When I first moved to Chicago I worked for the then-fledgling college admissions site Cappex.com. I created a host of marketing materials – trade show collateral, direct mail, video – aimed at college admissions officers, guidance counselors and high school students.
But perhaps my favorite was the Cappex College Fit Kit. The project had two main goals:
- Incentive for guidance counselors to join Cappex: Research told us counselors felt overworked with few resources. The Fit Kit needed to be a free resource with great value which also fit into the counselors’ current way of working.
- Engage high school students and present them with Cappex brand: The final product had to show Cappex was capable of helping with their college search.
To meet these goals we created the Fit Kit, 12 pages of checklists, quizzes and activities. It was available for download on the site, and was also directly mailed to counselors. It was designed to be print and copier ready, and could easily be stored in a three-ring binder, perfect for the counselors.
It also:
- Engaged the students with thoughtful, positive exercises requiring their input.
- Simplified some of the most complex and intimidating parts of the admissions process.
- Provided real feedback that could be incorporated into their college application and decision process.
