels Illustration

This illustration, drawn by a member of the marketing team, was made as a decorative icon to be featured on various marketing materials in promotion of the upcoming school year.

San Diego State University – Office of Housing Administration

Community T-Shirt Logos

To foster a sense of community and pride among new residents, we launched an initiative to provide t-shirts with a custom residential community logos as a free gift during move-in day. Our goal was to create a welcoming and cohesive environment from the very start of the academic year. By designing youthful, San Diego-inspired t-shirts with a small lapel logo representing their specific residential community, we aimed to ensure that these t-shirts would be popular among students and become a staple in their everyday wear.

University of Georgia – University Housing

University Housing Virtual Tour

To protect our current residents security and privacy and because demand for on-campus housing means we have no vacant inventory during the academic year, University Housing made the strategic shift to a virtual tour experience. The virtual tour modernizes our approach to showcasing our residence halls, replacing traditional in-person tours with a convenient and immersive digital experience. This initiative aims to enhance customer service by providing detailed and immersive insights for prospective residents and their supporters. The virtual tour also serves as a valuable reference for staff, ensuring accurate and up-to-date information is readily available. Its ability to create a sense of place and alignment with current technology trends makes it a strategic move in fostering a positive impression of University Housing. Because it was created from scratch by University Housing’s web developer principal using the department’s 360-degree camera and drone, updates to content will be easy, fast and best of all free.

Florida Gulf Coast University – Housing & Residence Life

Eagle Tag

We understand that move-in can be an overwhelming experience for our residents, especially those moving onto campus for the first time. To streamline information delivery and enhance the move-in experience, our office introduced RFID tags, branded as Eagle Tags. These tags provide residents with easy access to essential on-campus information. When an Eagle Tag is scanned with a smartphone, a pop-up appears. By clicking the pop-up and unlocking the phone, users are directed to the Eagle Tag website. This website is regularly updated with relevant information, including upcoming events, marketing campaigns, and move-out details. The Eagle Tag is FGCU blue, featuring the university logo on one side and a QR code on the other. The QR code serves as a backup method to access the website if the Eagle Tag becomes inactive or is damaged.

Colorado State University – Housing & Dining Services: Shaun Geisert, Brenton Goodman, Patrick Richardson, Marissa Lockwood

Housing & Dining Services Website Redesign

In 2023 we were tasked with a redesign of our main Housing & Dining Services website (launched in 2017). The website serves a very large audience; Prospective students, incoming students, current residents, parents, and faculty/staff all needed to be considered with the redesign. This website serves as our first line of communication and averages over 2,000,000 page views per year, containing 400,000+ words, and 350+ pages.

 

University of Wisconsin-Madison – University Housing: Marketing

UW-Madison Housing Website Refresh

In early-2023, our Marketing team within University Housing at UW-Madison determined that the Housing website was becoming cluttered, hard to navigate, and outdated. The main area of concern was our residence halls section, the largest section, aimed at incoming undergraduate students.

 

Goucher College – Office of Residential Life

Gopherland Micro-Puzzles

The Gopherland Micro-Puzzles were a spinoff of the marketing for current students to participate in room selection for the following academic year. Using the Gopherland theme, the micro-puzzles were specifically designed to be distributed to incoming students and their families at newly admitted student events, and to be distributed to Residential Life alumni (former Resident Assistants, etc) to help them visualize their connection to campus. In addition to the micro-puzzles themselves, tags were attached to the micro-puzzles unique container with important links for different groups to help direct them to more information, such as the housing application for new students or alumni-specific social media for alumni. For alumni in particular, it has allowed our office to start building our network of former Resident Assistants, through social media and email, that will allow us to network with those individuals moving forward.

Kennesaw State University – Campus Services Marketing

Marietta Campus Resident Tote Bag

Kennesaw State University comprises two distinct campuses, Kennesaw and Marietta, each boasting its own unique personality, traditions, history and student demographics. While all students are embraced as part of the Owl family, it’s time to shine a spotlight on the distinctive characteristics of the Marietta Campus.

Florida International University – University Housing

Recruitment Trifold

This recruitment trifold was designed for career conferences. Its purpose is to highlight why FIU Housing & Residential Experience is a great place to work, explaining some benefits they would receive as an employee, as well as show them what’s nearby in terms of things to do and places to shop.

Ohio University – Housing and Residence Life

Welcome Postcards

Each time a 2024-25 student submitted a housing contract or a commuter contract, our student staff would hand write them a postcard welcoming them to campus and expressing how excited they were for them to be an official Bobcat (our students declare their intent to enroll with a housing or commuter contract). Weekly as we would have contracts submitted, new postcards would be filled out and mailed so students received them within a few weeks on completing their contracts. The postcard also had a removal sticker the students could have!

