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© 2008 PODi, the Digital Printing Initiative www.podi.org Best Practices in Digital Print Case Study

2. University of La Verne Gives Prospective Students 100 Ways to Get Involved
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Project: University of La Verne Gives Prospective Students 100 Ways to
Get Involved
Vertical Market: Education
Business Application: Direct Marketing/Lead Generation
Located in a bustling, small city on the outskirts of Los Angeles, the
University of La Verne needed a way to publicize its unique location and
excellent educational value. Additionally, it sought to distinguish itself from
the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), an institution often confused
with ULV because of their similar initials. Lacking marketing materials that
spoke to prospective undergraduate students, ULV called for a tightly
branded, cost-effective campaign that would help its audience gain
awareness of the University and ultimately increase enrollment.
Program Objectives
• Understand and condense what distinguishes ULV and its offerings from
competing universities
• Determine who prospective students really are and what they want from
their university, then craft a message that they will respond to
• Deliver the message in a manner students will find value in
• Establish a continuing process to generate leads and collect data on
prospective students; give them relevant information in a timely manner
Significant Results Reported by User
• Established strong messaging that
enhances all university communications
and distinguishes ULV from the
competition
• Improved students’ experiences by giving
them what they want, when they need
it—with highly personalized, user-
determined communications
• Program is still new, but appears to be
generating about a 5% response rate to
the initial contact—an e-mail blast that
directs students to a microsite where data
are collected
Best Practices in Digital Print Case Study www.podi.org © 2008 PODi, the Digital Printing Initiative

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Description
ULV (the University of La Verne) had an identity problem. It was constantly
being confused with UNLV (the University of Nevada, Las Vegas) and people
were missing the unique characteristics of a great, small university: a
wonderful location, excellent educational value, dedicated educators, and a
committed student body. ULV’s marketing materials lacked cohesive
messaging and didn’t work together effectively. ULV needed new,
memorable branding and a comprehensive marketing plan to raise
awareness and increase enrollment. And, of course, it had a limited budget
to work with.
The University’s key decision makers understood that the most important
element in a successful solution would be a firm conceptual foundation.
Their plan needed to be grounded not only in knowing what makes ULV
unique and distinguishes it from other small private institutions, but also in
understanding what prospective students wanted from their education.
They knew where they had to start but needed to find the right partners to
take the journey with.
They found a great partner in Earthbound Media Group (EMG). ULV’s
Associate Dean of Admission, Ana Liza Zell, met the EMG team at a
conference and quickly realized that she had found an unusual group. EMG
not only had world-class creative talent, it also understood marketing for the
higher education market and had technical programming expertise in-
house: the perfect combination for creating a successful integrated
recruitment campaign.
© 2008 PODi, the Digital Printing Initiative www.podi.org Best Practices in Digital Print Case Study

4. University of La Verne Gives Prospective Students 100 Ways to Get Involved
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EMG had recently completed a similar project with Columbia University’s
Teachers College. EMG knew that the success of this new campaign would
turn on having a great printer on board—and it found one in Entremedia.
(Also vital to the team for the branding portion of the project was Richard
Harrison Bailey/The Agency.)
With its team assembled, EMG next developed a plan that would take
advantage of the newest 1-to-1 marketing tactics, beginning with a
Discovery Phase. As Ana Liza explains it, “We needed to take a critical look at
what we thought of ourselves, and then compare it to what others thought of
us. And it didn’t always match up.”
The Discovery Phase included focus groups and interviews with ULV
students to find out what had led them to the school and what was
important to them about the ULV experience. The results? Students liked the
atmosphere of a smaller school where they were recognized as individuals.
The school’s location was very desirable. And it was important to be in a
place where they could be involved 24/7, during all facets of their lives—
academic and extracurricular.
After digesting the information from these focus groups and interviews, the
team proceeded to work on developing the theme— “InvoLVed” —and a new
logo, which is currently used in ULV’s branding. The invitation to “get
involved” was chosen as the overarching direction for all parts of the
recruitment marketing.
Best Practices in Digital Print Case Study www.podi.org © 2008 PODi, the Digital Printing Initiative

