Case Study: Video Storytelling

It was early 2011 and I was sitting in my first editorial committee meeting for our new storytelling initiative. During the discussion, we discovered that one of our M.A. in Education (MAED) alumni was a California Teacher of the Year award winner. His name went to the top of our list of stories to be explored for video.

When we contacted him, he explained that the timing wasn’t right at that point to go through the video production process, so we waited.

Fast forward to early 2014 when we heard the good news. Gregory McFall, a 2008 California Teacher of the Year, and Concordia University Irvine alumnus, let us know he was available for his story to be told. And what a story it is.

A key component of our marketing strategy is storytelling. Academic content isn’t enough. Marketing higher education isn’t about selling widgets. A higher education brand lives in the head and the heart, and decisions about where to go to school are made there, so our content has to touch both.

Furthermore, because our web content has to be robust enough to hold interest over what tends to be the long haul of the higher education purchase cycle, video is a natural channel for our storytelling content.

We’re as proud of this video as any we’ve produced even though the video is not all about us. It’s about how Gregory McFall transforms the lives of his middle school students by how he teaches and by who he is. It’s about his belief in his students. It’s about inspiring teachers and future teachers. And it’s about how our mission and brand are expressed through Gregory’s life and story.

The video was wonderfully directed by Peter Borrud of Signal Fire Productions. Mark Merrick and Trusted Web Solutions served as executive producer.

Advertisement