Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine 360º Virtual Tour

[ about ]

Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine—the US’s largest AVMA-accredited veterinary school—faced a unique challenge shared by no other program in the country: prospective students could not simply drive to campus for a visit. Located on the Caribbean island of St. Kitts, the school was geographically removed from the stateside veterinary programs that held an inherent advantage in the prospective student funnel. Those schools could not only tell their story, but show it—through on-campus tours that moved students from awareness to preference and, ultimately, to application. Ross Vet needed to bridge that gap by bringing the campus to prospective students instead, through an on-demand, immersive 360º virtual campus tour.

APPROACH & OUTCOME

A comprehensive 360º virtual tour was planned, scripted, and filmed on location at Ross Vet’s preclinical campus in St. Kitts—with scripted voiceovers added in post-production to guide viewers, introducing them to the places and spaces throughout the institution and surrounding areas. The project showcased core academic classrooms, state-of-the-art lab and research facilities, experiential learning spaces unique to the school’s tropical locale—including outdoor clinical environments unavailable to any other veterinary program—campus amenities, and student life.

Shot with specialized 360º action cameras, the tour was made widely accessible through the Google Cardboard platform, which allowed viewers to use their own smartphone inside a simple cardboard headset for an immersive experience. This format enabled prospective students, their families, and college counselors to experience the sights and sounds of Ross Vet as they turned their heads in every direction—quickly feeling as though they were standing on campus in real time. The virtual campus tour was published to YouTube as both a fully encapsulated tour experience and as individual videos organized by topic in a playlist—allowing viewers the choice to follow the full guided experience or explore the specific areas that interested them most.

Custom-branded Google Cardboard viewers were produced and distributed through multiple touchpoints: mailed to prospective students who requested information through an online inquiry form or directly submitted an application, included alongside view books and related materials, and sent to college counselors at target undergraduate feeder institutions across the US and Canada. Viewers were also distributed in person at enrollment events throughout North America.

At a time when 360º immersive technology was newly accessible for mass distribution—well before virtual campus tours became the norm in a post-COVID world—this tactic represented a forward-thinking approach to a persistent challenge in higher education marketing. In concert with all other online and offline tactics in Ross Vet’s integrated marketing communications plan, the on-demand virtual tour contributed to a lift in brand tracker awareness and preference metrics, triple the annual prospective student inquiries, and a 43% year-over-year increase in applications for veterinary school enrollment.

MY ROLE

Creative Direction & Strategy, Project Lead

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & TOOLS

• Strategy: Audience Insights | Brand Messaging | Brand Stewardship | Brand Storytelling | Competitive Analysis | Customer-Centric Mindset | Higher Education Marketing | Market Research | Stakeholder Management
• Creative & Production: Budget Management | Content Creation | Creative Development | Creative Services Management | Creative Team Leadership | Vendor Management | Video Shoots
• Tools: Adobe Acrobat Pro | Microsoft Excel | Microsoft Word

KUDOS

• BRONZE: 33rd Annual Educational Advertising Awards (entry category: Special Video)
• MERIT: 5th Annual Education Digital Marketing Awards (entry category: Special Video)
• HONORABLE MENTION (virtual tour script): 2017 MarCom Awards (entry category: Video/Audio > Video/Film > Video Script)
• HONORABLE MENTION (YouTube playlist): 2017 MarCom Awards (entry category: Web Based > Web Video > Series)