Temple University’s Women’s History Month

National Historic Marker-Style Signs Celebrating Female Alumni

Temple was founded in 1884 and has a rich history within the Philadelphia community. This campaign aimed to highlight the diverse depth of Temple’s history during the month of March, Women’s History Month, and worked to create content that inspired a sense of pride. This initiative acted as the first installment in a general push towards a larger content theme, that I proposed, centered around Temple’s history. The goal of this initiative is to build a bank of branded, evergreen content.

 Responsibilities:

Responsible for ideation, project management and social media management. 

Partially responsible for creative direction, art direction, execution and photography management.

Communication Cadence:

Photos and a Temple News Center story with interactive map were shared across Temple’s social media channels and email newsletters.

Pre-Launch

Photography covered the installation of the signs during the first week of March for documentary purposes.

Creative

By working with a small group I assembled–including a designer, content writer and social media strategist–I was able to accommodate a fast turnaround time of 2 weeks from idea to execution. Because of the expedited timeline, I often had to work directly with executive leadership in the marketing and facilities departments of the university.

Amplification

The various content pieces, a Temple News Center Story, an interactive map and photos of the six signs, were shared with campus partners for universitywide amplification. The story was featured in two university newsletters to faculty and staff and students and all of the above content elements were shared across various university social channels.

Results

Temple student media covered the marker-style signs with an online article, Temple installs historical markers for influential women.

Candice Dupree, historic Temple basketball player and current WMBA star, and Yolanda Wisher, the third Poet Laureate of Philadelphia, showcased their sign’s photos on social media. The Indiana Fever, the WMBA team that Dupree plays for, retweeted the sign’s photo on Twitter. Dupree’s and Wisher’s posts were soon followed by other user posts on Instagram and Twitter.

Partnership with @StreetsDept and Visit Philly

Conrad Benner, the owner of the hugely popular @StreetsDept blog, reached out to see if Temple would be interested in partnering on a campaign that Visit Philly and @StreetsDept were working on. The campaign, called the #SisterlyLove campaign, celebrated 20 change-making Philly women during the month of March.

I was able to choose a location and acquire approvals from university executive leadership, building managers and facilities management in a week and a half.

The wheatpaste pictured below was created by Manuela Guillén and is located at 12th and Polett Walk at Temple University. I chose this location for its high foot traffic and proximity to several National Historic Marker-Style signs to encourage cross-promotion of both projects.

The individual celebrated in the wheatpaste is Temple graduate, Nijmie Dzurinko. A Black and indigenous agitator, strategist and healer Nijmie Dzurinko organizes poor and dispossessed people in an effort to end to poverty. Dzurinko is the former executive director of the Philadelphia Student Union and co-founder of Put People First! PA.

Disclaimer: all photography was shot by Ryan Brandenberg in partnership with Temple University. All rights belong to both those parties, in addition to the individuals represented in each photo.