Case Study
University of San Diego Online Degrees — Award-Winning Brand Campaign Driving 143 Leads and 3.4x CTV Efficiency
Scope
Overview
The University of San Diego Online Degrees needed a brand platform that would differentiate its 15 online graduate programs in a crowded higher education market. Through stakeholder workshops, audience research, and competitive analysis, we uncovered a defining insight: students consistently valued being able to apply what they learned in class directly to their work the next day. This led to the development of the campaign:
“Learn It Today. Use It Tomorrow.”
Built around this positioning, the campaign unified USD Online’s programs under a single message while driving measurable business results. The award-winning campaign increased branded leads from 20 to 143 year over year and delivered 3.4x more qualified Connected TV conversions than expected based on media spend.
Client Overview
University of San Diego (USD) Online Degrees is the fully online graduate division of the University of San Diego, a private, nationally recognized Catholic university. USD Online offers 15 fully online master’s programs designed for working professionals seeking career advancement without pausing their careers.
The Challenge
A Need for Clear Differentiation
USD Online Degrees’ previous brand campaign, anchored by the tagline “Master What Matters,” was underperforming and failed to clearly differentiate the program in a crowded online graduate education market. Leadership believed the message lacked distinctiveness and did not fully communicate what makes USD Online different.
Competitive research revealed that many online graduate programs emphasize flexibility, affordability, speed, or emotional themes of empowerment and perseverance. While these messages resonate broadly, they are widely used and difficult to own. At the same time, stakeholder workshops uncovered a repeated and compelling insight: students and alumni consistently described learning something in class one day and applying it on the job the very next day.
USD needed a differentiated brand platform that unified 15 online graduate programs under a single message, reinforced academic credibility, and clearly communicated value to working professionals ages 35–45 across San Diego, California, and national markets.
Our Approach
Strategy and messaging,
built from the ground up
Vital led Brand Strategy and Messaging Development for the USD Online brand campaign.
Step 1
Stakeholder Workshops & Audience Insight
In September 2024, we conducted structured stakeholder workshops focused on three objectives :
- Understand the audience
- Define USD Online’s difference
- Clarify how to tell the story
We asked stakeholders to define the ideal student, identify key challenges working professionals face, and articulate what makes USD Online distinct. A consistent theme emerged: applied learning. Students valued practical, skills-based instruction taught by working professionals, and alumni frequently shared stories of immediate on-the-job application.
This insight aligned with broader industry data showing that 88% of online students prioritize skills-based education and strong ROI.
Step 2
Competitive Landscape Analysis
Our competitive analysis mapped messaging across leading online institutions, including SDSU Global Campus, Purdue Global, and ASU. We identified several common themes:
- Flexibility and convenience
- Speed and affordability
- Prestige and employability rankings
- Emotional messaging around empowerment
Few competitors owned a clear, immediate applied-learning narrative. This created an opportunity for USD Online to position itself around real-world relevance rather than ease or cost.
Step 3
Messaging Territory Development
In October 2024, we presented three distinct brand messaging territories :
- Learn It Today. Use It Tomorrow.
- Learn online. Not on your own.
- Gain new skills for today’s fastest-growing careers.
Each concept was supported by structured pillars and proof points.
The winning platform — “Learn It Today. Use It Tomorrow.” — was selected because it directly reflected stakeholder insight and resonated strongly with the needs of working professionals. It communicated immediacy, practicality, and long-term career growth in a concise and differentiated way.
Step 4
Brand Platform and Pillar Development
The final brand architecture included:
- Core Message: Learn It Today. Use It Tomorrow.
- Supporting Line: Master the skills that matter to your career.
- Brand Pillars:
- Learn It — Courses taught by working professionals at the top of their fields.
- Apply It — Skills designed for immediate real-world application.
- Achieve It — Small class sizes and dedicated support for measurable career growth.
This platform unified 15 graduate programs under one cohesive narrative while preserving program-level marketing flexibility.
Step 5
Creative Contribution
Vital developed the campaign messaging framework and wrote the script for the Spotify audio placements, ensuring that the voice and tone reinforced the applied-learning positioning across channels.
Media strategy, production execution, and advanced performance modeling were executed in collaboration with a media partner.
MEASURABLE RESULTS
The Results
The USD Online Brand Campaign 2025 earned a Silver UPCEA MEMS Award and delivered measurable improvements across brand awareness, engagement, and lead generation.
Brand Visibility
Branded Search Performance (YoY Growth)
Compared to FY24:
- Leads increased from 20 to 143
- Impressions increased from 50,121 to 167,343
- Clicks increased from 9,442 to 18,278
- CPC improved from $2.12 to $1.96
- Sessions increased from 7,469 to 16,486
- Average session duration increased from 1:29 to 2:21
The campaign improved engagement while maintaining cost efficiency.
Media Efficiency
Connected TV (CTV) Impact
Media mix modeling (MMM) analysis across 652 days of cross-channel performance found:
- CTV accounted for 1.15% of media spend
- Delivered 3.96% of total modeled conversions
- Generated 3.4x more qualified conversions than expected based on spend
- Produced 809.03 qualified lead attributions
- Achieved a $54.06 mQLCPA
The MMM model achieved 79.12% accuracy, indicating strong statistical confidence.
Audience Reach
Spotify Performance
- Reach: 481,540
- Impressions: 709,655
- Completion Rate: 93.64% (in line with platform benchmarks)
Out-of-Home Reach
Airport Media
3,667,530 impressions were delivered through placements in San Diego International Airport Terminal 1, extending brand visibility to a high-value audience of business travelers, professionals, and prospective graduate students throughout the campaign.
Conversion Insights
Behavioral Insight
Analysis showed that increasing engagement by one additional pageview could lift conversion rate by approximately 2%, reinforcing the value of compelling brand messaging driving deeper site exploration.
Services Used
Brand Strategy, Messaging Development, Competitive Analysis, Buyer Persona Development, Creative Concepting, Copywriting (Audio Script), Higher Education Marketing
Technology Used
PGoogle Ads, Google Analytics 4 (GA4), Connected TV / OTT Platforms (via The Trade Desk), Spotify Ads, Media Mix Modeling (MMM) analysis, Airport Out-of-Home Media placements
AI Used
Vital did not use AI tools in the development of brand strategy, messaging, or creative concepts for this campaign. All positioning, messaging territories, and scriptwriting were developed through stakeholder workshops, competitive research, and strategic synthesis.
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