College of DuPage

Building Immunity to Decline

As the effects of the pandemic crippled community college enrollment across the board, COD saw a 2% dip in enrollment of its own. But rather than passively waiting for conditions to improve, they turned to VisionPoint and took action.

Year 1 Creative Launch

Year 2 Campaign Refresh

The campaign converted inquiries at an industry-beating $20 cost per acquisition during a time when community college enrollments were in decline.

Breaking Barriers

Our campaign needed to reach a broad range of audiences, with a special focus on underserved and underrepresented populations in Chicago affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

An Inventive Messaging Strategy

It’s Like COD is a literal brainstorm of ways to describe COD’s differentiators. Our strategy was to capture the effusive spirit of a raving word-of-mouth review, while poking fun at the moment when words fall short. 

Speaking to Audiences’ Needs

At the height of the pandemic, our campaign positioned COD’s accelerated learning courses and job-ready skill certificates as a practical part of the solution.

Turning Heads and Taking (Lead) Names

• In just three months, COD notched over 22 million impressions. 
• The campaign converted inquiries at an industry-beating $20 cost per acquisition during a time when community college enrollments were in decline.
• Our “It’s Like” ads won two CASE awards and one platinum MarCom award (including a silver CASE award for our video series) – an accolade traditionally reserved for big-name universities.
• As the campaign progressed, COD recorded 3,104 directly attributable leads – a 123% year over year increase.