OSU Unveils Aggressive New Marketing Campaign
Friday, September 16, 2005
With a 115-year history of serving every corner of Oklahoma and a five-campus student
enrollment approaching 33,000, Oklahoma State University rightly considers itself
"The STATE's University" and will now use the tagline in an aggressive new marketing
campaign aimed at increasing pride among students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends
of the university.
“‘The STATE's University’ embodies OSU's historic mission to serve as Oklahoma's
premier land-grant institution,” said OSU System CEO and President David J. Schmidly.
“Today, more than ever, OSU is making a difference in the economic development of
our state and the education of our citizens. ‘The STATE’s University’ is a perfect
tribute to our spirit, our mission and our vision for the future.”
Already appearing in advertising and on billboards in Tulsa and Oklahoma City, Kyle
Wray, OSU director of marketing, said it will soon be seen on all university marketing
materials, including business cards, advertisements, news releases and university
publications. Alumni publications have also been encompassed by the campaign with
the August 2005 release of the inaugural "STATE's Magazine."
Serving the state as its premier land-grant institution, Wray said the campaign intends
to bring OSU's success to the public.
"The three-fold mission of a land-grant university is to provide greater access to
higher education, conduct research for the common good and make those results available
to the public. OSU has excelled at its land-grant mission and this campaign intends
to share that with the public."
According to alumni, declaring OSU is "The STATE's University" is a good way to ignite
a few flares. Linda McDonald, '70 OSU alum, said she felt an orange surge after driving
by the Oklahoma City billboard.
"'The STATE's University' really evoked a sense of pride because it's a creative
way to celebrate how much the university means to me and the state of Oklahoma," McDonald
said.
OSU's statewide presence includes campuses in Stillwater, Tulsa (its OSU-Tulsa campus
as well as at the OSU Center for Health Sciences, which includes the OSU College of
Osteopathic Medicine), Oklahoma City, and Okmulgee, extension offices serving every
county in Oklahoma, and 16 experiment stations.
Through its impressive extension, OSU attracts students from all 77 Oklahoma counties,
and provides a major role in economic development and research projects that impact
the entire state.