Where in the world are our #ProudlyUNB alumni? How the University of New Brunswick developed a creative caricature to help locate and engage alumni around the world

Maintaining connections with alumni once they leave campus can be an incredible challenge, particularly in the early years following graduation when contact information is always changing. Through an innovative digital marketing campaign, UNB’s Alumni Office developed a fun caricature named Freddy John who became the face of the alumni office and set out on a worldwide adventure to locate and engage with UNB’s ‘missing’ alumni. He ‘travelled’ the world over an 11-month period connecting with UNB alumni through a series of digital communication pieces, collecting updated contact information from 6,500+ alumni in over 90 countries and providing new opportunities for engagement and solicitation. Using UNB’s campaign as the primary focus, this paper will review the process of planning a contact information campaign, and developing the communications tactics that best fit the institution. It will also look at UNB’s campaign results as well as ideas for ongoing measurement.