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Pivoting Campaign Communications

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Capital Campaign Communications

Pivoting Campaign Communications

Launching a capital campaign is an important and involved undertaking for an institution. With multiple objectives, phases, and audiences, it is imperative that all campaign communications be clear, strategic, and engaging. Equally important, the campaign’s theme must offer a promise that rallies the entire community.

For its most recent capital campaign, the Office of Strategic Relations at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute engaged 2communiqué to develop a campaign brand that captures the culture of RPI. This brand would then be executed in a suite of communications that connect the college’s advancement officers with prospective donors. To ensure a clear and focused editorial approach, we partnered with Mark Sheehy Creative.

The intake meeting with key stakeholders revealed our creative direction—pair quantitative outcomes with an emotional appeal. Through the theme “Transformative: Campaign for Global Change,” we developed an energetic and forward-looking identity featuring dynamic rules and minimal typography.

Campaign communications must be clear, strategic, and cohesive.
RPI tranformative logo
Dynamic rules represented the feeling of transformation.

Rather than relying heavily on printed materials to communicate with donors, we moved important content to the campaign website. This allows advancement officers to easily share targeted information in an interactive, digital environment.

rpi web initiatives ipad
Formerly printed materials were moved to a digital format to allow for ease of access.

Capital campaign communications began with an email introduction, connecting recipients to the new website, which also features first-person stories illustrating the priorities of the campaign and associated outcomes. Paired with important statistics, these personal narratives provide a balance of qualitative and quantitative data—a compelling approach for the RPI community.

The website also features a campaign video with energetic music, a confident narrative, and inspirational visuals. This video premiered on the evening of the campaign launch.

As we still believed it was important to include a high-quality print element as part of the campaign suite, the case statement was designed to sit as a gift inside a dynamic cover that reveals outcomes from the previous campaign. Storytelling continues throughout the piece with student, alumni, and faculty profiles, persuasive statistics, and powerful portrait photography.

From the website and case statement to the event signage and interactive alumni invitation, the comprehensive brand “Transformative: Campaign for Global Change” is as bold and progressive as the campaign itself.

The suite of communications needs to consider the user experience.

The campaign is on track to meet its $1 billion goal.

Recognition: UCDA Design Excellence Awards for Campaign Strategy; AAF Albany Ad Club Bronze and Silvers for Integrated Campaign; MARCOM Gold Award

“I loved working with 2communiqué—they are a high-quality team focused on results. The brand they developed was spot-on. It inspired other communications for the campaign and energized the campus.”

—Richie Hunter, VP of Strategic Communications and External Relations, RPI

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