St Andrews, Scotland, UK
St Andrews University partnered with StageClip to turn two old VHS recordings from the 90s into short Tik-Tok style, fully personalized digital clips of individual graduations that could be shared on social media. Nearly 20% of alumni reached updated contact information, and the campaign sparked engagement in unexpected ways for their alumni relations and development teams.
Product
Alumni Heritage Clips
Goal
St. Andrews wanted an innovative and effective tactic to get alumni to update their online profiles with new contact details.
St Andrews partnered with StageClip to turn two old VHS recordings from the 90s into short Tik Tok-style, fully personalized digital clips of individual graduations that could be shared on social media.
To make this happen, StageClip applied its patented clipping technology to the already-digitalized VHS recordings, while St Andrews worked on its graduate lists, digitizing the original graduation-day souvenir programs and checking the names with the constituents on its alumni database. StageClip then honed the clips, improving the audio and edit points, adding individual details like name and date, and advising on the pre- and post-roll graphics. St Andrews then had all the fun incorporating the cheesy synth-music and 80s-style graphics from the original VHS tapes onto the beginning and end of each clip.
The two year-groups St Andrews picked (the classes of 1991 and 1996) were coming up to the 25th and 30th anniversaries of their graduations, and as the actual day of their anniversary approached, the email-contactable graduates in each cohort received a congratulatory note inviting them to pick up their clips. The email sent them to a St Andrews-hosted webform which contained a unique URL on the Stageclip servers where they could find their individual clip. (Graduates who only had only given a postal address to St Andrews had already received a letter letting them know they would need to register their contact details online to pick up their clips.)
Across both year-groups, almost one-in-five alumni updated their online profiles with new contact details during the initiative. What’s more, it became apparent that this was driven by alumni telling each other about the clips being available, rather than the institution finding a way to get the campaign in front of them. And most of this happened on WhatsApp, with over half the social-media shares taking place on that platform.
“We all know about the friendship groups that are created by the university experience,” says Robert Fleming. “And it has always been the dream of alumni relations to create the kind of compelling content and experiences that make alumni want to tell each other about what’s going on and to draw them back to re-engagement with the institution. But this is the first campaign I have ever seen that predictably and measurably delivers on that potential by getting into those WhatsApp friendship groups with unique, highly personalized and sharable content.”
Alumni clips generated
of alumni reached updated their information
Total shares on social media
Individual clips viewed (37%)
Reach for LinkedIn post
Total views of clips (6x on average)
While the uptick in contact data speaks for itself, the qualitative response from alumni was equally compelling.
”When we set up this project, we had no idea how impactful it would be. We understood how compelling the core idea was – imagine getting a video clip out of the blue showing you, a quarter century ago, at one of the most pivotal public and developmental moments of your life. What we hadn’t anticipated was how well the project would actually play out in terms of engagement, and the myriad ways its potential could be maximized.
Robert FlemingDirector of Development at St Andrews, former European Vice President at the philanthropic consultancy Grenzebach Glier and Associates
One of the unanticipated consequences of the campaign was finding that some of the emails St Andrews held were for alumni who had since passed, and whose parents, partners or children were still monitoring their inboxes. The team received some of their most affecting correspondence from these relatives, and these sat alongside requests from classmates of alumni who had died asking to see their friends again via the videos, offering sometimes to pass them along to their friend’s bereaved parents. The emotional power of alumni relations was never more evident than in this aspect of the program.
“What excited the team at St Andrews was the potential for the future. There are so many different ways this program could be targeted, delivered and focused.”
– Robert Fleming
Among the ideas the team are considering are the following:
“What is exciting for us is to see all of the ways that the alumni relations community is going to explore the creative possibilities of this new service,” says Rupert Forsythe, CEO of Stageclip.
“There are so many different ways it could go and I am looking forward to seeing just what it can help our clients achieve.”
Florida, United States
Product: Virtual Graduation Ceremony
Goal: FIU wanted to provide graduates with a personalized and memorable graduation experience while operating in a short window of time.
