CONTACT:
Mike Lurie
Office: 410-455-6380
Cellphone: 443-695-0262
mlurie@umbc.edu

Oct. 16, 2007

BALTIMORE -- After welcoming a record 12,000 new and returning students this fall, UMBC plans to build on its success with an advertising campaign that aims to have even more people experience the public research campus.

The campaign, developed by Baltimore marketing and design firm idfive, will launch October 15 with a television ad in the Baltimore and Washington markets. The spot – titled “Learn More” – offers a highly visual 30-second tour showing the surprising range of students, professors, programs and activities on campus. The commercial also uses an animated map to emphasize the campus’s location near BWI airport.

The television ad can be viewed by clicking http://www.idfive.com/clients/umbc/30sec_spot/

“When people visit UMBC, they are amazed by the energy of the campus and the variety of opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students alike,” says Lisa Akchin, associate vice president for marketing and public relations. “The campaign will accelerate this process by bringing the campus to the attention of many more people.”

The new advertising message is part of a three-year, $2.2 million marketing investment made by the university to build undergraduate enrollment and attract more students to professional master’s and certificate programs. The campus, already well-known for its science and engineering programs, especially seeks to build the number of students enrolled in humanities, arts and social sciences programs, says Akchin.

Sean Carton, idfive’s chief strategy officer and a 1990 graduate of UMBC, is especially eager to get the word out that students at the campus get a great education and have fun doing it. “To know UMBC is to love it,” says the former English major turned entrepreneur. “As people learn more about the UMBC experience, they’ll love it too.”