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#BeCOMM

OVERVIEW

#BeCOMM is a campaign by the School of Communication and Information (SC&I) at Rutgers University–New Brunswick to celebrate the communication major and inform undeclared majors, transfer students, and future students accepted into the School of Arts and Sciences (SAS).

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ROLE

 LOGO DESIGNER, EVENT PLANNER 

Brand Identity, Visual Design, Merchandise, Campaign Experience, Marketing Research

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January 2022 - May 2022

BACKGROUND

Gen Z, known as the "purpose generation," prioritizes its commitment to societal issues and brand and consumer authenticity to drive meaningful change in the world. As part of that generation, my team and I wanted to tackle the negative stereotypes against the communication major and raise awareness of how students can contribute to their purpose-driven beliefs through the major.

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 I was half the logo design team for #BeCOMM. 

 

I was 1 of 2 logo designers in a small team of 18 public relations event planners and 1 supervisor. I was responsible for creating the brand design and supporting marketing strategies across every aspect of our campaign. I am incredibly grateful to be one of the first legacies of this experience and have grown tremendously during my time with #BeCOMM.

 

Some key achievements include:

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  •  Turned an idea into a reality.  The ability to transform an idea into something much more tangible is a process that is both exhilarating and rewarding. I worked closely with our team and supervisor to shape the campaign vision and strategy of #BeCOMM. While we recognize the campaign is still relatively new, we hope its budding growth continues for it to become a recognizable and enjoyable annual occurrence.

  •  Juggled many different hats.  Working in a small student-led team with limited time and budget takes work. I dedicated hours of my spare time and weekends to researching, sketching, and designing the overall design, alongside coordinating the campaign's "#COMMchella 2022" music event by creating a detailed run-of-show schedule and securing potential music acts, site locations, vendors, and sponsors.

  •  Executed end to end.  The fact that we could perform high-stakes decision-making in such a short time demonstrated our ability to conduct and implement our ideas as a team. Seeing how much we have grown from the experience is truly sensational.

THE PROBLEM

As fellow university students, our team understood the frustration over the spread of stereotypes, misinformation, and lack of awareness the community often hears about the communication major. We wanted to address these problems with peers, so we conducted research with random students who were equally frustrated – specifically, we decided to focus on undeclared majors, transfer students, and prospective students interested in communication-related interests and fields.

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After listening to these students, we discovered the top frustrations:

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  •  "The communication major is useless."  Noted as one of the most common stereotypes, the major has become the laughing stock that exists as a last-ditch effort for those who aren't smart or talented enough in anything else. As a result, students feel demotivated when considering the major for their professional careers.

  •  "Do you just learn how to communicate with people?"  Although it's partially true, some students in STEM-related fields (un)intentionally create misinformed importance between having technical knowledge and the ability to communicate effectively in multifaceted ways.

  •  "What job can you get with that?"  Many are unaware of the major's offered concentrations or specializations, including the broad flexibility it provides when choosing a specific career path.

CAMPAIGN VISION

Based on the above findings, we decided as a campaign team to identify key business goals:

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  • We want our target audience to  cultivate their curiosity  about what the communication major truly offers.

  • We want our target audience to  understand the impact  of the communication major that can create a purpose-driven world.

  • We want our target audience to  take action  against the negative stereotypes of the communication major.

INITIAL SKETCHES

As a starting point, we each did market research on similar majors (competitors) to investigate their current offerings in the university landscape. From a design perspective, we then took inspiration from what we liked about their related clubs and organizations, events, workshops, and other activities.

 

With my co-logo designer, we conducted several sketching sessions to encourage each other to draw out our vision for the #BeCOMM and #COMMchella 2022 logo designs.

EARLY DRAFTS

Once sketching feedback was gathered, we collectively liked this design concept draft the most. The four colors of #BeCOMM would symbolically represent diversity and community across the four specializations (at the time) offered under the communication major. At the same time, the playfulness and music elements of #COMMchella would be reminiscent of the original music festival event, Coachella.

