May 19, 2025
MILWAUKEE — The Office of Marketing and Communication at Marquette University received two awards from the Collegiate Advertising Awards, a national competition that recognizes excellence in all forms of advertising, marketing and promotion in higher education.
Marquette received a gold award for its commercial, titled “Connections,” that highlights how personal connection and support are part of the Marquette experience. There’s a “home” for everyone at Marquette, which serves as the creative inspiration behind the new TV spot, which airs during televised Big East sporting events and is utilized for digital advertising campaigns across a variety of platforms to help increase brand awareness and drive enrollment.
The university received a silver award in website design for its brand refresh of Marquette.edu, which updated the user experience on the website, including the homepage. The new design was applied initially to a set of eight highly visible websites that together account for 31% of pageviews each year and was later rolled out to 10,000 pages across the marquette.edu website simultaneously, marking the single largest website update in university history.
“Higher education is about continuous learning and improvement, and that is something we take to heart in the Office of Marketing and Communication,” said Lynn Griffith, chief marketing and communication officer at Marquette. “Our team stays on top of trends and best practices as we look for ways to elevate our strategic communication and connect with a complex set of stakeholders, from high school students to alumni to employees.”
Marquette has earned six Collegiate Advertising Awards in the past two years.
“I am particularly proud to work with a team that has been recognized across multiple categories and over multiple years,” said Tom Pionek, assistant vice president of marketing at Marquette. “With this latest recognition, the OMC team has achieved 17 awards in three years, which is quite a testament to the high-quality work of our team.”
The Office of Marketing and Communication serves as storytellers for Marquette University – finding, sharing and narrating the stories that engage and inspire the university’s key audiences.
The Collegiate Advertising Awards program is an elite national program created to honor today’s most talented marketing professionals for outstanding excellence in all forms of advertising, marketing and promotion specific to higher education products and services. The Collegiate Advertising Awards allows marketing and advertising efforts to be recognized and compete against similarly sized colleges, universities and other educational organizations from across the nation. A wide range of categories cover virtually all possible entries from branding, social media, recruiting and fund-raising to multi-media campaigns, educational fairs, blogs and much more.
About Marquette University Marquette University is a Catholic, Jesuit university located near the heart of downtown Milwaukee that offers a comprehensive range of majors in 11 nationally and internationally recognized colleges and schools. Through the formation of hearts and minds, Marquette prepares our 11,100 undergraduate, graduate, doctoral and professional students to lead, excel and serve as agents of positive change. And, we deliver results. Ranked in the top 20% of national universities, Marquette is recognized for its undergraduate teaching, innovation and career preparation as the sixth-best university in the country for job placement. Our focus on student success and immersive, personalized learning experiences encourages students to think critically and engage with the world around them. When students graduate with a Marquette degree, they are truly prepared and called to Be The Difference.
Melissa is the senior communication specialist in the Office of Marketing and Communication. Contact Melissa at (414) 288-6712 or melissa.barclay@marquette.edu.
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