Marylanders who have traveled the billboard-lined roads of Frederick County, watched Mount St. Mary’s University take on Long Island University Brooklyn in men’s basketball on CBS Sports on January 25, visited the Mount’s admissions website or listened to WFRE or WFMD radio over the past several months have likely seen or heard Alexis Watson, C’17. The recent Mount graduate is the face and voice of the Mount’s “Live Significantly” integrative marketing campaign.
The multi-media channel campaign, unveiled on October 23 with a 90-second commercial at the inauguration of President Timothy E. Trainor, Ph.D., highlights how Mount St. Mary’s prepares students through various opportunities to “live significantly.” Television commercials, print advertisements, online videos, billboard displays and social media posts showcase through unique verb-adverb pairings opportunities the Mount offers. Students “learn voraciously” through academics; “engage wholeheartedly” and “grow faithfully” through faith, service and recreation; “explore boundlessly” through campus and local communities; “compete ferociously” through athletics and “dream limitlessly” through paths which propel them to their career.
Watson, a Baltimore area native and graduate of Seton Keough High School, became involved in the campaign when a film crew from Up&Up, a higher education marketing agency based in Greenville, South Carolina, came to the Mount to shoot background video and photographs for possible use in the campaign. Director of Marketing Hilary Douwes asked Watson, then a senior who has since graduated from the Mount in December 2017 with a degree in communication, to participate in a part of the shoot showing a Mount student off campus in a future setting as well as a segment about campus life.
Later, as the agency held auditions for narration of the ads, they reached out to Watson to audition. Her audition stood out as projecting the “quiet confidence” that was needed, said Vice President for Marketing and Communication Jack Chielli. Watson nailed her recording session at Emmitsburg-based Coronation Media, perfecting the vocals in just two hours.
“Working on this campaign was such an honor for me,” Watson said. “The first time I watched the commercial I teared up because it was like I was watching the best moments of the last three and one-half years of my life. The campaign does a great job of showing what the Mount is all about: forming people who will truly live significantly. I’m happy I can contribute to that.”
Watson graduated from Mount St. Mary’s in just three and one-half years and is now events and operations intern for the Northeast Conference collegiate athletic association. Watson’s narration work will stand out on a resume that includes serving as an alumni engagement student employee in the Mount’s advancement office and as a student athlete development intern in addition to an internship at Maryland Public Television. And she likely is getting an increased number of double takes from people who are convinced that they have met her before.
Visit admissions.msmary.edu for the video and to learn more.