THE VALUE OF HIGHER EDUCATION

 

Marketing campaign through the university of nebraska system

The “Value of Higher Education” campaign aims to build affinity in Nebraskans, through Nebraskans—in their communities, career fields and areas of interest. By sharing the lived experiences and testimonials of Nebraskans who have been impacted by the power of higher education, we will educate those with less affinity how the university supports all Nebraska communities—not just by granting college degrees, but by making a real, tangible impact in research, extension and outreach.

VIEW CAMPAIGN WEBSITE

In August 2025, Gallup reported that only 35% of Americans now believe a college education is “very important”—down from 70% in 2013 (Saad, 2025). The share of Americans who say college is “not too important” has quadrupled in 15 years (Saad, 2025).


Americans hold mixed views on the values of college. “At a time when many Americans are questioning the value of a four-year college degree, economic outcomes for young adults without a degree are improving” (Fry, et al., 2024).



And federal cuts to research funding can have rippling impacts beyond our higher education institutions themselves. “For decades, federal investments in research have led to new cures, driven economic growth, and strengthened national security. Proposed funding cuts, grant terminations, and funding freezes put our economy, our quality of life, and our safety at risk” (AAU, 2025).



This is not merely a communications challenge; it is a mission-critical issue that affects public support, enrollment, policymaking, and workforce pipelines. We are confronting not just a marketing challenge, but a societal trend: public trust in the value of higher education is waning. Our campaign addresses this head-on: not by talking about the university, but by showing how higher education transforms lives, families, and communities. In doing so, we position our university system as both relevant and essential to Nebraska’s future.


Through short-form, authentic testimonials—delivered in a style and tone that feels native to platforms like Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts—we will highlight lived experiences that demonstrate the tangible, personal, and local value of higher education.

Mia's role in the campaign

I served as both the website creator and video editor for the University of Nebraska System’s “Value of Higher Education” campaign, helping ensure its message was effectively delivered.


I built and maintained the campaign website, ensuring it remained up to date with new stories and content while providing a user-friendly hub for audiences to explore the impact of higher education. As a video editor, I collaborated closely with campus communications and marketing teams to gather footage, then edited video clips and audio into short-form testimonials that felt authentic and engaging for platforms like Instagram Reels and YouTube Shorts.



Together, these roles were essential in keeping the campaign cohesive, timely, and effective, ensuring all deliverables were completed and aligned with the campaign’s goals.

 

CREATIVE BRIEF

 

TARGET AUDIENCES

GENERAL TARGETING PARAMETERS:

  • HHI: 75,000+
  • Age: 25+
  • Education Level: Community college and above
  • Location: Nebraska Key Legislative Districts

SUB AUDIENCES TO BUILD OUT:

  • Parents
  • Students
  • First-Gen Students
  • Business Leaders
  • Community Leaders
  • Agriculturalists

CURRENT ENVIRONMENT

  • Based on current college-going rates, many Nebraskans don’t have an affinity for higher education. Around 42% of Nebraskans have a college degree, and an additional 23% of Nebraskans have started college but not finished.
  • According to recent polling data from WPAi, Nebraskans surveyed rank a number of issues above education in terms of “most important” issues, including property taxes, abortion, economy/jobs, invome tax, illegal immigration and health care (education is 7th, with 3% of respondents considering it the most important issue).
  • All higher education is being spotlighted in public narrative and conversation, especially with changes at the federal level. Polling from Gallup shows that the perception of the value of higher education continues to decline significantly.

KEY MESSAGES

The University of Nebraska System:

  • Trains more than half of Nebraska's doctors, dentists and nurses.
  • Educates 50% of Nebraska's doctors practicing in rural areas.
  • Produces more than 80% of Nebraska's dentists practicing in rural Nebraska.
  • Treats the 1 in 3 Nebraskans who will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime.
  • Conducts research that saves lives, secures our nation and creates life-changing innovation.
  • Provides a college degree to 1 in 7 working Nebraskans.
  • Graduates almost 11,000 students each year to fill Nebraska's workforce.
  • Works with nearly 75% of Nebraska farmers and ranchers to boost crop and animal productivity.

PROJECT GOALS

Objective 1: AWARENESS. Ads will drive traffic to a webpage where Nebraskans can learn more about the value of higher education.

Objective 2: ENGAGEMENT. The landing page will have calls to action for Nebraskans to share their own stories about how the university has added value to their life (ask if they authorize us to use, consider sharing some in a rotating component) and to share how the university could add more value to their community. This 1) crowdsources testimonials for us to use for advocacy and 2) continues Presidential efforts around transparency and relationship building.

Goals: awareness (measured by impressions), interest (measured by video views, click-throughs/site visits), and engagement (measured by time on site, video views).

TONE AND FEEL

Brand personality: Genuine, pragmatic, committed, purposeful, transformative

CAMPAIGN CREATIVE EXECUTION

This campaign will focus heavily on the use of video storytelling. The aim isn’t to create perfectly produced professional videos—the aim is for the videos to look like native content.

The goal is to tap more into emotional appeal/connection than we have in the past. Part of the idea is inspired by recent UNL national TV spots, including the Carson “Home” concept and recent parent testimonial video from UNL. People connect with personal stories

Collaborate with university staff and resources statewide to help create video content:

  • Campuses: UNK, UNL, UNMC and UNO UComm teams
  • Extension: Extension communication staff/directors statewide
  • Community Partners: Chambers of commerce, local marketing agencies, etc.

Specific Creative Deliverables:

  • Landing Page: May require some new coding/development, depending on how we want to host or display video. Short intro, section for each area with scrollable video either to the side or below.
  • Creative 1 (Digital ads): Static or lightly-animated GIF facts about value—short statements (explore options for video ads)
  • Creative 2 (Social): Short-form video testimonials (shot landscape with enough room for vertical crop)
  • Creative 3 (Radio): Utilize audio from video testimonials for radio reads

Language/Hook:

  • Ex. “____________. That’s the value of higher education.”

DELIVERABLES

  • Media campaign strategy for 2026 VHE Campaign
  • Media campaign placement and reporting for 2026 VHE Campaign
  • Ad creative assets for 2026 VHE Campaign
  • Landing webpage for 2026 VHE Campaign

TIMLINE

  • Early September 2025: Campaign ideation, refinement
  • Mid-September 2025: Briefing to CCMOs, feedback requested, and plan updated
  • Mid-October 2025: media planning begins; team meets with campus colleagues to brief on campaign and make creative "ask"
  • November 2025: Identification of 10-15 statewide stories per campus Video creation and editing; static ad creation
  • December 2025: Asset review and approval by marketing/CCMO team
  • January 2026: Campaign launch, runs through early May

OUTCOME

REPORTED BY SMITH KROEGER

BETWEEN JAN. 01-APR. 30, 2026

+20M

IMPRESSIONS

+287K

CLICKS

1.49%

CLICK THROUGH RATE

+109K

WEBSITE VIEWS