April 16, 2008
The Oklahoma Baptist University Admissions team shows dedication to students through campus visits, phone calls and tours throughout the year. Taking it a step further, the admissions team provides the student with something each one views as essential in life: t-shirts.
"It's a good way to get our name out there, and it's amazing how excited people get when they get a t-shirt," said Cindy Hines, assistant director of admissions.
Between OBU preview days, campus visits, student life activities, Falls Creek, and Super Summer, admissions team members works with about a dozen events or activities that offer advertising outlets. Seeing the opportunity to work with a large number of high school students, the team brainstormed about how to effectively advertise to each student.
"We sat down and really thought, 'What can we do where people see our name more and see it in different places?'" said Carrie Myles, associate director of admissions.
The result: t-shirts.
With a variety of colors and design options, the admissions team works to make the t-shirts unique and special for every event.
"It's a great awareness element," said Myles. "It's not just confined to one audience."
Perspective students, camp participants and other campus visitors get items they can take with them and use more than once. That factor was important to the admission team when they considered different advertising strategies.
"They are wearing your t-shirt, which is another connection to the school and could possibly lead to them coming to OBU," said Myles. "It is a great way to see OBU out and about."
By using t-shirts, Hines said the students become walking billboards for OBU. The admission team now sees these "walking billboards" everywhere they go.
"You find that people start to collect them," said Hines. "We'll see kids wearing OBU t-shirts in places where we had no idea they even knew what OBU was."
Seeing OBU t-shirts on students all over Oklahoma motivates the admissions team to continue their advertising efforts.
"If you give away 100 t-shirts that's 100 different places, 100 different environments, 100 different communities and 100 different schools we are reaching," said Myles.