The University of Akron is taking a broader approach to higher education marketing, expanding its relationship with independent creative and media agency Brokaw beyond social media to encompass the university’s wider brand and advertising strategy.
The expanded partnership follows a competitive agency review and gives Brokaw responsibility across brand strategy, creative development, traditional and digital media planning and buying, social media and video production. The agency previously handled social media for the university.
At the center of the strategy is “The World Needs More Yes,” a brand platform designed to position Akron around possibility and participation rather than relying on conventional higher education messages about academic quality, career outcomes or campus life.
That distinction matters in a higher education market where prospective students encounter increasingly similar institutional claims. The University of Akron says it wants the platform to reach not only prospective students and families, but also current students, alumni, employers, partners and the broader Akron community.
The approach is already showing measurable signals. Preliminary brand research cited by the university indicates a 20% increase in positive perceptions, while applications for fall 2026 rose 11% and admitted students increased 9.6% year over year. The university had also reported strong enrollment momentum in 2025, with total enrollment reaching 15,318, up 3.4% from the previous year.
For advertising technology, the more interesting development is how the brand strategy is intended to operate across the student journey rather than as a collection of disconnected campaigns.
Brokaw says the strategy involves matching messages to audiences, channels and moments, then using engagement and conversion data to determine what is resonating. That model increasingly resembles the operating structure used by consumer brands: audience segmentation, omnichannel media planning, creative testing and performance measurement working together.
The challenge is particularly relevant as Gen Z evaluates college through a mix of financial, career and personal considerations. Hanover Research notes that Gen Z now spans traditional-age and adult-learner demographics, while Gen Alpha is beginning to enter high school.
Higher education marketers are consequently moving beyond broad demographic targeting. Search advertising, paid social, connected TV, programmatic media, CRM data and first-party audience signals can all play roles in guiding prospective students from awareness to inquiry and enrollment.
The University of Akron’s own digital presence shows how the “Yes” platform has been extended beyond advertising into admissions messaging, campus experience and affordability positioning.
That creates an important distinction between a campaign and a brand platform. A campaign can optimize for impressions, clicks or applications. A platform has to provide a consistent identity that can survive across paid media, owned channels, social content, admissions communications and real-world experiences.
Brokaw’s expanded role also reflects a wider shift in higher education advertising. Universities increasingly need agencies that can combine creative differentiation with media technology and measurement, particularly as traditional student demographics become less predictable and institutions compete for attention across increasingly fragmented digital channels.
The next test for Akron will be whether its distinctive positioning can translate into sustained improvements in consideration, engagement and enrollment—not simply short-term increases in campaign performance.
Market Landscape
Higher education marketing is moving toward a more audience-centric model as institutions face enrollment pressure and changing student expectations. Ithaka S+R points to the post-2025 enrollment decline among high school graduates as one of the challenges universities will need to manage, while noting that concerns about cost and time are also influencing how students view four-year degrees.
That environment is pushing universities toward integrated marketing strategies that combine brand storytelling with measurable acquisition channels. Paid search and social remain important, but advertisers can also use programmatic advertising, connected TV, CRM platforms, first-party data and marketing automation to build more coordinated student journeys.
The University of Akron’s approach reflects this convergence. Its brand platform supplies the central narrative, while media, creative, social and measurement capabilities provide the infrastructure for distributing and optimizing that narrative.
Strategic Outlook
The expanded Brokaw partnership signals a broader evolution in higher education advertising: universities increasingly need to behave like sophisticated consumer brands while retaining the credibility and community relationships that make them different from commercial advertisers.
The strategic opportunity is to connect brand and performance marketing rather than treating them as separate disciplines. A distinctive message can generate awareness, while audience data and conversion measurement can reveal which segments, channels and creative executions actually contribute to enrollment.
AI is likely to accelerate that convergence through predictive audience modeling, creative variation, campaign optimization and automated analysis. But technology alone cannot solve the differentiation problem. Universities still need a compelling reason for students and communities to choose them.
For Akron, “The World Needs More Yes” provides that organizing idea. The longer-term measure of success will be whether the idea remains distinctive as it moves through programmatic advertising, social platforms, search, video, campus communications and the broader student experience.
Top Insights
- Akron’s expanded agency relationship combines brand strategy with media, creative and social capabilities, creating a more integrated higher education marketing operation.
- The university’s 20% improvement in positive brand perception suggests distinctive positioning can influence consideration alongside performance-focused enrollment marketing.
- Programmatic advertising, paid social, search, CRM data and conversion measurement can help universities connect brand awareness with measurable student acquisition outcomes.
- Gen Z’s changing expectations are pushing universities toward authentic, audience-specific messaging rather than interchangeable claims about quality, opportunity and outcomes.
- The broader trend favors agencies capable of combining creative differentiation, media technology, first-party data and measurement across the student journey.
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