CREDIT: STEPHANIE LAI
Fanshawe employees gathered in D1060 for the announcement of the college's 'Your Story' campaign.

Fanshawe College launched the ‘Your Story’ marketing campaign last week, the college’s largest marketing campaign and the first of its kind.

The campaign focuses on the stories of Fanshawe students, graduates and employees, telling Fanshawe’s story through the stories of the people at Fanshawe.

“They’re heroic stories,” said Tony Frost, the executive director of reputation and brand management at Fanshawe. “But they’re not stories about people like billionaires or people who’ve established million-dollar companies. They’re really everyday-heroes stories.”

The goal of the campaign is to tell prospective students what it is like to study at Fanshawe rather than what students will learn in particular programs, he said. The programs student take at Fanshawe are just means to an end. They are not the ultimate outcome.

Before Your Story, Fanshawe’s marketing campaigns focused on individual programs rather than the college as a whole.

“In our promotional material, we would say, ‘Take marketing,’ or ‘Go to the School of Business,’ but we never said, ‘Fanshawe,’” Frost said.

When students think about their post-secondary education, they first think what they want to study, Frost said. And then they ask where?

“The where is what we wanted to answer.”

In the past, Fanshawe attracted students from London and the area, he said. But since the baby boomers have long graduated from college and there are less students in the area then there were before, Fanshawe is looking to attract students from further away.

With ‘Your Story,’ the college hopes first to create awareness.

“We have to be able to say to a student, ‘You should consider Fanshawe,’” Frost said. “Let’s say you’re sitting in Hamilton and you’ve never heard of Fanshawe, how can you apply?”

The other goal is to make Fanshawe an appealing and unique place for students.

Frost says what’s unique about Fanshawe is that the college educates, engages, empowers and excites. He says small classes, handson work, co-op programs and that the school is not a conservative college that takes itself too seriously are some of the things that make Fanshawe appealing and unique.

Students, alumni and employees interested in participating can go to fanshaweyourstory.ca