Higher education marketing agency transforms perceptions of Olds College, a smart agriculture giant

Olds College of Agriculture & Technology sits in the center of Alberta, at the northern edge of North America’s Wheat Belt, a vast swath of the Great Plains. The school’s Smart Agriculture Ecosystem — with labs, 3,600 acre Smart Farm and researchers — plays an outsized role in advancing a range of digital agriculture innovations designed to sustain Canada’s position as one the world’s largest agricultural producers and exporters.

The Olds College leadership team turned to Elliance to translate a new public-facing name and brand position into a full website relaunch focused on clear business goals:

• Grow the number, geographic reach and diversity of its prospect pool.
• Increase research funding, industry partnerships, major gift donors.
• Leverage digital content as a catalytic force to secure non-branded, organic page one Google rankings

The Elliance website team prioritized the following site features and outcomes:

• Transform oldscollege.ca from a quiet enrollment website into a true digital content platform and conversion machine, capable of expanding the reach and impact of Olds College of Agriculture and Technology across enrollment, reputation building and fundraising.

• Animate oldscollege.ca (design, video, photography, brand voice) with verve and confidence to match the school’s new brand declaration — Break New Ground.

• Change outdated perceptions of Olds as a regional ag college and amplify the sprawling research portfolio, faculty and facilities to supercharge the persuasive draw of the school’s innovative programs.

• Use the power and flexibility of digital communication to sew together a more coherent articulation of Olds College of Agriculture and Technology as a dynamic, seasonally-rich, life-changing place, far greater than the sum of its disparate acreage and parts.

• Amplify the school’s name recognition and voice across provincial, national, and global influencers.

The oldscollege.ca website was launched last spring. Transformation has begun. Recognitions have already started coming in. Recently, it was ranked #4 amongst Canada’s top 50 research colleges, #2 in college research intensity, #8 for college research income growth. In the small tier college category, Olds College made the top 10 for research partnerships and paid student researchers, and is number 11 for completed research projects.

Research Infosource Inc. also featured a five-year college spotlight on industry research income from 2018 to 2022 which highlights Olds College’s continued research success. Olds College ranked in the top five for industry research income and industry research income growth, as well as the top 10 for industry research income as percentage of total college research income.

More to come. Stay tuned.

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