University of Wisconsin Madison – University Housing Marketing Department

#LiveWithBucky Weekly Newsletter for Students in the Residence Halls

Combining University Housing’s branding with that of UW Madison, our Marketing & Communications team redeveloped our weekly newsletter for the 8,000+ students living in the residence halls. Aptly named #LiveWithBucky Weekly, this newsletter is an important communication tool in our arsenal in making sure our residents are well-informed about what’s happening in Housing and on campus. With clearly defined sections and subtle graphic elements, the format of the newsletter allows the reader to digest information in smaller bites while still balancing 10-2 articles with important and engaging information. #LiveWithBucky Weekly regularly includes 3-4 general Housing articles, 2-3 campus-wide articles, and 2-3 recurring sections featuring submissions from staff outside of the Marketing & Communications department (Dining Digest, Maintenance Minute, and Inclusive Language Series).

The University of Arizona – Housing & Residential Life

Residential Education Hiring Ads 2024

We developed various ads with information about job opportunities that were shared by our Residential Education team to potential candidates. Ads contained information about the role and department, as well as infographics about The University of Arizona and state in general. In addition to email delivery, ads were also posted at recruitment events like The Placement Exchange.

Western Kentucky University- Housing and Residence Life

South Lawn Til Dawn

The “South Lawn Til Dawn” event featured lawn games, recreational sports, fire pits and s’mores, competitions, prizes, stand-up comedy, and the opportunity to camp outside in the tent on the University’s South Lawn. The event was a collaboration between Housing and Residence Life (HRL) and the WKU Outdoor Recreation Adventure Center (ORAC). The poster featured the event location, WKU’s South Lawn, and highlighted the Guthrie Bell Tower, with overlooks South Lawn, with tents nestled around it.

Kennesaw State University – Campus Services Marketing

Unmask: In a World of Filters, Be Real. Be You. 

Our approach diverges from previous campaigns, prioritizing innovation and evoking a sense of discomfort in our audience. Recognizing the prevalent discomfort surrounding discussions of mental health, we crafted imagery designed to provoke introspection and challenge preconceptions. Every aspect of our campaign is meticulously planned, aiming to spark meaningful conversations and promote proactive engagement with mental health support services.

The University of Arizona – Housing & Residential Life

Your Arizona Home 2023-2024

This brochure provides information about living on-campus at The University of Arizona, and the design is very fun, vibrant, and student-centric (much like our campus)! The brochure includes dates and deadlines for the housing application process, a quick breakdown of information about our 23 dorms (pricing tier, size, location, number of bedrooms/bathrooms), information about the roommate selection process, and more!

University of New Mexico, Main Campus – UNM Residence Life & Student Housing

2024 RLSH Staff Recruitment Brochure

The Staff Recruitment Brochure is designed to showcase the lifestyle and benefits of being a pro-staff member at The University of New Mexico.

Florida International University – Housing & Residential Experience

Welcome to the Halls

This decal campaign aimed to generate excitement for incoming students who attended Admitted Student Day by fostering a sense of belonging.

Colorado State University – Housing & Dining Services

Rams Charge Electric Vehicle Wrap

To electrify our campus community’s journey towards sustainability, Housing & Dining Services at Colorado State University is committed to replacing ICE vehicles with an electric vehicle fleet. This electric van used by our facilities maintenance team represents an opportunity to showcase our brand while we seek to spark conversations, inspire action, and cultivate a culture of environmental stewardship across our campus. The design is inspired by our campus location and incorporates new CSU branding.

Kennesaw State University – Campus Services Marketing

Unmask Interactive Flyer

In addition to our standard Mental Health campaign materials, we aimed to create something truly attention-grabbing and unconventional. We developed a transparent, low-tac flyer strategically placed on mirrors in public restrooms across our residential communities and on external doors. The flyer created the striking illusion of a mask being placed over students’ faces as they approached it, provoking immediate intrigue. Our goal was to encourage students to shed their metaphorical “masks” and seek support through our Wellbeing@KSU 24/7 hotline.

University of Cincinnati – University Housing/ Campus Services Marketing

Fall 2024 Resident Gift Mailer

Produce specialty item (flag) and mailer pouch for all fall 2024 housing applicants as summer touchpoint for University Housing.

Ohio University – Housing and Residence Life

Room Selection Mock Draft

Series of videos to show how past room selections have happened to allow students an idea of what halls will most likely be available what days. Our hopes were students had a better sense of where they were at in the process and what halls will probably be the ones they can choose from. We also released this near when room selection times were released and our open house to encourage students to see not just the most desired halls, but ones they most likely were going to see at their time.

The University of Chicago – Housing & Residence Life

Move Out The Right Way with Phil the Phoenix

This video was created to outline the steps necessary for resident students to successfully move out of their housing assignments at the end of the current academic year.