As Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications, it was one of my responsibilities to coordinate Brebeuf Jesuit’s spring scholarship program under the guidance of the Vice President for Advancement and Enrollment in 2021, 2022, and in a supportive role to the Business Office in 2023.
Read MoreBrebeuf Jesuit Capital Campaign Video Series
Position: Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications, Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School
The Final Push to the Capital Campaign Goal
The B-T-S Story
This particular video was multi-purpose:
Fundraising: We needed something warm-and-fuzzy that would tug at the Brebeuf community’s heartstrings (and wallets) at our annual Bistro fundraiser. After all, we had a Capital Campaign goal to reach!
Admissions: We wanted a video we could share with prospective families to communicate what it feels like to be a student at Brebeuf Jesuit, directly from the mouths of current Brebeuf students.
With productions like this, my boss Mike and I usually had a clear concept before we began—for instance, students read letters written to them by their teachers, or we’d hang a giant sheet of paper in the hallway and invite students to write “What Brave Looks Like” to them. This project…was a different story.
Even after a full week of brainstorming, we really didn’t know what this video would turn out to be. We went into filming day with nothing more than a few interview questions for our students and the smallest glimmer of hope that everything would fall into place.
One of our questions was fill-in-the-blank: “To me, Brebeuf is ______.” Without prompting and completely independently from one another, not one, not two, but three of our students responded to this question with, "home." This isn't language we've ever used to describe Brebeuf. Community? Definitely. That students feel "known" here? Absolutely. But "home?” Not even once. So it was absolutely remarkable to us that our students responded this way. How amazing is that?
Please enjoy hearing from Madison, Quin, Malia, Savannah, Max, Abby, Alex, Ahmed, and Ethan about what Brebeuf is to them!
The videos below followed “Brebeuf Is…” in a series of campaign messages we shared with the Brebeuf Jesuit community via email and social media to update them on our progress and to encourage additional giving in pursuit of our $15 million goal.
"What Does Brave Look Like?" Video Project
"What does brave look like?" I was lucky enough to produce this video for Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School, where we asked a number of students, faculty, and staff members this question.
Read More"60ish Seconds With..." Social Media and YouTube Series
Position: Assistant Director of Marketing and Communications, Brebeuf Jesuit Preparatory School
The Background
The backstory to these videos makes them even more ridiculous than they already seem on the surface. Especially post-pandemic, students, teachers, and families felt extra tired and drained, and who can blame them? In response, my lovely boss Mike Higginbotham was relentless in trying to come up with some sort of silly, lighthearted video series to re-energize our community. So, we did what only the most logical of marketing professionals would do in this situation: we bought a prize wheel off of Amazon, of course!
First came the prize wheel, then came the questions:
How on Earth does one incorporate a prize wheel into school-related videos in a way that makes sense?
What prizes does one include on a prize wheel?
How does one get the Gaming Commission to approve a prize wheel?
I wish I were joking when I say Mike and I spent months trying to get this project off the ground, but that is precisely why they pay us the big bucks! After weeks of very serious meetings between Mike, me, Mike’s boss Jamie, and Brebeuf’s amazing Controller Chloe - who so graciously worked with the Gaming Commission to get us the green light for our crazy idea - we were ready to go!
The Framing
As we started filming these videos, we framed them as a fun way not only to celebrate Brebeuf’s recent 60th anniversary, but also to see what we could learn about Brebeuf faculty and staff members in about a minute's time. That being said, we didn’t want to be limited by a strict 60-second rule, so we slapped an “ish” onto the end of our timer for added flexibility. Thus, the 60ish Seconds With concept was born!
The Interviews
Our goal was to get to know our faculty and staff beyond the walls of the classroom. With this in mind, interviews involved a series of hard-hitting, journalistic questions, including, but certainly not limited to:
Would you rather fight 100 duck-sized horses, or 1 horse-sized duck?
What is the most ridiculous thing you believed as a child?
What does your perfect sandwich look like?
And as a way for us to thank each of our interviewees for spending time with us, they had the distinct privilege of spinning the world-renowned, state-of-the-art Brebeuf Jesuit Prize Wheel.
The Outcome
We posted these videos across YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram, and they turned out to perform best on Instagram reels.
Here’s the interesting part: this series was uniquely effective at engaging an audience that is notoriously difficult to engage: members of the classes of 2017-2022. We routinely received comments and messages from recent graduates sharing how much they loved these videos, how much they missed Brebeuf, and how much they loved Mrs. DeMoss’s or Mr. Mayer’s classes when they were students. It was an unexpected outcome for this series that was really exciting to see!
The Videos
Total views on YouTube + Instagram: 4,927 and counting
Total views on YouTube + Instagram: 7,864 and counting
Total views on YouTube + Instagram: 3,850 and counting
Total views on YouTube + Instagram: 4,336 and counting
Total views on YouTube + Instagram: 4,067 and counting
Total views on YouTube + Instagram: 4,236 and counting
Total views on YouTube + Instagram: 3,688 and counting
Total views on YouTube + Instagram: 2,954 and counting
Total views on YouTube + Instagram: 3,897 and counting
COVID-19 Social Dist-Dance Videos
At the beginning of the pandemic, Brebeuf Jesuit’s marketing department conceptualized two fun, lighthearted videos to share with the wider school community. The goal was to spread some joy in an otherwise scary, uncertain time, and when I worked for Brebeuf in a freelance capacity, I had the privilege of editing these two videos together.
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