MICA School For Professional & Continuing Studies

Overview

The Story. With one of the richest legacies in the arts and one of the top art schools in the country, the 190-year-old Maryland Institute College of Art [MICA] hired us to design a print/digital campaign to help increase enrollment in the School For Professional and Continuing Studies program (SFPCS). As an alumna, Marcia McCray (founder of The Brand Naked Agency) had the opportunity to enroll in continuing studies courses after she graduated, enhancing the skills and talents she had cultivated during her attendance. Marcia and The Brand Naked Agency (TBNA) drew inspiration from Marcia’s time at MICA during her undergraduate and post-graduate years and created a digital campaign indicative of her educative and intuitive experience at the school.

The Design Solution.TBNA developed the concept of the artist meets the professional using the research insights the client’s marketing department had collected regarding their target audience, current SFPCS enrollment, and the brand standard guidelines.

While MICA is an art school, which many perceive as eclectic, the campaign was developed around MICA’s traditionally based brand standards, ensuring unity between the history of the college and its innovative feel. TBNA strategically developed the tagline, hired a photographer, selected models, and chose a copywriter for the campaign while keeping the institution’s brand voice intact.

The Brand Naked Agency then crafted digital illustrations using photographs of each model, displaying the intersecting lives of both the professional and the artist. The campaign resulted in a clean advertisement that reflected the classically modern, innovative edge of the school.

Shown: The City Paper print advertisement, digital illustrations of the final two concepts presented to the client, and the leaderboard advertisement