Best of CASE District VIII Award
 

Institution: University of Oregon

Title of entry: UO Business: The Magazine 2022 COVER

About this entry: Located in the lush Willamette Valley, water is a part of the everyday lives of students, faculty, and staff at the University of Oregon. At the UO Lundquist Business College, we needed this cover to assert our newly installed dean as capable, confident, friendly, and action-oriented. We also needed to quickly establish him as an ambassador of our brand. What better way to capture that irreverent, entrepreneurial Oregon spirit than to douse the dean with water as he smiled on?

We asked the dean to meet us at the Rec Center pool—where he swims laps—in a business suit. We raised a black background (one of our secondary school colors) and, with his consent, threw huge buckets of fresh Oregon water on him. We call it liquid sunshine. Yes, the image we chose is that of real water splashing the dean in real-time.

In this way, we were able to capture the open, welcoming, enthusiastic attitude of our dean in a new way, in a space that is authentic to him. We were able to keep our budget on track through the use of existing resources including our university's pool and the dean's wardrobe. We invested in a local, professional photographer and high-quality paper and printing.

The impact? Exactly what we had hoped for: Increased visual recognition of our dean, increased brand recognition for the college and increased community enthusiasm for our new leader after a time of uncertainty.