Fayetteville : UA’s ad drive targets black, Hispanic teens
Posted on Monday, July 31, 2006
Television commercials and radio spots are now playing in select areas around the state with the new slogan, “University of Arkansas, Make a Move Now.”
They are the first elements of a $ 300, 000 advertising campaign by Advantage Communications Inc. Officials at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville announced in May they had hired the firm to develop the campaign aimed at attracting more members of minority groups to the state’s flagship campus.
After statewide market research, the Little Rock-based marketing, advertising and public relations firm has developed an advertising campaign to include television, radio and print media.
Michael Steele, Advantage’s president and chief executive officer, said the company also is working on a fourth element to link potential students directly with UA officials. “The Razorback Workshops” are in the works for August and September in Little Rock, Pine Bluff, El Dorado and Helena-West Helena.
The four-hour workshops will be geared at likely collegebound students in grades nine through 12, offering them an opportunity to learn about UA, degree programs offered, admission requirements and ways to improve college applications. Representatives of ACT Inc. will be on hand to tell students about the college placement exam and encourage them to take the test early, Steele said.
“The intent is to try and reach those students that don’t receive the information, but that really need it,” Steele said. “We want to close the communications gap on preparation for college.”
Through the workshops, the company hopes to create a database of 200 to 300 teenagers with whom the university can maintain contact as they undergo the process of selecting a college or university.
“Our role is to create a flow into the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville,” he said.
Advantage produced two 30-second TV commercials targeting the black community, featuring UA students, professors and recent graduates.
Steele said they are being shown on stations statewide, but most frequently in central Arkansas and other parts of the state with the highest concentrations of black residents. The company selected stations and air times based around programs geared at blacks, he said.
The same is true for 60-second radio commercials being aired on about a dozen urban radio stations around Arkansas. The commercials were aired heavily during the NBA finals because research showed almost a third of the audience was black, said Ra A. Hearne, an account executive with Advantage.
The company also has designed radio and print advertisements to appeal to the Hispanic community that will appear primarily in Northwest Arkansas, Steele said.
Ebony Oliver, business planning manager for General Mills Inc., is one of the UA graduates highlighted in television, radio and print advertisements. She graduated from the Sam M. Walton College of Business in 2003 with a bachelor’s degree in business administration. Oliver said she became involved with the campaign after meeting Steele and others from Advantage Communications during a university banquet in April.
“I just think it’s great that the university is trying to reach out and cater to students from different backgrounds,” said the Fort Smith native.
While her experience at UA was positive, Oliver said the campus could use more members of minority groups. It’s a problem that Chancellor John A. White has identified as a “top institutional priority” and one the advertising campaign is intended to help.
Of the 17, 821 students enrolled at UA in fall 2005, 982 or 5. 5 percent were black and 372 or 2. 1 percent were Hispanic.
By comparison, blacks made up 17 percent of the 11, 896 students enrolled at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in fall 2005, while Hispanics comprised 1. 1 percent of its student body. Statewide, blacks were 15. 3 percent of the population and Hispanics were 4. 4 percent of the population in 2004, according to the latest U. S. Census Bureau estimates.
Eplurivus West is a 1993 UA graduate and publisher of XII Magazine, a national urban lifestyle magazine based in Kansas City, Mo. During his time at the university, West served as vice president of the Black Student Association and spoke with university administrators about the need to bring more minority group members to the Fayetteville campus.
“I don’t know that the administration at the time had a grasp that those issues existed,” he said. “From the student perspective, that can be quite a culture shock when you don’t have faculty or other students you can relate to.”
Oliver said she thinks that is why a lot of black students from around the state choose to go elsewhere.
In addition to Oliver, the advertisements feature other UA students, graduates and faculty members such as UA journalism professor Gerald B. Jordan and Donald C. Bland, retired Wal-Mart Stores Inc. executive.
West said he sees the campaign as a “significant move” by the state’s flagship university in appealing to blacks and Hispanics.
Roy Cordell, associate director of publications and creative services at UA University Relations, said the university traditionally has not invested in TV or radio advertising because of the high cost. “The need to increase diversity is such a priority that it’s worth it,” he said. “It’s a matter of what’s most important.” G. David Gearhart, UA vice chancellor for university advancement, said the university has a 12-month contract with Advantage, after which the campaign will be evaluated and a decision made to continue. The campaign is funded with donations from alumni, other individuals, foundations and corporations. University off icials are pleased with what they’ve seen. “So far so good,” Gearhart said. “We just hope it produces students, because that’s the goal.”
To contact this reporter: cpark@arkansasonline. com
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