A Case Study on our “Be Unstoppable” Campaign for Rowan University

In the winter of 2020, Rowan University was planning for the coming Fall Academic Semester. Student applications had been sent in, acceptance letters were about to go out, and now the wait began. They needed students to accept and attend in the fall. But how could they encourage students to accept their offer in these uncertain times?   

Over the course of the previous year, talk of deferring or taking a year off, had only grown. Many students were concerned that their college experience would be filled with online classes, remote learning with no student life or camaraderie between classmates in sight. 

Rowan was committed to offering an in-person and on-campus college experience for those who wanted it, but, in order to convey that message to prospective students, they needed to show them.

That’s where Narrative Media came in. Our task was to create a series of high energy  videos to show prospective students that, even today, in the midst of a pandemic, Rowan is a vibrant campus full of active students, all while highlighting the entrepreneurial spirit, grit, determination and continued growth of the university. 

We integrated ourselves with Rowan’s leadership team to develop an outline and moodboard that incorporated these elements, while showing a safe and active campus. In the end, we developed a script and storyboard that called for 23 locations, 92 student actors, 4 days of filming and the crew members to help make it all happen. 

Rowan team members went to work recruiting students and faculty to fill our talent roles, while Narrative Media scouted the campus to find great looking locations for each of our scenes and determine what equipment we would need to get the shots we had developed. 

We pulled from our extensive network of associates to put together our ace team of 8 crew members, big enough to accomplish great things, but small enough to remain nimble. 

With a plan in place, and a four day schedule laid out in increments of 15 minutes, we went to work. We filmed using camera dollies, jib arms and drones to keep the camera in constant motion and maintain the high energy visuals we had initially envisioned. 

Once all of our footage was captured, we went to work in post production, laying out the spots according to the 15, 30 and 60 second scripts we had developed. We added in a high energy music track, recorded voiceover tracks with male and female VO artists for A/B testing, sent the sound out for professional sound mixers and colorists to ensure the highest level of polish on the finished products.