Campus Communicators is a group of communication, marketing, design, and development professionals from various UH System colleges, departments, and business units. Meetings are held the third Wednesday of each month to spread information, discuss university and system initiatives, and contribute to policy making. If you would like to be involved in the group and attend meetings, please contact Brandy Holmes.

Attended the 04/17/2013 Meeting:

Minutes from April's Meeting

04/17/13

• Weekly email updates are being sent.

• If you are interested in receiving these updates (via listserv), please email Colleen Walsh.

• Weekly meetings begin next week and will cover items such as unsubscribe and subscribe pages.

• You should have received your login information by now for training.

• Training is available online only and needs to be completed by the end of May (May dates now available).

• Images have been exported for the President's Office and the University Advancement department, if you want any images or links, please save these or host them on another site prior to the migration as they will not be live with the roll-out.

• Currently working with Promoversity to get the web site ready. Launch parties are tentatively scheduled for May 30-31, during which they will be able to show us how to use the online tools.

• The online (customizable) merchandise store is a preferred vendor from Barnes & Noble.

• This vendor will eliminate the need to obtain ad approval for promotional items available through the web site. Ad approval will be conducted through Promoversity upon ordering the merchandise. 

• 160over90 is a branding agency out of Philadelphia, PA.

• To date, they have presented the visual concept to the Deans, UA Leadership, the President, the Marketing & Communication team, and the Steering Committee.

• The design isn’t final and is conceptual at this point.

• 160over90 will be sharing with everyone via “town hall “sessions in May (exact dates are TBD); please invite anyone that ‘touches the brand’ to come and provide feedback; these sessions are informal and will be presented for those available to attend at the times given.

• 160over90 will be here for ‘brand camps’ in August (exact dates are TBD), equipping us with tools we need  (i.e., “how does this look and sound” depending on who is using it).

Marketing News-Karen Clarke’s Departure

• Karen Clarke has joined Temple University as the VP of Strategic Marketing; we are saddened for her departure, but happy for her and this amazing opportunity.

• Interim VP is Richard Bonnin (current head of the Media Relations team).

• The marketing dept. thanks everyone for their patience during this interim phase as schedules are juggled. Current projects are still being tended to.

• A national search is being conducted for a quick replacement for Karen.

Development Communications

• Development Communications is housed within the Marketing team; its primary task is to support fundraising initiatives and focus on the upcoming capital campaign.

• We are currently transitioning into campaign mode (priorities, strategies, and messaging).

• Projects that development communications manage include President correspondence and proposals.

• You are the primary contact for Dean’s letters. Many of you already provide this service to your Deans so we may defer these requests to you. If this is not the case, let us know.

• Fundraising proposals are divided into two categories (2 templates available for less than $5M, custom proposals for more than $5M and case-by-case scenarios); these have specific word counts and short/long versions available to use via PC or iPad.

• This presentation was made to the development group about 3 weeks ago and received positive feedback.

• We’ve shared the fulfillment site, where these resources are housed, with the development officers and staff.

• You can reach any member of the development communications team at dct@uh.edu.

Development/Gift Planning Open Position

• Marketing is searching for a marketing contract (short term) position. If you know of anyone please contact Liz Stephens.

• This is a 3 to 6 month contract position (40 hours/week) with the potential to become full-time.

• It’s beneficial if the candidate has a background in planned giving, higher education, non-profit, and/or marketing & communications.

• Telecommuting may be possible for this position, but not 100% of the time.

Economic Impact Study

• The purpose of the study is to show UH's impact on the Greater Houston area.

• Last study was conducted in 2006 and we are using the same researcher for this year’s study.

• UH’s impact was positive (growth) in jobs.

• Findings will be promoted via social media and website.

• The study will present ways to share with faculty and push to audiences.

• Projected date of completion is mid-end May and promotion of results will begin at that point.

 Gelb Survey

• Thank you for all who filled out the Gelb Survey (Jan 31-Feb 24).

• Top-level data was reviewed. The benchmark was last year’s study.

• This survey had a good overall response rate. However, business communities’ response rate was low.

• UH is making significant strides and is working to close the gap with Rice.

• The study indicated that alumni and business leaders have the highest level of satisfaction.

• The UH alumni experience continues to improve compared to 2011.

• Groups surveyed indicated that they want more department newsletters and UH magazines and fewer arts and athletics (i.e., they want more relevant content). The study indicated that the frequency of messages is great.

• This information (PPT presentation) is not available online, but if you would like a copy, please email Brandy Holmes.