Located in Oneonta, New York, Hartwick College has provided a broad-based liberal education alongside experiential learning for 225 years. Known for being deeply supportive, the college offers its students individualized guidance, extensive scholarships, and an exceptional education.
Amid the industry’s ever-changing landscape, Hartwick was looking to advance its offer further, with a degree that would remain relevant, valuable, and versatile as the future unfolded.
Over the last decade, trends have shifted across higher education. Falling enrollment across the board, changing student interests, financial burdens — with these factors and others, colleges and universities can no longer rely on the same strategies and offerings.
Hartwick asked Ologie for support in branding and communicating its new comprehensive approach to education. It was an honor to collaborate toward a vision intended to address not only the needs of students, but also the priorities of our changing world.
Together, we had several challenges to solve. First, we needed to develop an offer that was rooted in research and designed to bolster enrollment, retain current students, and make graduates career ready. Secondly, we needed to package that educational experience in a larger brand story that would resonate with students’ priorities and be authentic to Hartwick.
We understood that any solution had to be student-informed and community-driven. To that end, Art & Science Group, a consulting and research firm, conducted in-depth quantitative and qualitative research across Hartwick’s admissions cycle. Then, using this data, the college designed a core offering aimed at comprehensively addressing students’ needs.
Inspired by the school’s mascot and the idea of Hawks rising, we called it FlightPath. FlightPath engages a campus-wide support network, maximizes strong alumni and mentor partnerships, and taps advanced technology tools to thoroughly prepare students to launch powerful futures.
2,200 additional applications from a pool of 14,000 new inquiries — a 16% lift overall.
Hartwick College has depended on the allure of its beautiful view and close-knit community to win the hearts of students during the application process. Traditionally, on-campus events, such as accepted students day, have played a large role in conveying the College’s unique sense of place. But, with COVID-19, and a statewide lockdown, Hartwick needed to quickly reimagine a safe, but inspiring way to showcase its offer. The result was a branded digital event that brought to life the essence of the school while making the experience more accessible and inclusive.
An audit of current competitors revealed that, while in-person events were quickly turning digital, no one was thinking about a holistically branded virtual space. Hartwick’s lovable mascot, Swoop, served as the inspiration for the name of the event—and its new logo. The color palette was grounded in Hartwick’s signature blues, with greens inspired by the landscape. Together, this new toolkit created a consistent experience from video assets to social media posts, turning the event into something fun, energetic and very Hartwick.
Students want to know what campus life is like. Parents are eager to understand campus safety. Immediately, it became clear that this new experience would make it easier than ever to create unique content, depending on the audience. Taking advantage of Hartwick’s existing platforms (YouTube and Zoom), participants signed up for the content tracks that interested them the most, and experienced a mix of pre-recorded videos and live chats. This meant that students and families got the information they needed, with opportunities to ask questions as if they were physically on campus.
311 members to 428
