This presentation was a general session at the 2012 UCDA Design Summit. Summary: The communication paradigm continues to shift. Essentially we're all trying to figure out a way to get a bunch of great people with different skills on the same team doing exceptional work telling the story of our college or university. So how do you take separate organizations and merge them into one high-performance engine of creativity? What steps do you take to blend web and publications into a creative services team? We'll talk about an approach where you forget the past, ignore the present, and imagine the future. And, we'll walk through a case study of a prospective student mailing project that demonstrates how a medium-agnostic team can come together to accomplish incredible creative.

1. Making the Case for
Creative Services
UCDA Design Summit 2012
Susan T. Evans | Senior Strategist | mStoner

2. What is it?
An in-house creative team
that blends capabilities
across mediums

3. 1. What problem are you solving?
2. Imagine a bright future.
3. Watch what you wish for, you...
4. Take it from someone who knows.
5. Making it work: Results!

4. Tell me your
troubles.

5. Same story,
different campus.

6. Close your eyes
and dream.

7. If you were
starting
from scratch...

8. Use emotion.
William & Mary is a place of ideas, exceptional
education, and unlike any other university in
America. In my view, we are struggling to
consistently represent who we are and what we do
to those who know us and to those who know of
us. A creative services operation could be an
engine of creativity, a place where talented people
who love the College can use multiple forms of
communication to tell the William & Mary story.

9. Be direct.
Currently, a number of committees are working
hard to coordinate communication opportunities.
I think William & Mary could do better. A
creative services team could come to work
everyday thinking about ways to explain and
promote what happens on our campus. A
creative services team could produce an
integrated splash where individual creative
elements like photos and language and graphics
all come together to make a lasting impression.

10. So you got what
you wanted.

11. Next up,
organizational
identity crisis.
Who are you? Who? Who?

12. Who we are...
•We offer the skills and expertise of an
award-winning (in-house) creative
agency.
•We want to bring currently
outsourced creative work in house.
•We promote and explain academics.

13. I’ve been there.

14. Year 1:
The year of
lessons learned.

15. Some people just
want services.
You’re offering creative services.

16. Quickly or
quality? Both!
Some of our best work didn’t
take a lot of time or planning.

17. Print is different.
“In the print world, the word
publish really means something.”

18. Set people up to
disappoint you
and they will.
Ping them but don’t start.

19. As soon as possible.
Don’t work back from whenever.

20. Sometimes you
have to say no.
People will thank you for it.

21. But don’t be
afraid to say yes.
It doesn’t always mean
more work.

22. Making it work: Results!
- Mobile website and mobile app
- Campus-wide events calendar
- 30-second TV spot
- Social media aggregator and user group
- Facebook splash page for fundraising
- New view book and microsite (Ampersandbox)
- Foursquare
- W&M Experts web database
- Simple web forms tool
- 15 videos (with no dedicated video position)

23. CASE STUDY
W&M + mStoner = Ampersandbox

24. “View book, view
book, space ship.”
An in-house creative team
that blends capabilities
across mediums

25. The set up.
• 7+ year-old viewbook
• only parents look at print (?)
• award-winning website
• popular student blogs
• an early adopter of social media
• budget for one mailing only
• a standout (i.e., a spaceship)

26. Everything is
connected to
everything else.
http://mstnr.me/9uemQS

27. Warning.
Don’t let the 30-, 40-, or 50-
somethings pick the concept.

29. But if there's a shared passion at William & Mary
— and William & Mary is nothing if not a place of
passions — it is a passion for books. Printed and
digital. Ancient and modern. We consume books.
They are our sustenance and solace.

36. In the first six months:
33,500 page views
9,500+ unique visitors
1:55 average time on site
Visits from 64 countries
21% of traffic is Williamsburg

37. In the first six months:
33,500 page views
9,500+ unique visitors
1:55 average time on site
Visits from 64 countries
21% of traffic is Williamsburg

38. My daughter Holly (high school junior) and my
wife went on a campus visit Monday and
brought back the new view book. It’s innovative
and well done—very impressive compared to the
materials we are seeing from other schools.
John Fleming ’82
Vice President- Marketing
firstSTREET

39. Received the box of conjunctions yesterday. Must
say I was happy my son had planned on applying
before they arrived and now I'm even more pleased.
I noticed he had left a few highlighted on the table
this morning with notes about why he felt William
& Mary would be a good fit for him.
Parent of a prospective student

42. Points of Success
• Intentional web/print/social integration
• Technology informed by “the box” and social
• No QR codes
• Saved $$ - internal team developed site
• Box and microsite complement wm.edu

43. Questions?
#yourturn

44. Thanks.
http://clients.mstoner.com/UCDA2012/creativeservices/index.htm
Susan T. Evans
Senior Strategist
susan.evans@mstoner.com
@susantevans
office: 757.565.1726
mobile: 757.903.1120