Dr. Douglas Kneale, interim president of the University of Windsor, announces their new marketing campaign on November 2, 2018. Photo by Mark Brown/Blackburn News.Dr. Douglas Kneale, interim president of the University of Windsor, announces their new marketing campaign on November 2, 2018. Photo by Mark Brown/Blackburn News.
Windsor

U of W's new ad campaign a "declaration of confidence"

The University of Windsor is seeking new heights with a new marketing campaign.

The school launched its "Windsor Proud" initiative at its Welcome Centre on Friday, a campaign designed to showcase the advances the university has already made, and describe its appeal to students in Canada and abroad, primarily through the own words of some of its students.

A series of billboards and placards are already showing up around Windsor-Essex featuring these students, and the campaign will be rolling out in movie theatres, social media, and traditional advertisements covering an area spanning Windsor, southern Ontario, the Toronto-area, and the Detroit-area.

An exuberant Dr. Douglas Kneale, interim president and vice-chancellor at U of W, said the recruitment is geared toward finding people who can help the school reach a level higher than the one it has attained so far.

"We are looking to recruit the best and brightest students; the best and brightest staff and faculty.  It is really a declaration of confidence in things we are already doing here, and we just need to get that message out to the world," said Kneale.

The university is using this campaign as a way to show off what they have done over the past few years, with new campus buildings, parking facilities, and an expansion of its social work and creative arts programs into the downtown area. U of W is also hoping to capitalize on the rebirth of Windsor's neighbour, Detroit.

The previous campaign, "Promise", was designed to encourage people to change the conversation about the university. Since then, enrollment is up to what Kneale called a "healthy and robust" 16,000. He said the "Windsor Proud" campaign is the encore.

"We're just really reinforcing the message that is already here," said Kneale. "We're getting out in a confident and assertive way to say 'look at all the things that we are making, building here in Windsor, and have been since 1857.'"

1857 is the date the school's predecessor, Assumption College, was founded. It joined forces with the secular university in 1963.

The ad campaign is being brought centre stage as the university holds its annual fall open house Saturday. It takes place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and complete information is available at the school's official website.

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