Education / Campaign

UA Scholars

Making the University of Alaska scholarship program aspirational for every student in the state.

Client

University of Alaska

Scope

Statewide Awareness Campaign

Services

Strategy, Creative, Media, Social

Audience

AK High School Students & Families

The Brief

The UA Scholars program offers full-tuition scholarships to Alaska's top high school graduates — but awareness and application rates were chronically low. Too many eligible students were leaving money on the table, and too many were leaving Alaska entirely for out-of-state schools.

The Problem

A great program that students didn't know existed.

UA Scholars had been advertising through traditional education channels — guidance counselor flyers, school newsletters, college fair booths. None of it was cutting through to the students who mattered most.

The Insight

Alaska students don't want to leave Alaska.

Counter to conventional wisdom, our research found that a significant majority of Alaska high schoolers wanted to stay in state — if there was a compelling reason to. The barrier wasn't desire. It was perceived quality and awareness of the financial opportunity.

The Strategy

Make Alaska higher education a source of pride.

We repositioned UA Scholars not as a financial safety net, but as the choice of Alaska's best and brightest. The campaign celebrated the students, not the institution — turning scholarship recipients into aspirational figures for their peers.

Creative Execution

real students. real alaska. real opportunity.

We built the campaign around documentary-style portraits of real UA Scholars — students from every corner of Alaska, from Juneau to the Arctic. Each story was authentic, specific, and emotionally resonant. Broadcast, digital, social, and in-school placements working as one ecosystem.

Results

+41%

Increase in scholarship applications year-over-year

5.8M

Total campaign impressions across Alaska markets

72%

Unaided brand awareness among Alaska high school juniors and seniors

$2.4M

In additional scholarship funding raised following campaign launch