higher ed - Mason Interactive

We led a comprehensive rebranding initiative for Eastern Connecticut State University (ECSU), revamping their logo, website, and entire visual identity to authentically represent their unique position in the educational landscape. Working closely with ECSU’s team, we crafted a refreshed brand that captures the university’s distinctive character and vibrant community.

At the core of ECSU’s new identity is its mascot, the Warrior, symbolizing strength and resilience. We integrated the Warrior’s shield into updated visual elements, establishing a cohesive emblem that reflects school pride across both digital and physical platforms.

To further this concept on campus, we designed and fabricated a series of Warrior Shield cutouts. These installations—some freestanding and others handheld—encourage student engagement, offering interactive opportunities for students to showcase their ECSU pride. This approach has added a dynamic, memorable layer to the rebranding, reinforcing a connection with the Warrior identity.

This project was a collaborative effort that merged creativity with strategic vision, and we’re proud to see ECSU’s community embracing their refreshed visual identity. You can view some of our educational institutions’ creative works here.

Are you ready to elevate your institution’s look and feel? Reach out to Mason Interactive to learn how we can bring your vision to life with a rebranding strategy that resonates!

Colleges and universities across the U.S. are grappling with declining enrollment, a trend fueled by demographic shifts, rising costs, and changing perceptions of higher education’s value. Here’s a look at the main factors driving this shift and what institutions can do to reverse it.

1. Shifting Demographics

High school graduates are projected to decline in the coming years, particularly in the Northeast and Midwest. This shrinking pool of traditional college-aged students is intensifying competition among institutions.

What Schools Can Do: Colleges should target non-traditional students, such as adult learners and career switchers, who often prefer part-time or online programs. Partnering with community colleges and recruiting international students can help fill enrollment gaps.

2. Changing Perceptions of Degree Value

With rising tuition and student debt, many prospective students are questioning whether a degree is worth the investment. A Gallup-Lumina survey found only 46% of U.S. adults now believe college degrees are worth the cost.

What Schools Can Do: To address this, schools need to clearly demonstrate the return on investment of their degrees by highlighting job placement rates, internships, and partnerships with employers. Offering hands-on training and “stackable credentials” that allow students to earn credits over time will also help.

3. Financial Barriers and FAFSA Delays

The simplification of the FAFSA process has caused delays, affecting many low-income and first-generation students who rely on timely financial aid to make college affordable. Rising tuition and student debt also contribute to hesitation about enrolling.

What Schools Can Do: Colleges should streamline financial aid processes and provide clear communication around aid options. Offering flexible payment plans and locked-in tuition rates can help ease financial concerns for prospective students.

4. Increased Competition from Alternative Education

Online platforms like Coursera and edX offer affordable and flexible certifications that many students are opting for instead of traditional degree programs.

What Schools Can Do: Institutions must emphasize the unique value they offer, such as networking opportunities, access to top-tier faculty, and personalized learning experiences. Creating micro-credentialing or executive education programs can also appeal to students seeking career advancement without committing to full degrees.

5. Mental Health and Wellness Concerns

The mental health crisis among students has worsened, with many postponing or abandoning education plans due to stress, anxiety, or depression. Nearly 60% of students report mental health challenges, according to the American Psychological Association.

What Schools Can Do: Institutions should offer comprehensive mental health services, flexible learning options, and foster supportive environments to help students balance their academic and personal responsibilities.

Conclusion

Colleges that adapt to these challenges by expanding their outreach, demonstrating the value of their programs, and supporting students’ financial and mental well-being will be better positioned to thrive in today’s competitive landscape. Institutions that innovate in these areas will attract and retain students despite the challenges posed by demographic and economic shifts.

Many brands depend on Cyber Five, the days between Black Friday & Cyber Monday, to put them into the black for the year. Though Cyber Five 2021 was complicated and busy, it was also one of the most profitable to date. Our clients closed out the year on a high note thanks to a few pretty simple actions. What were they? Let’s take a look together in our 2021 Q4 After Action Report.

