American Association of Community Colleges
Client
The American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) represents almost 1,200 two-year, degree-granting colleges nationwide. Responding to the needs of the burgeoning baby boomer and senior populations, AACC created the Plus 50 Initiative to help community colleges tailor their programs—and promote their benefits—to these nontraditional students.
Challenge
To establish the Plus 50 Initiative and extend its reach, AACC needed a distinctive brand to engage both community colleges and prospective students among baby boomers and seniors. The organization also needed turnkey materials—from a website to brochures—to enable participating colleges to easily ramp up and market their Plus 50 programs.
Enter Reingold
Reingold created a multifaceted campaign to help AACC enlist and equip its members for successful Plus 50 efforts that put community colleges “top of mind” as a first choice for retraining, education, and enrichment. We paired a new logo built on “Ageless Learning” with research-based messaging that invites plus-50 learners to trade in “retired” for “re-wired” and “re-inspired.” Our Plus 50 toolkit includes message points, tips, and strategies for enhancing plus 50 education and services, as well as a suite of customizable marketing materials—from fact sheets to advertisements—that AACC’s partner colleges can adapt to their own images while emphasizing the overarching Plus 50 brand. And we revamped the initiative’s Web portal into an engaging resource for all audiences, using video and banner ads to help drive traffic to the site.
Results
Community colleges nationwide are using the Plus 50 Initiative toolkit and website, joining the ranks of the program's pilot colleges that have tailored their programs and services to nontraditional students.