Best of CASE District II Award
 

Institution: Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

Title of entry: In Sandy’s Wake

About this entry: On October 29, 2012, Superstorm Sandy hit New Jersey with devastating force, upending lives
and leaving a $30 billion trail of destruction. Its aftermath revealed the vulnerability and
challenged the viability of coastal communities. But in Sandy’s wake, Rutgers has led the search
for long-term and sustainable solutions.
Rutgers’ Office of Communications and Marketing (R-Comm) created a digital campaign to
commemorate the impact of Sandy on New Jersey and showcase how the university supported
post-storm recovery, mitigation and adaptation. The campaign ran from October 24 to
November 4. What follows is an overview of campaign planning, execution and outcomes.

R-Comm sits at the top of the university’s communications funnel, and our content is designed
to stand alone, to be used by other university departments for their own communications
planning, and to generate external media coverage. On all three measures the Sandy campaign
was a huge success.

The timing of our package was optimal, coming on the heels of Hurricane Ian, which struck
landfall a few weeks before the Sandy anniversary. This raised interest in the topic and drew
journalists from around the country to our package.

In total, we counted more than 40 pieces of content, stories and interviews in some of the
country’s most influential media outlets – from ABC’s “Good Morning America” to Politico. It
was, in other words, a bullseye for Rutgers’ missions – leveraging research expertise for the
benefit of humanity.