Each fall, Columbia’s New Student Orientation Program (NSOP) reinvents itself. With a new class comes a new brand, built from scratch. And each year, a new committee is hired on contract to pitch and execute that year’s concept.
Selected for the 2023 committee, my team and I pitched “Growing Roots”: reframing NYC and Columbia’s campus as somewhere to root down, sprout up, and blossom into their full potential. The program directors signed off immediately, drawn to how directly it spoke to belonging and becoming.
Then the real work began.
Role: Head of Marketing / Brand Strategist / Videographer / Copywriter / Editor / Songwriter
The Ask
There were two main challenges — Not only does NSOP rebuild its identity every year, but their content also carries a built-in engagement problem. It's official university messaging, an authoritative voice that students are conditioned to tune out. We couldn’t just make content that informed incoming students about campus life. We also had to make it something they’d actually enjoy to watch and share.
The Execution
A 4-part campaign strategy, kicking off with a high-energy hype video that revealed the theme and channeled the jittery excitement current Columbia students carry all year to welcome the new class. Coordinated human waves stretched across campus, setting the tone for the two weeks of programming ahead (see above). And the fun continued with…
A few highlights from the full piece.
A video series designed to appeal to the Gen-Z audience by parodying trending YouTube formats. The standout was a spin on Hot Ones with Sean Evans, where two committee members interview the Dean of Students over plates of increasingly hot wings.
A parody music video set to the tune of “It Wasn’t Me” by Shaggy, a comedic and catchy riff that doubled as a tour of Columbia culture, giving new students their first look at what campus life actually feels like.
Set to “A-Punk” by Vampire Weekend, a band that got its start on the very campus these students were standing on for the first time.
A recap video of the 5 immersion experiences (CARE, Arts & Media, Explore NYC, COÖP, TVC) that students are sorted into at orientation. Leaders from each group spent two days filming their activities — Broadway shows, camping upstate, museums, volunteering. I edited it overnight and revealed it live the next morning at Rally Round Columbia, where all 4 groups first meet. It was a hit, giving the class a window into each other's first nights in the city.
But we didn’t stop there. The goal was to increase NSOP’s digital reach, which meant branching into new strategies.
2021 and 2022 were years in which Instagram Reels exploded in use. Time limits expanded and the algorithm began to prioritize Reels’ video discovery. For the 2023 branding strategy, we targeted Reels for growth by creating dynamic videos of the move-in days, spotlighting what is widely considered one of the most fun parts of orientation.
The numbers backed us up. The class of 2027 was definitely engaged…
