'Fear the Turtle' campaign impacts student enrollment

When Zina Evans says applications to the university are up 5 percent from last year, she does not say it to boast or brag. Truth be told, the associate director of undergraduate admissions attributes the increase in part to an advertising campaign designed to raise national awareness of the university but not necessarily to increase student enrollment.

"The 'Fear the Turtle' campaign has definitely had an impact on student enrollment," Evans said. "The campaign doesn't directly try to get students to apply, but it draws interest to the university and makes a student take a closer look at us."

The university began its latest branding campaign in 2003. The effort, which features the "Fear the Turtle" catchphrase, promotes the university through billboards, tractor-trailers and airport advertising displays. In contrast to local schools such as the University of Baltimore, Towson and Morgan State University, which, according to a recent (Baltimore) Sun article, have tried to boost enrollment by using ads, the university is more interested in increasing overall awareness.

"We get far more impact from what we are spending right now than other places that have these big ad campaigns," said Brodie Remington, vice president of university relations. "You have to make the choice of either spending money for students and faculty or using it to get more students to enroll."

Terry Flannery, assistant vice president for university marketing and communications, said the university has been able to save money by having companies sponsor its ads. For instance, alumnus Robert Facchina, president of Johanna Foods Inc., has donated the ad space on 17 of his tractor-trailers that drive back and forth between Washington and New York daily.

The university hopes the increased awareness translates into brand loyalty, which will maintain interest in the university through good times, such as national championships wins, and bad, such as tuition increases.

"A strong brand gives you the opportunity to compete in a marketplace, despite the fact that you have higher prices," Flannery said. Most of the university's marketing is done outside the school. At Baltimore Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, the university mascot is plastered on more than a half-dozen displays. "These ads help to increase national awareness for the university," Flannery said. "Instead of a direct sales initiative like other schools, we are just trying to get people to become interested in us."

The indirect strategy seems to be working for the university. The total number of applications received since the campaign started has increased by more than six percent, according to Evans. "The more things you have to say about the university, and the more the message gets repeated, people will listen," Remington said.

Contact reporter Jeremy Tam at newsdesk@dbk.umd.edu.