How higher education marketers can win students with new creative approaches and media strategies
AdAge | April 7, 2026
by Lindsay Rittenhouse
The University of North Carolina late last year unveiled a campaign touting its aim to be first across everything, including academics and athletics, and outlining how it benefits the state overall. This pivot from the typical higher education ads showing students strolling perfectly landscaped campuses isn’t an anomaly. It’s part of a trend as colleges and universities rethink how they’re advertising to donors, alumni and especially prospective students.
This fresh approach is carrying through to website overhauls, media choices and branding messages that speak to more than just academics. The shift comes as soon-to-be high school graduates question the value of a higher education degree and the industry faces a “demographic cliff” that projects a steady decline in college-aged students due to Americans having fewer babies since the Great Recession of 2007-2009. Some schools also face unwanted attention due to political scrutiny of policies perceived as progressive by the Trump administration.
“The cost of higher education has soared. It’s getting harder and harder for people to justify the cost and so you’ve got this value skepticism. There are a lot of people founding tech companies right out of high school. People are going to trade schools,” said Ken Pasternak, chief strategy officer and executive VP of TwoxFour, the ad agency that created the UNC campaign.
“The stakes are getting really, really high,” he said, especially considering the cost.
Most higher education marketers are trying to convince students to spend four years of their lives and $38,270 a year on average to attend their universities, said Jessica Vincent, president of independent agency Cornett, which has a long partnership with the University of Kentucky.
It’s not an easy task, as higher ed marketers are working with tighter budgets and complex, risk-averse organizations steeped in layers of bureaucracy. Some universities are finding ways to break through creatively. The guide below explains how to do that, based on interviews with 17 experts.
Lead with culture and identity, not rankings
Mercy University is relying on creativity to carve out a distinct identity in what Chris Connelly, its associate VP of marketing and analytics, calls “a sea of sameness.” The New York-based school undertook a major marketing overhaul in 2023, when it rebranded from Mercy College.
“There’s a very high likelihood of seeing something indistinct in this industry that you could slap any logo on,” said Connelly, who joined from Benjamin Moore & Co.’s marketing team in 2018. “We need to make sure that when somebody sees Mercy University, they know it’s Mercy University.”
Mercy’s rebrand kicked off with an ad that played up its Mavericks mascot. In the spot, created by Familiar Creatures, a college-aged girl finds a wild horse on a side street in Brooklyn. She proceeds to tame and ride the horse, with a voiceover asking: “What makes a Maverick? The world isn’t made for mavericks, but Mercy University is.”
That ad, which was shot in Brooklyn with a horse and trainer from “Game of Thrones,” was directed by Cuba Scott, granddaughter of Ridley Scott, recalled Justin Bajan, co-founder of Familiar Creatures. Mercy University followed that feat with several out-of-the-box campaigns. Its “Every Moment Matters” brand platform focuses on the student’s full journey, including navigating relationships with professors and roommates, Connelly said.
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