United States Coast Guard Academy

Building a class that represents America

Every year thousands of students apply to the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, and only about 260 are chosen to enroll.

The Academy is highly selective. But they wanted to make sure they built an applicant pool and class that represented the geographic and ethnic diversity of America. They reached out to Paskill for help engaging these new prospects.

A new enrollment marketing campaign for a new audience

The Academy’s goal was to increase inquiries and applications from underrepresented minorities for both the Academy and the Academy Introductory Mission (AIM), a weeklong summer visit for high school juniors.

We developed a multimedia, multi-touch enrollment marketing campaign that highlighted cadets who represented the diversity the Academy was looking for. This included a new brand messaging and visual strategy that applied to all collateral, including campus banners, publications, digital campaigns, and enterprise websites.

The best way to show off this new strategy? A redesigned website and traditional and digital marketing tactics that incorporated new imagery and messaging.

We topped it off with a 30-second ESPN spot that received high industry praise and was viewed by a global following of the annual Secretaries’ Cup. A lively tradition of the Academy, this football game attracts fans from across the nation and across the world, including ships miles offshore.

The website was a bigger undertaking. We assessed the Academy’s current web design to optimize it for engagement, search, and conversion, and fully integrated the site with the new marketing and enrollment efforts. We also leveraged in-depth research on prospective and current user needs to create a better user experience.

Improved engagement and a better online community

The result was a lively cadet blogging community, which thousands of prospective cadets surveyed recommended. This live, virtual academy experience for newly admitted cadets featured dynamic video, various speakers from multiple locations, and opportunities for breakout conversations and engagement. Paskill provided blogging training to the Academy’s team to support ongoing blog management.

A year after launching, the site was recognized with an Educational Advertising Award. Its performance is equally impressive: doubling returning visitors, dramatically reducing bounces, and increasing visits to key admissions pages.