We conducted focus groups with current NCK Tech students to better understand their college decision-making process and reasoning for choosing NCK Tech over other schools. Additionally, we conducted a competitor and category analysis to compare NCK Tech’s messaging to both regional and national technical schools. Based on our primary and secondary research, we uncovered that technical college messaging is largely fact-driven and highlights tuition comparisons, graduation rates, and job placement rates. 

This contradicted our focus group findings because we learned from current students that choosing a college is a highly emotional experience. It’s also especially stressful for technical college students because they feel they have to defend their choice to those who perceive technical education to be “less than” or a “last resort.” As a result, we developed campaign messaging to serve as an anthem for students pursuing technical education and brought it to life through video, digital advertising, and print collateral.