Our Lady of the Lake University needed a recruitment campaign that could honor its history, speak to a changing generation of students, and express the deeply personal value of seeing a future for yourself. Key Ideas helped bring that vision to life through research, brand storytelling, commercial production, and digital advertising.
Service
Higher education marketing
Format
Commercial campaign and digital advertising
Focus
Student recruitment and multicultural branding
The Challenge
OLLU is one of the country’s early Hispanic-serving institutions, with a legacy rooted in education, service, and access. Under President Dr. Abel A. Chávez, the university began a new chapter and needed a campaign that felt contemporary without losing the cultural meaning and community relationships that make OLLU distinctive.
Our Approach
Working with multicultural marketing leader Lionel Sosa, Key Ideas conducted focus groups with current students and prospective students from San Antonio high schools. Their hopes, questions, and aspirations shaped “The Reflection of You,” a concept inspired by Elmendorf Lake and the idea that OLLU can help students see their own potential more clearly.
What We Delivered
- Student and prospective-student focus groups
- Campaign strategy and creative concept
- Four commercial films
- Digital advertising assets
- Print and outdoor campaign materials
- Production, editing, and post-production
OLLU is more than a place to learn; it is a reflection of the future each student can see for themselves.
The Outcome
The campaign created a cohesive recruitment platform across broadcast, digital, print, and outdoor media. Its signature image—a student seeing their reflection wearing a graduation cap—turned the university’s promise into a simple visual idea: the future is not abstract when students can recognize themselves in it.
