Signs boasting UH’s new slogan now hang in distinctive spots around Houston, including Hobby and George Bush Intercontinental Airports. | Courtesy of UH
Reaching from the web to the skies, the University has rolled out the latest in a series of marketing initiatives, focused on targeting non-Houstonians who otherwise might have never heard of UH.
“So many people tell me that the University of Houston is better known outside the city than inside,” President and Chancellor Renu Khator said in an email.
Khator first introduced the initiative, dubbed the Powerhouse campaign, in her Fall Address. Since then, the marketing team has rolled out new advertisements one after the other, starting with the digital elevator ads in office buildings Downtown, the Medical Center and the Galleria area that same week.
Previous ad initiatives have been created in part by the Philadelphia-based 160over90 brand agency. UH Marketing Director Brandy Holmes says that the Powerhouse campaign is completely University-run.
“The University’s marketing team created the concept; we wrote the slogan, we wrote the copy, we designed all the ads, we created the website,” Holmes said. “We’ve never done something this big — this large scale, internally before.”
Large advertisements, declaring “This is the House Innovation Built” and “Welcome to the Powerhouse” hit Hobby and George Bush Intercontinental Airports in early November.
The campaign is being turned internally, as well, with elevator ads appearing on campus buildings, swag giveaways and email and social media notifications. Social media is a vital part of the campaign.
“Our existing followers and fans are liking our tweets, are liking our posts, they’re clicking and visiting the site, that’s how many people are seeing our posts about this campaign — so social media is really raising the level of awareness,” Holmes said.
The campaign has seen roughly 650 million “impressions” — meaning Twitter favorites, Facebook likes and so on.
“Powerhouse” and “innovation,” key words in the campaign, are key parts of the University’s new image as sleeker, more modern and well-known.
“We have moved beyond as a whole university and an institution; we’ve moved beyond where we were five years ago,” said Holmes. “We are a powerhouse; we are a force to be reckoned with.”
