It’s always a little funny to me when I see “Find us on Facebook!” written on church marquees and signs on coffee shop counters. But the University of Kentucky has taken this real world hyperlink concept to the next level.
The school has built huge wooden sculptures shaped like Facebook’s teardrop pointer and map logo to remind students to check in around campus using the new location feature, Facebook Places. The human-sized signs will inspire more buzz about the school on Facebook, recruiters hope.
“We’re encouraging students to check in, so when they do, it’ll show up in their news feed and maybe their friends still in high school will see it over and over again,” the university’s marketing director told AdAge.
It was the university’s ad agency, Lexington-based Cornett-IMS, that hatched the idea. The agency has pursued a high-tech strategy to help UK double its freshman class, including “a media-rich microsite with high-energy guided campus tours, and a truly immersive experience of campus life,” which it says has led to record applications. The school has more than 105,000 fans on Facebook.
Two of the wooden signs have popped up on campus, and several more are coming this week, Cornett-IMS said.
This Saturday, even larger pointers will appear at Commonwealth Stadium to encourage fans to check in during the Kentucky Wildcats game, Cornett-IMS said.
The school is also considering placing stickers on doors across campus to remind students to check in, according to AdAge.
Thanks so much to RWW reader Alex Johnson for the photos taken outside Memorial Hall on the UK campus, and to Cornett-IMS for the photo of the pointer inside the visitor center.
