Remember the LOVE (& Your Married Alumni) This Valentine’s Day.
This time of year, take a note from Cupid’s playbook and use Valentine’s Day as an excuse to rekindle the love with your married alumni. Here are some of our favorite campaigns to spark some creative inspo before all love is lost.
1. Express your literary love and write a poem they’ll appreciate.
Loyola University sent a creative postcard to their married alumni that featured an original poem and an invitation to a vow renewal ceremony at the campus chapel. Couples were encouraged to share the love by giving back in honor of the holiday.
Make it a ThankView by having students read a poem and then taking advantage of our real-person captioning to offer the text on the screen, too.
2. Crowdsource your candy hearts.
Both Boston University and Babson College crowdsource their alumni populations for love stories. BU featured their favorites as a photo essay on their website and Babson chose to feature all the stories submitted on their alumni page.
Make it a ThankView: ask your alumni to submit their love story ahead of Valentine’s Day using a unique hashtag. Download your favorites, and turn it into a video to spread the love.
3. Why limit the love?
Don’t stop at married alumni — as Hugh Grant said “love, actually, is all around.” Champlain College used V Day as an excuse to create a love story for the campus mascots. Authored by a senior student writer, the story of Chauncey and Charllotte Beaver’s engagement was a hit with their alumni.
Make it a ThankView by challenging students to submit a script and then give them the license to put it to action. Not only will you have alumni swooning at all the cuteness, but you’ll have some great student-produced content for so many Valentine’s Day #TBTs to come.
4. Don’t forget your gals.
Galentine’s Day, made famous by the cult-worthy NBC series Parks & Rec, occurs on February 13th and is restricted to celebrating female friendships. Consider featuring female centric centers, departments, and turning to all-lady a cappella groups to record some hits, like UConn did.
Make it a ThankView by highlighting stats from female-forward causes on campus and linking to a giving page that highlights said causes along with female sports and all-female clubs or organizations. Consider inviting celebrated female alumni to share their stories —just don’t forget the recent graduates when considering faces to feature.
Is Valentine’s Day part of your outreach plan? What angle do you use? Let us know in the comments or in the ThankView Partner Community on Facebook.
