Universities and universities continue to compete for the attention of countless platforms. This scattering method is usually at the cost of cohesion. But just adding more content (in many campuses’ decentralized environments) is not a solution to deeper strategic and targeted challenges. In the famous words of Merry Baskin, “Like a shark, a brand must move forward or die.” For colleges and universities, this long-term movement began with a core operational principle with brave strategic creativity and created a system with higher education marketing leaders to ensure everyone is moving in the right direction.
I think creativity continues to drive business value, but it is difficult to invest in intangible assets when the budget remains static. Therefore, our focus is not only to prove that creativity increases value, but also to show how investing in it can maximize the value it creates. We need a framework that enables senior ER marketing leaders to build a system that defines and embeds the creativity culture between teams. This will help the team create more effective work and work with the agency to support the agency’s goals.
Building on Warc’s creative ladder and built in a loose way, this three-photo framework not only helps marketing leaders inspire creativity, but also systematizes it as a common approach. First, define the meaning of creativity in our unique institutional environment, rather than a loose collection of thoughts. Then, develop systems, characters, and languages that bring that definition to life. Finally, these practices are spread across teams and departments, integrating creativity into the structure of institutional strategies.
Step 1: Define
First, build the foundation for creative effects by combining the meaning of creativity, how to measure and why it is important. This will make metrics, principles and strategic outcomes clear, so creative work can be evaluated with a purpose.
Create a common set of key measures to achieve creative effects
Marketing leaders must establish clear, agency-specific metrics to show what effective creativity looks like. No matter how strict the approach is, consistent application and ensuring consistency in these measures are most important. Example measures include:
- Brand Memories: Do potential students or alumni remember the institution’s name after seeing the ad? This shows a clear connection to the brand.
- Uniqueness score: In focus groups, ask audiences to compare your marketing with peers – do your work stand out or find it universal? Regardless of the medium, attention is the first obstacle to more effective work.
Determine the principles of creativity
The principle of identifying creativity means articulating the core beliefs and standards that guide all creative work throughout the institution. These principles are guardrails – ensuring that creativity is consistent, purposeful and consistent with institutional values. When widely understood and adopted, they help the team evaluate work objectively and make more confident, collaborative decisions. An example could be a directional:
- Brand standout: The brand or brand must appear within the first three seconds.
- Unique assets: Always use the school’s iconic palette, fonts and photography styles (even on social platforms) to maintain visual recognition. Keep the brand, not the trend.
- Dedicated to creativity: Over time, use longer durations, more media channels and consistent storytelling to drive cumulative impact.
- Emotional truth wins: Sports should be emotionally connected to the audience; real students’ stories usually exceed statistics.
Measure key measures of marketing KPI effectiveness
Marketing leaders should use participation-based metrics to evaluate creative work, such as time on the page, video exchange rate, social savings, and content share. These go beyond impressions and can resonate truly and provide a common set of indicators for effective creativity in practice.
Step 2: Development
Once effectiveness is clearly defined, leadership can build internal systems to support and extend it. This stage is about ensuring that the team is capable of performing in practice.
Identify the key roles in the organization
First develop a network of collaborators: content producers, enrollment leaders, progressive partners, institutional researchers and/or agent teams. Draw who has creative influence throughout the institution and define the role they play in shaping, supporting and evaluating creative work. Clarity will enhance contributors’ capabilities and strengthen accountability.
Create a shared language for evaluation
Marketing leaders need a consistent, responsive way to evaluate creative work. By building intentionally check-in throughout the creative process, teams can replace feelings with shared languages, enhancing feedback and improving results.
There are three phases of assessment that leaders should consider:
- predict: Introduce a lightweight, consistent approach to testing creative ideas. This may include a fast student feedback loop in major markets, internal rating titles or pilot tests.
- platform: Concentrate creative assets, guidelines and effectiveness learning into a shared, accessible platform.
- pulse: Establish a regular rhythm to review the performance of creative work that is perceived within and within the market.
Step 3: Diffusion
With creativity definition and the right system, the final step is to spread this culture throughout the institution. To drive true institutional value, creativity must be shared, socialized and expanded among departments, disciplines and decision makers.
Identify key working groups to provide creativity workshops
First determine the registration, progress, student life, and academic units of key teams or departments (including public information or student experience). Bring them into the fold through collaborative workshops to unravel creative principles, showcase examples of effective work, and introduce shared evaluation tools.
Develop a measurement framework that is consistent with department-level KPIs
Creativity becomes powerful when creativity measures its effectiveness in context. This means helping departments or units connect creative performance with their goals – whether it is increasing attendance in student events, increasing openness of fundraising emails or increasing reputation scores for new academic programs. By co-creating a simple measurement framework with each team, marketing leaders take creativity as a strategic asset.
Create a top-notch repository for cross-campus learning
Finally, celebrate and expand what works. Create a lively archive of outstanding creative work, from bold campaigns to cluttered social posts that bring results. Share the background story: What is the challenge? Any ideas? What impact does it have? This becomes a source of inspiration, a tool to gain access to new team members, and a practical way to strengthen these new values.
By defining the meaning of creativity, developing systems that support it and spreading its value throughout the campus, marketing leaders can turn creativity into measurable, repeatable, effective drivers.