1. Start with a Plan

Everything starts with a plan. The sooner you have one, the sooner you can review it, make adjustments, and execute. Our winning clients invested heavily into prospecting in the months leading up to Black Friday, emphasizing list-building for owned 1st party data, allowing owned channels like email and SMS to scale. Thanks to the work they did early on, our clients were able to get in front of consumers well before their competitors and convert with assets they had ready to go.

What This Means for You

When you don’t plan ahead, you give up sales to your competitors who do. Fret not, this isn’t our first time at the Cyber Five rodeo. Send us a message at hello@masoninteractive.com and we’ll help develop a strategy with you.

2. Grow With the Flow

Scaling a digital marketing operation isn’t easy, and frankly, it’s not getting any easier. Industry research points to consumers being spread out across more platforms than ever before, and it’s only getting more difficult to track and target consumers across the digital landscape. More on that in just a bit.

Our winning clients isolate top geographical markets and focus on their most actively engaged audiences, letting us double down on purchase intent from two separate angles. Additionally, clients who met or exceeded their goals were in (on average) 6 advertising platforms.

What This Means for You

Brands that diversify into more platforms and begin planning for the Holiday season earlier, ultimately see more success during the Cyber Five. Planning ahead and building diversification into those plans enables you to layer on complexity to your marketing mix as the year progresses towards Cyber Five. More on how you can do this in our After Action Report.

3. Own Your Data

In case you haven’t heard, the data game has changed. Apple’s iOS14 update has impacted advertisers’ ability to target users online, and Google’s new policies expected in 2023 will only affect things more.

Where do you turn? Your own data. 1st party data, or the data your company collects about its customers (interactions, purchase history, behavior, preferences, etc.), is becoming more valuable than ever. Since the changing attribution methods of digital platforms makes them a less-reliable partner, 1st party data gives you a solid single source of truth to rely on.

What This Means for You

There are many ways to start collecting 1st party data. A lot of it can live in a platform like Shopify, Salesforce, or Google Analytics. Organizing, interpreting, and acting on your 1st party data can be a headache. We can help with that too.

You have the keys, now let’s open doors.

The digital landscape changes all the time. You know that. We know that. What we don’t know yet, is how we can use our 13 years of experience to help you keep up with the shifting tides. Download the report, send us a message, and let’s get you started with a free marketing analysis today.

We’re happy to announce that our existing client St. Augustine College has extended the scope of work with us to include email marketing, SEO, and creative services. St. Augustine College initially joined forces with us for paid media services to promote their bilingual higher education programs. Now, our partnership is growing!

St. Augustine College is an independent, bilingual higher education institution with a diverse student population and in-demand Associate and Bachelor’s degree programs. Their mission is “to make the American system of higher education accessible to a student population with emphasis on those of Hispanic descent; to strengthen ethnic identity; to reinforce cultural interaction; and to build a bridge to fill cultural, educational, and socio-economic gaps.”

Mason Interactive’s CEO, Brook Shephard, comments, “We’re happy to see our partnership with St. Augustine College grow. Our creative, SEO, and email specialists will transform St. Augustine’s website into a discovery and nurturing tool to attract leads and drive enrollments. We’re looking forward to a long-lasting relationship with St. Augustine College.”

Is your college looking for a performance marketing agency to boost campus awareness and drive leads? If you’re ready to begin, contact us for a free consultation.

To learn more about St. Augustine College, click here.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Purdue University is buying Kaplan, hoping to reap the benefits of the Kaplan brand, and to create a viable online presence.

Purdue President Mitch Daniels said “We took a long build-or-buy analysis and came to the honest recognition that we would be very unlikely to succeed building it ourselves.”

This makes plenty of sense for everyone. Purdue gets a ready made online business and Kaplan gets the brand equity of a world-class University.

I predict that this is the first wave of this, and that we’ll see plenty more not-for-profit-/-for-profit M & A.

A few observations:

The purdue team has a steep, steep learning curve ahead of them. Get ready for a world full of acronyms, Mr. Daniels. CPA, CPL, CPO and CPE are about the become the most important words you know.
I have to think that this would not have happened in a Clinton Administration, for better or worse.
One wonders about Purdue’s endowment. One suspects that it is shrinking, and that this acquisition is a bold move to turn that tide.