The new school announces innovative mobile and digital campaign

University Partners with Snaps to Launch NEWmoji Keyboard to Animate Conversations with Students

New York, NY – April 18, 2016 – With the launch of a new emoji keyboard, The New School reveals its innovative and personalized approach to connecting with prospective students using mobile and digital platforms. Developed by Snaps and illustrated by Parsons School of Design graduate, Vincy Cheung, the NEWmoji keyboard brings to life the iconic people, places, and things that capture the spirit of The New School, as well as its engagement with New York City.

The comprehensive campaign, experienced through multiple platforms, stems from insights about student behavior and growing mobile use trends, which indicate texts have a 98% open rate compared to emails that have approximately a 22% open rate, according to Mobile Marketing Watch. Based on substantial research, The New School has created personalized, relevant and engaging digital outreach that provides a window into their unique university culture in fun, engaging and authentic ways.

“Using qualitative and quantitative research to understand our students, including what they do in their non-academic life, has helped us connect with our prospective students in the places they naturally interact and on the topics that matter most to them,” said Anne Adriance, Chief Marketing Officer for The New School.

Recognizing that high school seniors across the country are making the difficult choice of where to attend college, The New School created multiple opportunities for students to gain insight about the school’s rigorous education, the people who make up the community, and the school’s engagement with New York City — all in an effort to help students understand if The New School is right for them. 

The New School’s mobile and digital campaign to further engage students includes:

• The university is the first to partner with Snaps on an academically themed keyboard, called NEWmojis. GIFs within the keyboard were individually texted to accepted undergraduate students in anticipation of “Admitted Student Day” celebration events over the weekend. The alumna created illustrated emojis provide both prospective students and the existing community a fresh communications tool for more visual self-expression on their mobile phones. 

• Using Snapchat, current New School students are sending personalized “congratulations” videos to accepted students. In addition to actively capturing campus activities via the story feature, and responding to individual snaps when appropriate, The New School is also the first university to have nationally sponsored Snapchat filters, which will launch on Earth Day.

• To further connect current students with new students, Facebook Admitted Students Day pages are created annually for each incoming class, allowing current students to prompt conversation, post unique content, and give accepted students a taste of student life on campus.

• Building on a recently updated brand identity, the university created a university channel on Giphy with curated GIFs. As newly accepted students tweet at the university account, they receive tailored GIF responses based on their social presence. This has resulted in over 200 conversations with accepted students.

• Partnering with Vikram Ghandi, award-winning filmmaker, host and producer, the university created a video campaign focused on how the school’s unique approach to education facilitates the students’ creative process and learning experience.

• With over 50,000 subscribers, The New School’s YouTube channel brings relevant public programming at the university to viewers around the world. In addition to a robust livestream presence, Facebook Live is being used to provide behind-the-scenes moments, hosted by alumni.

"We’re thrilled to partner with The New School to create a new layer of social engagement for its community,” said Christian Brucculeri, CEO of Snaps. “Today, consumers everywhere are leveraging visual content to personalize the billions of messages that they send each other every day, it's a perfect channel for The New School to engage in that conversation."

The NEWmoji board is now available for download on iPhone and Android.

“Developing creative and design-led solutions is part of the educational approach of The New School,” said Adriance. “We want students to experience that ideology from the beginning.”

Founded in 1919, The New School was born out of principles of academic freedom, tolerance, and experimentation. Committed to social engagement, The New School today remains in the vanguard of innovation in higher education, with more than 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students challenging the status quo in design and the social sciences, liberal arts, management, the arts, and media. The New School welcomes thousands of adult learners annually for continuing education courses and calendar of lectures, screenings, readings, and concerts. Through its online learning portals, research institutes, and international partnerships, The New School maintains a global presence. Learn more at newschool.edu.

Snaps is the mobile messaging solution for the world’s largest brands. Mobile Messaging is the next evolution of social media, adding a personalized layer to all customer touch points. At Snaps, our mission is to connect the world’s largest brands into the 250 billion conversations happening every day in mobile messaging apps. Snaps clients include Burger King, Viacom, Pepsi, L’Oréal, Unilever, and over 95 other brands as platform partners.

MARKETING AND COMMUNICATION

PRESS RELEASE

Media Contacts:

Josephine Parr,
The New School
212-229-5667 x 3094
[email protected]