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The Stories Behind Winning Campaigns

Campaign or Series

Writing

Interactive

Design

University of Minnesota Communications Forum ｜ January 2025 Program

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Maroon and Gold Awards

MIKE Award

MARGO Award

UBRAND Award

University of Minnesota Communications Forum ｜ January 2025 Program

Communicator Award Overview

Today we are featuring presentations by several of our Gold Winners and the MIKE, MARGO and UBRAND winners!

Basic details for newbies

What are they?

The Maroon and Gold awards are given out annually to UMCF members whose work exemplifies the University’s core values: excellence, innovation, effectiveness, integrity, diversity, collaboration, sharing of knowledge, accountability, stewardship, and service.

The MIKE Award is presented to one winner chosen by popular online vote from UMCF members. The traveling trophy is engraved and presented for display in the winning department’s offices for one year.

The MARGO Award, short for maroon and gold, is presented to the entry that presents the single most elegant solution within the means available (the most bang for your buck).

The UBRAND award is given annually for the best example of U of M branding efforts. This award is judged by University Relations.

Why do we have them?

The Maroon and Gold awards recognize and honor the hard work done by our peers around the University system.

Who can enter?

Any UMCF member.

What are the categories?

There are four categories: Writing, Design, Campaign or Series, Interactive, MIKE, Margo, and UBrand.

What is the difference between a gold and a maroon award?

There is one Gold award given to the best of the best in any given category. The number of Maroon awards are determined by the number of entries in any given category.

How are they judged?

Maroon awards in each category are judged by a group of peers. After the Maroon awards are decided, the Awards Committee does a second round of judging to determine the Gold award winners. The MIKE Award are judged by you—UMCF members. The MarGo award is judged by the Awards Committee. And UBrand is judged by our colleagues at University Relations.

We will be providing a few details on the 2023 awards after our presentations but for now…

We will be hearing from 3 Gold Award winning teams and 1 maroon ward winning team. All received awards for their 2022 submission.

There will be a Q and A section at the end of the presentations, so please keep all questions until the end.

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Meredith Dwyer, Lori Fligge, Aimee L. Gillespie, Liz Kästner, Tim Loesch, Leslie McDougall, �Jeff Thompson, Bryn Adams, Netanya Sadoff

Feeding a Growing Population, Protecting the Planet | CFANS at the 2023 Minnesota State Fair

University of Minnesota Communications Forum ｜ January 2025 Program

Campaign, Series, �or Event

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Campaign, Series or Event:

CFANS at the 2023 MN State Fair

University of Minnesota Communications Forum ｜ January 2025 Program

Twelve days of engaging Minnesotans

143 hours of engagement
Dozens of volunteers
Thousands of visitors

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Campaign, Series or Event:

CFANS at the 2023 MN State Fair

University of Minnesota Communications Forum ｜ January 2025 Program

Showcasing CFANS research

Centered research by the �Plant Protein Innovation Center

Tied in “traditional” animal protein research

Incorporated results from CFANS Insight Survey “Americans pick their protein”

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Immersive 360° video

Campaign, Series or Event:

CFANS at the 2023 MN State Fair

University of Minnesota Communications Forum ｜ January 2025 Program

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Campaign, Series or Event:

CFANS at the 2023 MN State Fair

University of Minnesota Communications Forum ｜ January 2025 Program

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Campaign, Series or Event:

CFANS at the 2023 MN State Fair

University of Minnesota Communications Forum ｜ January 2025 Program

Building the CFANS brand: Volunteer T-shirts

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Campaign, Series or Event:

CFANS at the 2023 MN State Fair

University of Minnesota Communications Forum ｜ January 2025 Program

Volunteer with CFANS at the State Fair!

We provide training, a ticket to the Fair ($17 value), swag, and fun!

If you’d like to chat more, send me an email:

Aimee L. Gillespie, gille664@umn.edu

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Laura Johnson

Making it in Minnesota

University of Minnesota Communications Forum ｜ January 2025 Program

Writing

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Writing:

Making it in Minnesota

University of Minnesota Communications Forum ｜ January 2025 Program

The Dream Initiative is joyful and urgent. It is also mission-driven—aligning with CLA’s goals of creating new knowledge, preparing our learners for meaningful lives, and engaging in service to our community. Ultimately, it is work that calls on us to reflect, “If not us, then who?”

It started with a Dream

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Writing:

Making it in Minnesota

University of Minnesota Communications Forum ｜ January 2025 Program

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Writing:

Making it in Minnesota

University of Minnesota Communications Forum ｜ January 2025 Program

Resource: UMF Ethical Storytelling one-pager

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Mark Byart and Riley Grittinger

Minnesota Law Faculty Landing Page

University of Minnesota Communications Forum ｜ January 2025 Program

Digital & MARGO

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Digital & MARGO:

MN Law Faculty Landing Page

University of Minnesota Communications Forum ｜ January 2025 Program

The Starting Point

Visually monotonous
Not content-forward
Internally-focused

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Digital & MARGO:

MN Law Faculty Landing Page

University of Minnesota Communications Forum ｜ January 2025 Program

The Plan

Starting with only a very basic wire frame
Leveraging existing content: faculty news, citations, magazine articles, interviews
Building design around content & framing - why should a prospective student be interested in this?

