When you’ve got serious marketing dollars to throw behind wooing someone, it’s a fine line between making them feel like stars and just, well, stalking the dickens out of them.
Philly-based 160over90 assists Wilkes University toward one or the other of these ends. Using mall kiosks, MySpace ads, billboards and whatever other media happened to be standing in a would-be Wilkesian’s way, the university gave accepted students a king-sized shout-out.
The campaign makes Mini’s “Hey Joe Shmoe” RFID-based billboard idea look piddly – it actually goes into details about the students’ activities and ties them into the ad pitch.
If we were in high school and we saw our names and occupations slathered on the nearest mall kiosk, we’d jump out of our skin. That is so I Know What You Did Last Summer – except in text. Would the gesture inspire us to choose Wilkes? Guess it wouldn’t matter considering the campaign was released after students turned in acceptances and declinations. Nice going, you clever university people you. But maybe the WOM did wonders for the following year’s pool. (We doubt it, though.)
For next year’s campaign: photos of all those drunk-and-stumbling party memories you thought you’d left safely behind you. How about takin’ that next swig at Wilkes University?
Check out more of the creative here.
