Communiqué
WOUB Launches New Ad Campaign
< < Back to ?p=242870Rebranding effort aims to spread the word about WOUB to wider audience
ATHENS, OH – Over the course of nearly 70 years, WOUB Public Media has earned its reputation as a trusted source of news, information and local arts and cultural content for many people in the Appalachian region it serves. Now, the station is launching a brand-building advertising campaign to celebrate the valued relationship the station has built with its users and interest others in exploring what WOUB has to offer.
The ad campaign was designed by Ohio University School of Visual Communication Professor Julie M. Elman and developed as the result of an extensive branding process led by E.W. Scripps School of Journalism faculty and strategic communication experts Chuck Borghese and Craig Davis. The process included interviews with community members in the WOUB service area as well as those who have supported the organization over the years. The ads contain WOUB’s new slogan: Trust. Worthy.
“Most of the comments we received from the interviews centered around these words,” said Brewer. “People trust PBS Kids on television for their children, they trust the local news and information that comes from the WOUB newsroom, and they trust the PBS and NPR content we broadcast every day. That trust is what makes us Worthy of community support.”
“When reviewing the market research that was completed for WOUB, before the campaign even started, I was struck by the nuanced and varied findings,” said Elman. “WOUB means a lot of things to a lot of different people, and the challenge of trying to capture all that in a series of visuals, I felt, was in trying to rein in those observations and feelings into something that felt authentic, engaging and meaningful.”
The first ads will run this week in both the Athens Messenger and the Athens News. WOUB wanted the first ads to run around Ohio University’s homecoming since many community members and Ohio University alumni who have been users and supporters of WOUB would be in the region.
“I noted that people, or the presence of people, were mentioned repeatedly in the research: smiling faces, good company, day care for my kids, a neighbor’s house for a visit,” said Elman. “The archetypes, or those qualities that are representative of WOUB’s essence, that were explored as part of this research helped guide me as well as I attempted my initial drafts of the visuals for the ad campaign. The archetypes the WOUB research homed in on were the caregiver, creator, guardian and storyteller. For me, as the visual communicator in this branding process, this meant gravitating toward people, their faces, their eyes. Whether it be in photos or illustrations, the human face pulls people in. ‘We’re in this together’ is implied.”
“We are very excited about this campaign and the opportunity to spread the word about WOUB to a wider audience,” said Brewer. “We want people to know that WOUB has been here since 1949 providing a high-quality service to this region, and they can continue to count on us to do that now and in the future.”
The thoughtful rebranding campaign represents WOUB’s continuing dedication to fulfilling its vision statement of providing excellence in programming and services to meet the ascertained needs of its various audiences as the station moves into the future.