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At the core of the campaign was the desire
to market to individuals, not to the masses.
They wanted to create user-determined
communications and give students only the
information they really wanted, not confuse
them with hundreds of pages of
descriptions of courses and majors they
were not interested in.
They knew that they had a unique
advantage in collecting data that would
make relevance possible—their target
audience wanted the information. All they
had to do was drive people to the collection
site and then ask the right questions.
Earthbound Media Group built a recruiting
microsite for ULV: www.ulv.edu/involved.
The site promotes the theme “100 Ways to Get InvoLVed,” which includes a
virtual tour of the ULV campus featuring a “day-in-the-life” type of
streaming video based on student diaries, as well as quick facts, links, and an
interactive form for requesting more information. Requestors fill in the form,
and are promised a customized, full-color brochure that will be mailed to
them within 7 to 10 days. (The audience is initially driven to the microsite
with “InvoLVed” e-mail blasts sent to purchased lists.)
The collection form information is automatically saved in a .csv format and
forwarded to EMG, where it is downloaded every two weeks and sent to
Entremedia. There, a custom back-end software program maps out all the
variable elements in XMPie, populates the template with corresponding
content, automatically creates and RIPs high-resolution PDF files, and then
queues these PDFs for printing on the iGen. The job isn’t touched until an
operator gives the go-ahead to print.
The customized brochure? EMG designed an eight-page brochure and view
book, personalized and customized for every student. It features photos of
real students involved in classes and activities in and around ULV. The cover
photo is even variable based on the recipient’s gender.
Besides being personalized, each brochure features variable content and
images specific to the requested major (there are eighteen possible majors),
the chosen extracurricular activity interests, relevant examples of how to get
involved, plus current deadlines and a map of the southern California area.
© 2008 PODi, the Digital Printing Initiative www.podi.org Best Practices in Digital Print Case Study

6. University of La Verne Gives Prospective Students 100 Ways to Get Involved
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Every brochure has a corresponding, full-color, personalized envelope that is
printed digitally and then converted. Brochures and envelopes are matched
by unique sequence codes printed in discreet areas on each piece. Any
mismatch shuts down the inserter automatically until a correction can be
made. (Tip: Run the inserter slightly slower than its rated speed to help
minimize problems.)
The recruitment campaign is still too new to have firm results or to show a
verifiable effect on enrollment. However, we do know that the initial e-mail
blasts were sent to about 75,000 potential students and approximately 4,000
requests have been submitted for personalized brochures. This is roughly a
5% response rate.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that students are responding very positively to
the approach. “They’re telling us that they love the fact that the brochures
are made just for them and address their own needs, not some generic
student’s,” says Ana Liza. “This campaign is relevant to our current student
clientele and uses innovative technology to showcase ULV in an accurate
and effective way.”
Awards
This application won a 2007 MarCom Award—Platinum from the Association
of Marketing & Communication Professionals.
Best Practices in Digital Print Case Study www.podi.org © 2008 PODi, the Digital Printing Initiative

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Client University of La Verne
www.ulv.edu
Founded in 1891, the University of La Verne (ULV) is a private university located
in La Verne, California, about 35 miles east of Los Angeles. A selective liberal
arts college, ULV takes pride in offering personalized education to students in
small classes. The University’s core curriculum places an emphasis on a
multicultural world view, easily witnessed in the diversity of the campus
community.
Print Provider & Earthbound Media Group
Agency www.earthboundmediagroup.com
Earthbound Media Group (EMG), a cross-media and creative communications
agency, offers award-winning marketing solutions, eBusiness consulting,
enterprise-level Web strategies, dynamic 1-to-1 personalized publications,
stunning film production, and interactive services. It has an impact on a diversity
of industries, including higher education as well as commercial, healthcare,
retail, and non-profit organizations.
Entremedia
www.entremedia.com
Entremedia delivers integrated solutions, primarily for direct marketing, aimed
at cost-effectively generating new customers and sales. It employs “information
leverage” to systematically target and motivate the ultimate purchasing decision-
maker and the individual consumer.
Richard Harrison Bailey/The Agency
www.rhb.com
Hardware Xerox iGen
Software XMPie
Target Audience Undergraduate students
Distribution 200–500 pieces, printed and mailed every 2 weeks
Date Launched in summer of 2007; will run for 3 years
© 2008 PODi, the Digital Printing Initiative www.podi.org Best Practices in Digital Print Case Study