Cornell in NYC Campaign
A landmark campaign aligning Cornell University’s mission with the future of New York City.
THE CHALLENGE
When Cornell Tech opened on Roosevelt Island in NYC, we seized a generational opportunity to make Cornell’s well-established NYC presence and impact unforgettable.
Unite
20
colleges, schools, programs, centers, and institutes
Reach
50
K
NYC alumni
Reinforce
INSTITUTIONAL
RELEVANCE
with policymakers, business leaders, alumni, and media
MY ROLES
As Senior Director of Marketing and Brand Communications for Cornell:
Shaped the strategy, messaging, and structure of a yearlong integrated campaign
Unified campus and global partners, media teams, and executive leadership
Directed agency collaboration and reported outcomes to the board
Campaign Architecture
Creative Direction
Editorial Direction
Content Strategy
Media Planning
Stakeholder Management
Insights & ROI
WHAT WE DID
Institution-wide internal coordination aligned with a Tier-1 agency partner set a new high-water mark for cohesive brand marketing at scale.
Earned Media
1,500+ stories placed in NYT, WSJ, Bloomberg, Crain's
Owned Media
Custom Interactive Story Map website, nyc.cornell.edu, and alumni magazine web & print cover feature drove deep alumni engagement
Paid Ads
116,000 reached via premium newsletters, including Politico NY Playbook, Crain's NY, and City & State.
Full-page print ads in the New York Times and subway placements across 3 boroughs.
6-month run, aligned with campaign milestones.
Open rates peaked at 30%.
Top-performing source for engaged visitors (avg. time-on-site 1:01).
ROI: brand trust and visibility with high-value NY policy and civic leaders.
Events
55+ major stakeholder events, including NYC campus dedication and Association for a Better New York keynote
METRICS
Quant and qual metrics demonstrating campaign success
900M+
total impressions
5x
higher
social
engagement
vs Ivy peers
224M+
earned media reach
23K+
re-engaged alumni
60%+
increase in website
engagement
WHY IT MATTERED
This wasn’t just a campaign...
It permanently repositioned Cornell as a force in NYC’s future, across innovation, medicine, public policy, and sustainability.
It laid the groundwork for state-level expansion of mission-aligned programs.
It set the bar for what university brand strategies can do at scale, at Cornell and within the peer Ivies.