VITRO Honored in the 2018 Comm Arts Illustration Annual

By VITRO

05.01.18

6 MIN READ

VITRO Honored in the 2018 Comm Arts Illustration Annual

VITRO’s campaign for Brandman University was just selected across thousands of entries to be featured in the 2018 Communication Arts Illustration Annual.

“This makes me so happy, words cannot even describe my joy,” said Roger Lee, Chief Marketing Officer at Brandman University.

As much as we’d like to say that we hear this all the time from our clients, this one stands out. For Roger, a graphic designer in a previous life, seeing his brand featured in the pages of Communication Arts, is “a #lifegoal”. That’s because it’s one of the highest honors in the graphic design world. Out of thousands of international submissions, only a select few are chosen by Communication Arts each year.

Even better, the Brandman campaign was the only one featured on the magazine cover.

“It is always nice to receive positive recognition for our work, but this is truly special,” says John Vitro, Creative Chairman.

Using a more thoughtful illustration style

With Brandman University, we wanted a creative campaign that could match the institution’s commitment to helping adult students succeed. In fact, Brandman University has one of the highest graduation rates in the country among online colleges. We needed an approach that was as thoughtful as it was differentiating.

The campaign relies on illustrations that create fantastical situations to bring a student’s journey to life using metaphor.

The unique illustrative style allowed us to tell the brand’s story in a sophisticated way that stood out within an increasingly crowded category.

“We wanted to connect with students in an unexpected way that elevated Brandman University, maintaining its reputation as a premium online university,” states Brian Dunaway, the Executive Creative Director overseeing the campaign. “We also wanted the work to have soul.”

Working to drive enrollments for the university

The campaign has not only received creative accolades, but it has also helped Brandman University to grow its enrollments. With VITRO’s additional support in the redesign of the university’s website, Brandman.edu, the campaign and optimized user experience worked together to drive the following core results:

2, 223 new students, exceeding enrollment goals for three consecutive sessions
73% increase in intent to apply
4% increase in lead form submissions

Result time frame: October 25, 2017 – December 25, 2017

These kind of results underscore the value of breakthrough creative to build brands that stand out from the crowd, and data-driven web experiences that optimize conversion online.

Explore additional campaign illustrations below: