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Pepperdine | Community

Areas of Focus

Brand Marketing and Development

 

IMC is directly tasked with supporting the Pepperdine mission and strategic plan by building brand equity, elevating the University's national reputation, providing strong and consistent institutional message leadership, and implementing effective integrated communications strategies. Key priorities include advertising, market research, and competitive positioning.

 

Communications

 

IMC’s Communications Team is directly tasked with supporting the University's mission and strategic plan by building brand equity, elevating the University's national reputation, providing strong and consistent institutional message leadership, and implementing effective integrated communications strategies. The Communications Team consists of talented individuals committed to protecting and promoting the University's national reputation through the following areas of expertise:

 

Public Relations

 

The public relations team seeks to maximize positive exposure for Pepperdine externally and extend the Pepperdine brand and reputation through media and public awareness.

 

Editorial

 

The editorial team seeks to identify and share Pepperdine's most compelling stories while ensuring that all written and electronic publications meet the high standards of Pepperdine. Priorities include the publication of Pepperdine Magazine, the President’s Report, the University Newsroom, development and maintenance of the University Style Guide, copyediting, proofreading, and content creation for Pepperdine’s print and electronic communication channels.

 

Social Media

 

The social media team seeks to engage and grow the Pepperdine community while elevating and strengthening the University's brand in the social media environment.

 

 

Creative

 

Branding, Design, and Experiences - The realm of design, concept development, and interactions are currently being impacted by the need for an increase in emotional experiences through messaging, visuals, and the process of absorbing information—either in small bits for viewers in a rush or in mass quantities for audiences who wish to consume additional information.

In a strategic effort to keep up with the influence of mobile technology, current design trends require agile marketing communications efforts that will allow Pepperdine to remain competitive in this space. Design and branding are directly impacted by tailoring for the smallest possible canvas: a digital icon. From desktop to mobile environments, websites must be responsive to designs where less can be revealed and delivered in a minimal screen size. IMC’s email and print materials are effective at getting viewers’ attention and quickly pointing them to the desired call to action, typically leading them to detailed information on the Pepperdine website.

Our constituents are more vocal about hurdles and frustrations experienced on ineffective sites, so functionality plays a big role in how we design communications vehicles. They are expecting brand and message continuity at our recruiting events, donor dinners, alumni homecoming gatherings, so looking at scripting and sequencing has become more vital.

In effect, we are looking more closely at the full experience of interacting with Pepperdine—from the very first contact, on.

 

Performance Marketing, Development, and Analytics

 

This digital team leads the overall strategy and direction for the University's primary public-facing websites and administers Pepperdine's broadcast email channels, event registration system, and mobile presence.

 

Web

 

Pepperdine's web ecosystem consists of the main University and five school websites, including subdomains and departmental pages. The team is responsible for managing this dynamic ecosystem, the internal Community website, and a number of other sites that are affiliated or integrated with Pepperdine.

 

Email
 

IMC’s email marketers manage the University’s email system and provide policy, training, and direction for this enterprise-level solution for mass email delivery.

 

Event Registration

 

IMC’s event registration team administers the system and provides policy, training, and direction for this enterprise-level solution.

 

Mobile

 

IMC provides strategic direction through a governance model for mobile applications at Pepperdine that includes the Unified Mobile App and specialized apps. IMC is also committed to developing mobile-friendly versions of all Pepperdine websites.

 

Media Production

 

Video Production

 

Video is more popular than ever as a means to communicate ideas, information, viewpoints, and experiences. IMC knows the importance of maintaining consistent, strategic messaging and a high level of quality, either produced by us or by others. We are directly involved in producing and consulting on video productions that supports the University's integrated communications efforts in order to elevate the University's brand, build national reputation, promote enrollment, and strengthen affinity.

 

Photography

 

Photography ensures that all imagery meet the high standards of Pepperdine in order to elevate the University's brand and national reputation through multiple media formats, including University publications, print materials, social media posts, and digital collateral.

 

Media Archives

 

The Media Production Team maintains an online database of digital assets to ensure that the University has a repository of brand images and video files. Easily accessible through any web browser, this database is available to members of the Pepperdine community to support the creation of all marketing or branded messaging.

 

Meet Our Team

 

Integrated Marketing Communications is composed of five teams that lead the development and design of the Pepperdine brand experience. Get to know the members of our team below.

IMC Leadership and Teams