University of Hawaii to Unveil New Print Advertising Campaign

Series of Ten Ads Beginning May 5th to Feature Faculty and Student Success Stories

University of Hawaiʻi
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Posted: May 3, 2002

The University of Hawaiʻi is embarking on a new marketing effort that will begin Sunday, May 5, with the first in a series of ads that will feature the success stories of UH faculty and students from across the 10-campus system. The ads will be seen in the op-ed pages of The Honolulu Advertiser and the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, as well as the daily neighbor island newspapers — the Hawaiʻi Tribune Herald and West Hawaiʻi Today on the Big Island, the Maui News on Maui, and The Garden Island on Kauaʻi.

An introductory ad opens the campaign on May 5 and is followed by eight ads on consecutive days that feature a UH student or faculty member with a unique background, talent or success story, highlighting the theme that the University of Hawaiʻi is "a world of learning open to everyone." A closing ad will look back on the eight featured individuals and sum up the campaign.

"This is the beginning of a new marketing approach by the University of Hawaiʻi to speak to our internal and external audiences about the limitless opportunities available here," says Paul Costello, UH Vice President for External Affairs and University Relations.

University of Hawaiʻi students and faculty featured in the campaign include:

· Julia "Koewa" Martin, a single mother and an accounting student at Maui Community College who walked 14 miles from Makawao to the campus for two years to pursue her education;

· Paul Coleman, a UH Mānoa astronomy professor and avid surfer who is believed to be the first person of Hawaiian ancestry to earn a Ph.D. in astronomy;

· Becky Niniaukapealii Kawaihae, last year‘s queen of the Merrie Monarch Royal Court and a UH Hilo graduate who received a Truman Scholarship to pursue her graduate studies, which she chose to do at UH Mānoa;

· Ralph Shoji Kouchi, a welding instructor at Kauaʻi Community College who has used his talent and expertise not only in teaching, but also to build shelters after Hurricane Iniki and to create artistic sculptures for public display;

· Tom "Pohaku" Stone, a master‘s candidate in Pacific Island Studies who began his studies at Windward Community College and is a master of the sport of Heʻe Hōlua, Hawaiian sledding;

· Barbara Wong, a retired assistant police chief with the Honolulu Police Department who is now studying to become a lawyer at the William S. Richardson School of Law at UH Mānoa;

· Jack Bredin and Paul Noyes, firefighters and students at the UH—West Oʻahu campus;

· and Danielle Paschal, a dance student at Leeward Community College who conducts workshops in area high schools on the value of education with the college‘s Student 2 Student program.

"We want to create a buzz about the University of Hawaiʻi, highlight its strengths and excellence along with doing something different," says Tom DelMundo, executive creative director at ADWorks, the Honolulu advertising agency that conceived and executed the campaign. "It‘s the people — the faculty and students — who are the life of the University and make the difference. We want to share their stories."

The ads highlight the campaign‘s theme through copy and dramatic black-and-white photography by Alex Viarnés, a well-respected photographer who won the Pele award last year for best photography. Mike Janowsky, art director at ADWorks, also contributed to the creative aspects of the campaign.

The advertising campaign is supported by all 10 campuses of the University of Hawaiʻi system, and financial support has also been generously provided by the University of Hawaiʻi Professional Assembly (UHPA) and General Growth/Victoria Ward, Ltd.

The University of Hawaiʻi is the state‘s only public postsecondary education system and is comprised of 10 campuses throughout the state — the flagship campus at Mānoa, the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo on the Big Island, the University of Hawaiʻi—West Oʻahu on the leeward side of Oahu, and the UH Community Colleges, which includes four campuses on Oʻahu — Honolulu, Kapiʻolani, Leeward and Windward — and one each on Maui, Kauaʻi and Hawaiʻi.