Humber College is looking to drive enrollment among high schoolers with a punchy new campaign.

“Bring It” is a recruitment effort by longtime partner Borealis Creative, made in collaboration with multidisciplinary local artist Ben Johnston, who created the typography and artwork that define the campaign’s look.

Kelly Jackson, VP of external affairs and professional learning at Humber College, explains that the video differs from a typical recruitment campaign because it does not simply have pictures of the campus and students, but takes a more dynamic and graphics-centred approach. It also hypes the school’s athletics programs, informed by success the Humber Hawks have had nationally and provincially.

“We had a very strong brand campaign for a number of years based on ‘we are Humber,'” Jackson says. “During the pandemic, we were focused on a suite of much smaller campaigns focused on either a specific targeted group, programs, or type of credential.”

With the “Bring It” messaging, coming out of the pandemic, the institution wanted to entice high school students currently weighing their post-secondary options to “bring” their talents, creativity, potential and authentic selves to Humber.

Traditionally, the marketing plan for most Ontario post-secondary education is to run one major recruitment campaign in the fall/winter season, leading up to when admissions offers go out. However, Humber does new student intakes throughout the year, and different groups are open to hearing about messages at different times, and on different platforms.

“The early results show that the most popular site drivers are TikTok and Google Search,” Jackson says.

The “Bring it” campaign includes a dedicated webpage, various digital and on-site activations, OOH and off-campus advertising, along with on-campus atmospherics. The visuals, which have a pop art aesthetic, can be seen on campus, TTC buses, bus stops, social and digital media.

In the spring, “Bring it” will feature a wall-sized mural and live painting by artist Ben Johnston at Humber’s Lakeshore Campus. The mural, which will be open to the public, reflects Humber College’s commitment to public art, something that, according to Jackson, is also different from how other colleges market.

The arts component ladders back to the fact that Humber’s Lakeshore campus is a Nuit Blanche display site, but also that it’s the home of a new cultural hub, what Jackson says is embodies the college’s commitment to visual and performing arts.

Orchestra did the digital strategy and media buy, while Boulevard of Dreams handled PR strategy. Ad spend, Jackson says, is at comparable investment level to previous campaigns.