Rather than downplay 20 years’ worth of the Princeton Review’s quirkiest label — Most Stone-Cold Sober school — BYU embraced it in a big way. In fact, so big that it received national recognition for its celebratory campaign.
BYU received a national Circle of Excellence Gold Award for Best Uses of Social Media: Student Life from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). In the report, judges noted that “sometimes being 100 percent true to your identity is the best thing you can be. This integrated campaign was authentic to Brigham Young University's identity.”
Capitalizing on the 20-year milestone, BYU’s celebration went beyond the typical fun photo and expanded into a weeklong campaign. The creative team designed a contest à la Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and five golden tickets were hidden under chocolate milk bottle labels in campus vending machines and markets.
Each day a clue on where to find one of the bottles was published on BYU’s social media. Finders received a year’s supply of BYU Creamery chocolate milk and a Willy Wonka-esque tour of the factory where all of the university’s signature sweets are made.
“This campaign was a fun way to give back to the students who have helped keep BYU at the top of list for Stone-Cold Sober school for 20 years running,” said Natalie Ipson, BYU's campus news manager and the celebration campaign lead.
BYU chocolate milk sales skyrocketed as the campaign began, and the chocolate milk in all 75 campus vending machines was sold out by the second day of the campaign.
Additionally, four other creative projects from BYU were recognized with national CASE Circle of Excellence awards:
BYU earned a silver in the long-form video category for biology research about fish in Alaska.
BYU also took home three bronze awards for individual photographs, news and research videos and poster design.
The Circle of Excellence awards program recognizes outstanding work in advancement services, alumni relations, communications, fundraising and marketing at CASE member institutions worldwide.
