The Ask:
As part of the University of Colorado system, UCCS needed to establish a unique brand position—one that could attract prospective students while celebrating the school's grounded, supportive community.
The Insight:
For many prospective UCCS students, especially first-gen and non-traditional students, success feels uncertain. But UCCS offers an environment that makes achievement feel not just possible—but inevitable.
The Idea:
“Not if. When.” positions UCCS as the place where ambition turns into action. The work highlighted real students and real success stories—showing that with the right support, it’s not a matter of if you’ll succeed, but when.
Campaign management:
As the campaign continued to evolve, I stepped into an active strategy role, which included:
Research and prioritization of new target audiences to focus media spend and sharpen messaging.
Conducting a gap analysis between existing messaging and the needs of these new segments.
Building customer journeys to identify key pain points, motivations, and conversion moments.
Creating audience/message matrices to find overlap and streamline communication across channels.
Evolving the voice and tone of the campaign based on fresh insights, while staying rooted in the original brand strategy.
Analyzing performance, tested creative, and adjusted approach to maximize execution.
The Campaign
Long form storytelling
In addition to creating :6, :15, and :30 spots, we extended the storytelling of our campus stories by creating short-form documentaries.
Landing page
Check out our full scope of our docu-style storytelling on the “Stories of Possibilities” landing page.
Digital Sample
Creative Director: TJ Rhine
Art Direction: Matt Peters
Video Editor: Brant Backlund
Producer: Mariel McCown