Leaders at Florida International University (FIU), like many other universities facing the global COVID-19 pandemic in Spring 2020, were concerned that they wouldn’t be able to provide a memorable experience for their graduates during the pandemic
By partnering with StageClip for their virtual graduation ceremony, the FIU team were able to work quickly to enhance their special day and provide graduates with a personalized and enjoyable graduation experience.
FIU selected StageClip for their Spring 2020 virtual graduation ceremony because of the personalized experience for graduates and the support StageClip offers for a quick and efficient implementation.
Following the successful on-schedule implementation of their ceremony, FIU created a memorable and personalized experience for their graduates with positive responses from graduates and families.
ceremony views
YouTube watch time
in hours
countries with viewers
clips viewed
clips shared
on social media
cities with viewers
”Partnering with StageClip helped us create a personalized and memorable experience for our graduates during this time. They made it very easy for us!
Melanie RodriguesSpecial Events Manager, Event Protocol and Community Relations
Manchester, United Kingdom
Product
StageClips – Live Ceremony
Goal
Increase social media impact and generate emotional connection of graduates to the university.
Results
Manchester’s StageClip program produced 11,255 personalized clips that garnered 947,072 views in 149 countries and 2,274 cities, including social media boosts as well:
The University of Manchester saw the power of individualized video in action as part of their commencement ceremony. Manchester’s StageClip program produced 11,255 personalized clips that garnered 947,072 views in 149 countries and 2,274 cities.
Manchester chose the StageClip program because of its ease of implementation:
StageClips benefit universities in several ways: the return on investment outperforms advertising on social networks, and compared with social media share platforms, StageClip is 48 times less expensive; the emotional marketing component inspires prospective students to consider attending your university; universities have the option to add a survey to the StageClip product, allowing them to launch their alumni relations efforts with new grads.
It’s truly a win-win across the board!
”The clips look great—the perfect first interaction that we should be having with our new alumni and they love it!
Katie LeatherbarrowDevelopment and Alumni Relations
Maryland, United States
Product: Alumni Survey
Goal: Collect primary email addresses for new alumni after graduation
The strategy – provide access to the individualized StageClip only after a short survey is completed.
The result – Johns Hopkins achieved a 73% full completion rate. They gathered data faster and launched their alumni relations efforts earlier than ever, and at a fraction of the cost.
Johns Hopkins University, known as America’s first research university, has always included surveys in its alumni relations efforts. After all, research is part of its DNA.
In previous years, the strategy was to implement multiple campaigns around the time of commencement to capture valuable contact information. Most importantly, the university’s goal was simple but important – collect primary email addresses that alumni would be using after graduation (college “.edu” email addresses are often abandoned post-graduation).
The best previous response rate they could achieve was 15%. They were willing to offer a $25 Amazon gift card to incentivize alumni to provide information. That’s a high acquisition cost for an email address.
Johns Hopkins’ Alumni Relations office decided to give the StageClip optional survey a try, and achieved a full completion rate of 73%.
These completion rates are not an anomaly. On average, universities experience a 33% rate on their graduate surveys, whereas StageClip has proven results of up to 93% completion rates.
The importance of updating alumni contact information can’t be stressed enough. More importantly, launching your alumni relations efforts, during, or shortly after, commencement is the ideal time to engage them and ask for the information. They are excited, proud and want to share their big moment via their social media networks.
”This was a fantastic project and we’re delighted. The survey stats are great!
Mansoor AliSr. Associate Director, Alumni Relations
StageClip is committed to enabling graduates and their loved ones to Share Life’s Big Moments through personalized video experiences. Since 2016, we’ve given nearly 3 million college and K12 graduates individual video clips of their on-stage moment, moving beyond the traditional 2-hour ceremony recording to a high-engagement, shareable experience. Our clips have also helped alumni teams, corporate event planners, and individual degree programs engage their graduates and attendees by focus on their individual participants. Learn how StageClip can help you engage graduates for upcoming ceremonies at stageclip.com.
