This week, let’s hear from Bryce Hoffman, who is the vice president, chief marketing and communications officer at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Q: What did you learn from a storytelling experiment your team tried that didn’t go as planned?
At one of my previous institutions, we decided to collaborate with student creators who were active on TikTok for a brand campaign. We didn’t tell the students what kind of video to make, but we gave them a menu of points we would like to see — campus life, research, mentorship, belonging — stuff right off the brand positioning diagram.
We asked them to pitch a creative concept before filming so we could give feedback. The fantasy was that young, uninhibited creators would come back with super different, “how did they think of that!?!” ideas.
They all had the same idea: “A day in my life.” Not creative, not original, not a great start in my eyes.
But it was short money, and we knew a heavy hand would make the work inauthentic, so we let them do it.
We saw students getting coffee, brushing their teeth, looking for parking, being silly with their friends, describing their decision to have apple juice at lunch, starting a snowball fight, finding a quiet place to study. It was non-storytelling.
The videos had massively higher engagement than anything else in our brand campaign.
Prospective students were hungry to know what “real life” at our school was like. This marketing succeeded because it didn’t feel like marketing.
Universities tend to repeat the same mistake: We try to force the audience to care about what we care about, and we do it using language and storylines that are not relatable. Families don’t usually talk about “innovation” at the dinner table. Teenagers aren’t preoccupied with whether something is “transformative” or “interdisciplinary.” Normal people don’t use 45 different acronyms to describe a place and what you do there.
The TikTok campaign was a great reminder of a truth we all know but struggle to honor sometimes: People pay attention to content they care about, that they find authentic, or that appeals to their curiosity.
That’s true even when the content follows a well-worn formula and contains no story at all.
What I love about this answer:
I’m impressed by the restraint Bryce and his team showed after hearing the creative concept pitches. It would have been easy for them to push back on the students’ ideas and say that the content needed to be better aligned with the brand positioning.
But they didn’t, and thank goodness.
They gave the students creative freedom, and what they got was exactly what prospective students were looking for: honest, authentic representations of the student experience.
I appreciate what Bryce said regarding universities using non-relatable language while trying to make prospects interested in what the school cares about. I laughed out loud at his mention of 45 acronyms because higher ed does in fact have an acronym problem!
But what I really love about Bryce’s answer is this important reminder: “People pay attention to content they care about, that they find authentic, or that appeals to their curiosity.”
When you understand your audience — who they are, what they value, what questions they have — that’s when your storytelling can have the greatest impact … even when there’s not a clear story being told.
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PLUS … whenever you’re ready, here are three ways I can help you bring storytelling to life in your own work:
- Download my free higher ed guides
– 5 formats to make your alumni stories stand out
– 9 clever ways to create fresh content from your events
- Work with me on a writing project
I’ve supported schools across the country with website overhauls, prospect communications, and advancement content. Email me with “Storytelling” in the subject line to learn more.
- Collaborate on a custom content strategy project
I’ve developed custom strategies for programs specializing in everything from AI and biotech to informatics and journalism that maximize their content potential. Respond with “Content Strategy” in the subject line and I’ll get back to you with more details.
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