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Digital & MARGO:

MN Law Faculty Landing Page

University of Minnesota Communications Forum ｜ January 2025 Program

The Results

Full-width hero
Featured Article

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Digital & MARGO:

MN Law Faculty Landing Page

University of Minnesota Communications Forum ｜ January 2025 Program

The Results

Full width-button row
Video Carousel (coming to Folwell)
Faculty news feed

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Digital & MARGO:

MN Law Faculty Landing Page

University of Minnesota Communications Forum ｜ January 2025 Program

The Results

Static library promo
Faculty publication feed

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Digital & MARGO:

MN Law Faculty Landing Page

University of Minnesota Communications Forum ｜ January 2025 Program

Scalability

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Maggie Mora, Sarah Bjorkman, Emily Dunsworth, Kablia Thao, Dan Cheng, Gayle Smaller Jr., Lauren Jones, Sara Veblen-Mortenson, Rachel Smith, Jodi Eckes

“Healthier. Happening here.” Exhibit Booth

University of Minnesota Communications Forum ｜ January 2025 Program

Design

&

UBRAND

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Design & UBRAND

“Healthier. Happening here.” Booth

University of Minnesota Communications Forum ｜ January 2025 Program

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Design & UBRAND

“Healthier. Happening here.” Booth

University of Minnesota Communications Forum ｜ January 2025 Program

2023 APHA Committee:

Communications (Lead - 3)
Recruitment and enrollment (3)
Research/Centers (2-3)
DEI (2)
Advancement (1)
Dean’s office (1)

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Design & UBRAND

“Healthier. Happening here.” Booth

University of Minnesota Communications Forum ｜ January 2025 Program

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Design & UBRAND

“Healthier. Happening here.” Booth

University of Minnesota Communications Forum ｜ January 2025 Program

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Design & UBRAND

“Healthier. Happening here.” Booth

University of Minnesota Communications Forum ｜ January 2025 Program

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Design & UBRAND

“Healthier. Happening here.” Booth

University of Minnesota Communications Forum ｜ January 2025 Program

Challenges:

Large review team, different visions for the booth, finding alignment on booth’s purpose

Condensed timeline

Budget constraints

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Design & UBRAND

“Healthier. Happening here.” Booth

University of Minnesota Communications Forum ｜ January 2025 Program

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Design & UBRAND

“Healthier. Happening here.” Booth

University of Minnesota Communications Forum ｜ January 2025 Program

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Design & UBRAND

“Healthier. Happening here.” Booth

University of Minnesota Communications Forum ｜ January 2025 Program

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Design & UBRAND

“Healthier. Happening here.” Booth

University of Minnesota Communications Forum ｜ January 2025 Program

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Kendall Dawson, Kari Nolan, Ashley Piediscalzi, Jake Ricker, Ranja Sem, Dimitri Tadege, Kelly Voigt, Christie Wells, Shari White

Safe Campus Campaign

University of Minnesota Communications Forum ｜ January 2025 Program

MIKE

Award

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MIKE Award:

Safe Campus Campaign

University of Minnesota Communications Forum ｜ January 2025 Program

Grasp the objective

Increase student belief that the University of Minnesota is a safe and secure campus.
Centralize and align safety communications initiatives and messaging.
Raise awareness of services and University resources that help members of the University community keep themselves safe.

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MIKE Award:

Safe Campus Campaign

University of Minnesota Communications Forum ｜ January 2025 Program

Visualize the reach

Competitive analysis
Surveys and focus groups
Sentiment analysis

Research

Plan

Discuss

Stakeholder discussions
Feedback
Review, and then review again!

Content strategy
Events
Communicating a brand

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MIKE Award:

Safe Campus Campaign

University of Minnesota Communications Forum ｜ January 2025 Program

Create an ecosystem

Style Guide

Website

Signage

Social ad

Newsletter

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Timing

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Please unmute yourself or add your question to the chat.

University of Minnesota Communications Forum ｜ January 2025 Program

Q&A

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“Developing a DEI Communications Strategy and Plan”

Featuring Lisa Marshall, UMN OED

November 9, 2022 | 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.�Via Zoom

University of Minnesota Communications Forum ｜ January 2025 Program

What’s next for the Communicators Forum?

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Keep an eye out for an email asking about topics you’d be interested in exploring through UMCF programs over the next year!

University of Minnesota Communications Forum ｜ January 2025 Program

We want to hear from you!

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Thank you to all our participants

and

Congratulations to all of the

2024 Awardees!

Campaign or Series

Writing

Digital

Design

University of Minnesota Communications Forum ｜ January 2025 Program