It’s that time of year again! As their prospective and current students, alumni, and staff gear up for the holiday season, schools around the world have been working hard to deliver original, thoughtful, and engaging video holiday greetings to their online communities.
Every year, the standard of these videos gets better and better. Here at Higher Education Marketing, we always look forward to seeing the new and inventive greetings schools come up with, and presenting them in our yearly roundup of the best efforts.
We’ve made our list, and checked it twice, so read on to find out what higher ed holiday greetings brought us the most cheer this year.
UC Blue Ash Celebrate 50 Years in Style
The first entry on our list is a celebration not just of the holiday season, but of a school’s proud history. UC Blue Ash College at the University of Cincinnati prepared this greeting to mark its 50th anniversary. The video begins with a number of striking archival photos showing past students and faculty, as well as images of the construction of the college, illustrating just how much it has changed over the years.
The video is soundtracked by an instrumental version of seasonal favourite ‘Deck the Halls’, with the drums kicking in to give it a contemporary twist just as the image slideshow reaches the present day.
MIT Gets Inventive With Its Holiday Greeting
A school’s holiday greeting should ideally reinforce its unique brand identity, and this is certainly true for this video from world-renowned science and technology leader the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
An inventive animation packed with clever little references and jokes for math, science, and computer enthusiasts, MIT finds just the right formula for its audience, and creates a great piece of school branding content.
The University of Toronto Mississauga Demonstrate a Little Holiday Chemistry
Like MIT, the University of Toronto Mississauga have gone with a science theme this year. The school’s “Holiday Chemistry” video features Vice President and Principal Ulrich Krull using his chemistry skills to bake some holiday cookies.
Krull has form for popping up in unusual videos. In fact, his appointment as Principal was announced with a clip that featured him doing push-ups! His holiday greeting is just as original, and just as much fun.
UNC Bryan School Solves Santa’s Cybersecurity Woes
In today’s interconnected world, even Santa Claus depends on a complex IT network to keep his operation running. So, when a young hacker infiltrates the North Pole’s system and switches his online “Naughty” and “Nice” databases, it looks like a potential disaster.
Thankfully, Santa knows just who to call, as he rounds up the best and brightest students from the Bryan School of Business and Economics at the University of North Carolina Greensboro to save the day.
It’s not surprising that Santa’s first thought would be to contact the UNC Bryan School. After all, according to the school’s holiday greeting from last year, he’s a UNC graduate.
George Mason University Deliver a Holiday Message of Inclusiveness
The past year has seen a number of schools around the world place inclusiveness and tolerance at the forefront of their education marketing messaging, as they seek to promote their institutions as welcoming and supportive environments for students from all backgrounds.
With that in mind, this simple but effective holiday greeting from George Mason University hits just the right note, as both domestic and international students from a diverse range of backgrounds and cultures prepare and enjoy a special holiday meal featuring dishes from all over the globe.
University of North Dakota Students and Staff Get Their Wish
One of the more original greetings this year comes from the University of North Dakota. The video features a mysterious gift box which appears in various places on campus encouraging members of the school community to ‘make a wish’.
When they do, whatever they wish for magically appears inside. Wishes include a hat, a funky UND holiday sweater, a puppy, and of course, a degree from the university.
The University of North Texas Build Something Great
Finally, one of the best holiday greetings of the year comes from the University of North Texas. This intricate stop motion animation was shot and edited by UNT alumnus Chris Bryan, who now works for the school’s Communications and Marketing team. It required over 15,000 LEGO pieces and 650 photographs to create.
The clip features over 32 different characters, including the university’s President, enjoying the season in replicas of the school’s Hurley Administration Building, University Union, Library Mall, and Willis Library.
After you’ve enjoyed the video, you can also check out this behind-the-scenes footage which shows the painstaking work that went into creating the clip. As both a fun and visually striking greeting, and an advert for the talent and knowhow of the school’s graduates, UNT’s effort is hard to beat.
Of course, there were plenty of brilliant and effective videos from schools around the world that we didn’t include here, and it’s well worth searching online to find some other great examples of holiday greetings yourself.
Finally, on behalf of everyone here at HEM, we’d like to wish you all the best for this holiday season, and hope that you continue to read our blog for the latest higher ed marketing tips in 2018!
