Colorado State University won five awards from the Colorado chapter of the Public Relations Society of America on Aug. 25, including a Gold Pick in the “Influencer Marketing” category for the vlog campaign “A Ram’s Life.”
“A Ram’s Life” also won a Silver Pick in the category “Macro-Influencer Marketing,” and the recently revamped CSU Magazine website was awarded a Silver Pick as well.
CSU’s Social and Digital Media team took home two additional awards: A Silver Pick for “Getting Social with Colorado State” in the category “Best Use of Social Media,” and a Silver Pick for “Earth Month at Colorado State” in the category “Best Use of Video.”
The latest honors come on the heels of an Excellence Award in the “Video in Social Media Campaign” category from the University and College Designers Association for the “Charging Forward” spot by CSU videographer Ben Ward and members of CSU’s MarComm team. The spot made its debut at CSU’s home football opener in September 2021 and aired during CSU’s NCAA broadcasts of football and men’s basketball games this past year. It features several of CSU’s top rankings as well as footage of students participating in activities on campus.
‘A Ram’s Life’
The vlog “A Ram’s Life” follows CSU students Grace Crangle, Ryan Haynes, Alex Hey and Jamie Ittershagen as they take viewers through their daily lives as college students. From move-in to the first day of classes to cooking mac and cheese to getting a tattoo, the students shared everything about their college experience with viewers. Since launching the vlog in 2019, “A Ram’s Life” has gained nearly 13,000 subscribers, has 2.3 million video views and nearly 21.5 million impressions. The best results, however, came from the videos that have connected with prospective students to help them make the big decision to come to CSU.
CSU Magazine
The CSU Magazine website, which was reimagined and built by the magazine’s art director, Ashley Everett, and Kevin Bickel of the CSU Web Communications team, received the award in PRSA Colorado’s “Websites” category. The fully accessible site showcases a number of multimedia features to enhance readers’ enjoyment of stories in the print magazine while also providing an engaging online experience on its own, and was launched in March to coincide with publication of the Spring 2022 issue. It will be updated with content from the Fall issue in September.
‘Best Use of Social Media’ award
CSU’s in-house team of social and digital media strategists, video producers, photographers, SEO and data analyst, and student co-creators deploy data-informed decisions to elevate the brand and reputation of CSU through owned social media channels while meeting and engaging audiences where they are within the digital realm.
Media consumption trends have been accelerated by the pandemic, and audiences turned online for information, entertainment and connection. Digital audiences want stories shaped for them, not only containing the information they want, but also in a style format optimized by their preferred platform. This is where the CSU social team shines, earning the Silver Pick in the “Best Use of Social Media” category.
Earth Month entry
To earn the final Silver Pick, Hannah Tran, senior social and digital media specialist, and the team produced several videos for Earth Month 2022, highlighting CSU’s work in sustainability across various dimensions, from research to campus operations. The educational and entertaining videos demonstrated how Colorado State leads with a solution-based mindset to boldly address pressing, global issues with optimism and grit.
In addition to those accolades, CSU marketing and communications efforts yielded two Telly Awards and several honors from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education this summer.
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