Promoting CMU’s arts with new strategic partnership
When the university’s School of Drama started planning its 100-year anniversary, it was time to do something big, both to celebrate the anniversary and to increase the visibility of CMU’s award-winning arts programs.
Knowing that dozens of CMU graduates have gone on to win theater’s highest honor, a partnership with the Tony Awards was a natural fit. After the Tony Awards agreed to this unique collaboration, a joint team consisting of the College of Fine Arts, The School of Drama, the Tony Awards and University Communications & Marketing developed a marketing plan targeted at theatre enthusiasts and arts-centric audiences. A new Excellence in Theatre Education Award was also created for the program.
Promoting the partnership, as well as the award, was a team effort with help from nearly every staff member. It paid off. After nationally televised commercials, on-air “Carnegie Mellon University” mentions, hundreds of social media posts around the globe, VIP events, a website touting our CMU alumni nominees and winners, numerous press communications and much more, the program offered a national audience a whole new window into CMU.
Success by the numbers
9.3 million
Twitter impressions
1,000+
print, online and broadcast stories from The Huffington Post, USA Today, Broadway World and more
100,000,000+
branded media mentions
Learn more about the areas of expertise we used with this project:
Executive Communications External Partnerships Graphic Design Media Relations Photography Storytelling Video Web