Throughout my time at UW–Madison, one of my primary internal partners has been the office of State Relations. One of the most important duties of my team within University Communications (now Strategic Communications) is, especially at the height of the budget cycle, to help secure the strongest possible capital and operating budget for UW–Madison.
Entering into the 2023-25 budget cycle, a new building for the College of Engineering was a top capital priority for the university. In June 2023, it was a surprise and a disappointment that the state legislature didn’t include the funding needed for this project—the benefit to the state seemed obvious, and a huge coalition of Wisconsinites, organizations, and businesses supported the request. However, there was a continued push to secure the building funds (as well as funding for other expenditures including employee pay packages).
University leadership had already adopted a new approach going into 2023. Historically, there was a distinct separation between official UW–Madison channels and those owned by the Wisconsin Foundation & Alumni Association (WFAA). WFAA is and has been an unapologetic advocate for UW–Madison with its vast audience of alumni and friends of UW–Madison, while the university itself adopted a more informational voice. In 2023, however, staff in University Marketing and University Communications were given the OK to use more persuasive language and clear calls to action across paid, earned, and owned media to rally public support. In the fall of 2023, we made a concerted push that was ultimately successful.
My role: In the 2023 budget campaign, and in a followup campaign in the fall of 2023, I managed social media advertising targeted to members of the public in specific areas of the state, in order to influence their state legislators. I ran ads that were targeted to specific geographic locations whenever possible. University Marketing digital staff created initial visuals for each ad, which I refined and then culled based on effectiveness. I wrote copy based on overall campaign language and coordinated timing and audience selection with State Relations staff.
Results: See my spring 2023 digital ad report and pages six and seven of the overall fall 2023 Engineering campaign report. The fall campaign resulted in five and a half million digital impressions, a CASE Circle of Excellence Grand Gold award, and, of course, funding for a new engineering facility. Read a summary from CASE here.
I’ve run a number of other digital ad campaigns at UW–Madison, but I am especially proud to have been part of the team that brought this effort to the finish line.