The Miami University Regionals Passport to Programming was designed to be an integrated marketing strategy for external-facing events that provides a unique experience to attendees. This consists of a hard copy brochure called a "passport," custom event stamps, a website, social media campaigns, email campaigns, personalized RSVP event reminder emails and a rewards program for "frequent travelers." This strategy emerged as a result of a brainstorming session related to the current challenges of special event marketing at our institution. The Passport to Programming was adopted to address increased messaging traffic, reduction in staff, increased costs of printing and mailing, and a reduction in the marketing budget.
From the Judges
This is a distinguished entry that showcased a good concept and methodology and some solid results in the face of a challenging context. The judges were particularly impressed by the cost savings and the scale of the project given the volume of events involved and the duration of the programme. We all felt the centralisation and consolidation of resources and marketing was an achievement and something that serves as a good model for other institutions.