After our sketching sessions, we were later notified of the many creative limitations for the #BeCOMM logo due to university policies (e.g., color selections, appropriate typefaces, etc.). However, we still had creative freedom with the #COMMchella 2022 logo. With these new constraints in place and running on strict deadlines, we quickly opted for a refreshing, simple yet clean look for the desired styling.

BEFORE

Initially, the campaign's launch was intended for 2020; however, because of the COVID-19 global pandemic, this design concept was approved but had yet to go anywhere. Given that we were short on time, we decided to recreate its design elements with new looks that appeal to Gen Z.

AFTER

Although our creative revisions were straightforward, we expanded upon interconnecting the university colors with both logos to establish the campaign's identity and emphasizing subtle boldness with the hashtag icon. The stroke contrast and music elements embedded in #COMMchella bring immediate attention and conversation to the audience that would otherwise go unnoticed. Additionally, we brushed on typography details such as its kerning and readability.

THE SOLUTION

After many design iterations and discussions, we received positive feedback from our campaign team and university officials to move forward with the final designs, as seen below with mockup images:

RESULTS

On March 28, 2022, the School of Communication and Information (SC&I) at Rutgers University–New Brunswick officially launched their campaign, #BeCOMM. The campaign released its "Spotlight Series" on social media platforms that featured more than 20 alumni showcasing the professional opportunities available from the communication major. Its main highlight, #COMMchella (2022), took place on April 27, 2022, at The Yard @ College Avenue from 12PM to 4PM and showcased four music acts featuring communication majors, past and present. It was a free music event for all attendees, including university students, faculty, and staff.

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Featured Article:   SC&I at RU-NB Launches #BeCOMM Campaign to Celebrate the Communication Major  

FINAL TAKEAWAYS

We successfully executed #BeCOMM's starting foundation at the heart of the campus community, demonstrating the many opportunities that come with the communication major. Since the implementation of the campaign, we've seen a decrease in negative stereotypes and misinformation among the student population. We received positive feedback from attendees on how engaging yet straightforward it was to learn more about the communication major through the campaign, saving them a large proportion of their time compared to finding information through other various means. I am incredibly fortunate to have worked with like-minded designers, marketers, and public relations coordinators to create and accomplish a large-scale campaign in a short amount of time.

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Some key takeaways from this campaign are:

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  •  The best designs come from collaboration.  It was inspiring to see how the campaign team could bring different perspectives to the table during the sketching sessions. I noticed that non-technical people are unlimited with their ideas due to their lack of technical knowledge. In contrast, technical people are grounded in reality and can be a great sounding board for what is possible.

  •  Shareability is the primary key.  Regularly complementing the campaign's content with genuine engagements will eventually build a loyal audience of followers across all social platforms. If the target audience (in our case, Gen Zers) thinks they know what will happen during any campaign (i.e., too predictable), it will fail.

  •  Humanize and personalize your plans.  Offering Gen Z tailored experiences that keep them engaged requires a far more robust and strategic approach. The current generation gravitates toward brands, companies, and campaigns that feel like they listen to, understand, and pay attention to their specific wants and needs. Building an inclusive community will not happen overnight; however, it is undoubtedly an investment worth making.

CREDITS

 CLUBS : Rutgers PRSSA/Scarlet PR, Rutgers Public Speaking Organization, RU Sure

 MUSIC ACTS : The Thrill of Meandering, Cristina Ferucci, Loveseat Pete, The Rockets (ROCKETS21)

 

 SUPERVISOR : Professor Mark Beal

 CAMPAIGN TEAM : Naamah, Ivanna, Amanda, Jaylynn, Thomas, Olivia, Alexa, Dalvin, Jamie, Juliana, Jillian, Dante, Matthew, Marie, Emily, Jillian, David, Samantha, Yidan, Guanqing

 

 SPONSORS : RWJBarnabas Health, Krispy Pizza, The Yard @ College Avenue

 SPECIAL THANKS : RU Alumni, School of Communication & Information (SC&I), Rutgers University–New Brunswick

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