Case study: Montana University System

Raising awareness amidst a challenging audience

From our CLIENT

It’s amazing having a true partner on board. Far and away your team had personalities and expertise that made a long and sometimes stressful project incredibly engaging for all of us.

Scott Lemmon
Director of Admissions and Enrollment Strategy
Montana University System

16.3M

portal impressions

51,000

website engagements

1,000

clicks to application

The challenge

The Montana University System (16 public higher education institutions) came to us with a multifaceted challenge.

  • MUS asked us to conduct formative research that would help reinvigorate and reposition their brand, and that would inform deeper insights into their audience.

  • MUS also needed a campaign to promote Apply Montana to prospective in-state students and families. Apply Montana is an online portal (created by our brilliant iFactory colleagues) that is home to institutional details, links, admissions applications, and information about financial support for students.





These asks came against the backdrop of an environment in which many people around the country question the value of higher education. In some areas, like Montana, that uncertainty and apprehension is more pronounced: 40% of high school grads in Montana don’t apply to college. Even among those who believe in the value of higher education, many students and families find it presumptive when they’re told that higher education is a viable path forward, given the barriers they face.

Our insights

Socioeconomic and other considerations can be barriers to the pursuit of higher education.

  • Future-self barriers. Many students couldn’t envision themselves as college grads, or they believed that a degree was unattainable for them. Reasons included apprehension about being the first generation to attend college and the impact of community/peer influence.

  • Financial barriers. Many students and parents did not know how they would (or could) pay for an education. Others believed that it was not only unaffordable, but simply not worth the investment: “Why incur debt and pay to go to school when I can work and make good money right now?”

  • Family barriers. In some cases, family-owned businesses were seen as predetermined careers for students; it was assumed that this was the path they would follow.

Our approach

Candid and probing focus groups with students and parents uncovered the valuable insights that helped us craft an approach, a media strategy, and messaging that connected with and engaged prospective students even in this sensitive communications landscape.

Creative projects in support of our efforts included

  • brand identity and logo development
  • website redesign
  • social media micro-videos and paid social media 
  • online display assts
  • out-of-home
  • streaming audio
  • Logo of the Montana University System, representing Montana’s network of public colleges and universities
  • Official logo of the Montana University System representing Montana’s public colleges and universities

We built a media plan that would reach our audience in a targeted manner and deliver measurable metrics. We focused on 

  • driving traffic to the Apply Montana website
  • increasing awareness
  • encouraging application completion

The results

Over the course of two academic cycles, we garnered

  • 16.3 million impressions to the Apply Montana centralized application portal
  • 51,000 engagements across paid media tactics
  • 1,000 clicks to application

The success of our efforts on this important project led to deeper engagement on other initiatives, and we continue to work with MUS on a regular basis.