My role: Creative Director, Producer, Screenwriter, Digital Marketing Strategist
Videography and DP: Chuy Guttierez of BosLabs
Icahn School of You | Virtual Tour
Like many of our collegial institutions in academic medicine, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai pivoted plans in light of the pandemic, and had to reimagine the ways in which we conduct many of our offerings, including our in-person school tours led by our students and Admissions staff members.
We wanted to maintain a level of consistency with our tours (which included providing information sessions with our student body, student groups, faculty and staff; and a campus tour to explore the classrooms and student residences available), while keeping our staff and prospective students as safe as possible.
Enter the Icahn School of You virtual experience: an exploratory microsite that encouraged prospective students to discover what it means to be at the Icahn School of Medicine, from the comfort of their homes. Through rich media content, we provided prospective students exactly what they needed: an overview of the School’s offerings, location, programs, and a virtual tour that was clear and focused on the programming that we offer.
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The Department of Medical Education collaborated with our in-house digital team who paved the road to the microsite by conducting a digital marketing campaign which included Search Engine Marketing (using keywords specific to Mount Sinai and general non-branded terms about academic medicine), social media ads, and cross-promotional opportunities from the School’s homepage.
The original campaign was active from September through December 2020, and received 4,824 unique page visits with a 0% bounce rate, with first-time visitors spending on average 4:30 with our content; and returning visitors (527 people) spending 12:13 with our video content. And unlike posting these videos on YouTube, we could control our environment and encourage site visitors to linger and play with our content and nothing more—except when ending their sessions by clicking the “Apply Now” (223) or “Contact Us” (131) buttons, also located on our site.
The Icahn School of You website has been used for two admissions cycles. Press play for a brief download of the microsite's content and UX/UD.
This project was fast-paced and was the result of swift action by myself and other colleagues. We quickly understood and accepted the challenge and needs from stakeholders, I researched and identified new platforms to create the microsite, and brought the digital marketing teams, faculty, and students together to contribute to the campaign strategies and video productions (which included scripting, casting, filming, and editing)—within two months’ time. Social distancing and closures across New York City led us to create a successful campaign of which we are extremely proud not only of the results, but of the Mount Sinai spirit of resilience, collaboration, and adaptability.
The Icahn School of You campaign and virtual tour was submitted for the 2022 GIA Awards for Excellence. It was reviewed by marketing professionals across the country. Here's what they had to say:
"Great marketing and percentage numbers on clicks for social media."
"Excellent analytics. Would love to hear about future plans for the microsite and how this may impact previous strategies."
"Full of energy and fun to watch. It is easy to see why the impressions numbers and media hits are as strong as they are. It was a lot of fun to see and would hopefully encourage other institutions to do something similar, even post-pandemic."
"The virtual tour was really well done, engaging, and up beat."
"Good work! Nice virtual tour. Solid analytics and I appreciate the fact that you controlled the environment and could encourage visitors to linger longer."
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The campaign received a GIA Awards for Excellence and became a finalist in an emerging category later in the year: "Best Pandemic Pivot."
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this was created In Partnership With:
Alison Mallouk | Associate Director of Digital Marketing
Ariella Greenbaum | Associate Director of Digital Marketing
Chloe Politis | Director of Digital and Social Media