“Point Park University: where it all comes together” reads several advertisements from the university’s latest advertising campaign launched on Oct. 1. The advertisements have now been flooding students’ Instagram and other social media feeds this past week.
Kalliyan Winder, a sophomore broadcast reporting major, is in one of these advertisements for the criminal justice department. They remember being filmed for an ad, but they thought it was for the Center for Media Innovation (CMI), as they were in the CMI for a news class, and was not told what the filming was for.
“When my friend sent me the ad, I thought it was a joke at first,” Winder said. “But then I was so shocked and embarrassed… I went through the five stages of grief all at once.”
Winder said that they feel used and disrespected because they were the only person of color in the advertisement.
“I find it all extremely disrespectful,” Winder said. “I have been in lots of other promo pictures as well with my other friends of color…If you’re going to tokenize on my race, then at least get my major right.”
Sean O’Hea, a senior mechanical engineering major, was not expecting to see himself in one of the new ads on Youtube. He saw a marketing team film him while he was in class but was unaware of what platform he would see it on.
Marlin Collingwood, vice president of enrollment, management and marketing, was hired this past April and put in charge of the latest ad campaign. He said that the university was in need of new advertisements and brought on a new ad agency.
“I was brought on to assess the current status of our marketing,” Collingwood said. “As you can see, we’ve been different and much more active on social media.”
Back when O’Hea decided to come to the University from Spain four years ago, he said that he did not see any ads to affect his choice of deciding on Point Park.
“It was for the scholarship for soccer,” O’Hea said. “The University is located in the city, so it’s not in the middle of nowhere, we have a lot of options outside school for work and shopping.”
As a student, freshman dance major Skylar Greulich has been receiving the new university ads on her Instagram feed.
“I think it’s a little annoying because I feel like it’s just taking up my feed,” Greulich said. “I’d rather get ads about current stuff that’s happening at the school.”
Collingwood said they decided to target 18- 24-year-olds within two hours of Pittsburgh, which is why the advertisements are all over current students’ social media.
“With this age range, we came up with ‘where it all comes together,’ because that’s what we want to do for students,” Collingwood said. “It’s such a tough age, and we offer something so different by being in Downtown Pittsburgh.”
Greulich said she believes that of the ads she’s seen, they do a good job at showing the artistry that happens at the school and how creative students are.
“I think they do a good job at including diversity,” Greulich said. “Overall I don’t mind them.”
To create the ads, the university hired a camera crew that came to shoot for two days in September. There was also an open call for students to pose for the single shots seen in the advertisements. Students were not matched up with their current major, and Collingwood said that there will be advertisements for all majors and that they are running advertisements on five majors at a time.
“We wanted to focus on our biggest and more broad majors first, then get more specific, as we hope potential students explore Point Park more over time,” Collingwood said. “It seems to be working because our next open house registration is up 25% from last year.”
