Grinnell: Development and Alumni Relations Using Sticker Postcards to Make a Reunion Save the Date Shareable and Sticky

Project Stories

Grinnell: Development and Alumni Relations Using Sticker Postcards to Make a Reunion Save the Date Shareable and Sticky

Every year, Grinnellians plan for and look forward to connecting and reconnecting with alumni across generations at their college reunion. For 2020, The Office of Development and Alumni Relations was looking for a way to deliver a “Save the Date” mailer with important upcoming dates in a stylish, interactive and memorable way. With several months still left until reunion weekend, the college needed a solution that would stick around for a while, offering a persistent reminder of the upcoming event and encourage alumni to proudly display their commitment to attending.

Grinnell partnered with Magellan Promotions to develop a custom sticker postcard, bringing together the familiar appeal of a postcard save the date and the fun, trendy, and lasting appeal of die cut stickers. Grinnell alumni have shown how much they love stickers, regularly posting travel pictures on social media of their Grinnell-sticker-decorated laptops and water bottles. Using stickers to draw attention to the Save the Date also lets alumni display their pride in the institution, show their commitment to attending reunion, and stick the Grinnell brand on the things they use every day. The postcard also features a colorful, energetic picture background to evoke the kind of nostalgia that makes the decision to attend the reunion that much easier. Punches of Grinnell red with the sticker designs make the piece stand out in the mailbox, while the back of the postcard holds the important dates and details. It’s a great blend of pride and purpose.

The Office of Development and Alumni Relations timed a social media push to coincide with postcards hitting mailboxes to give alumni a place to share how they are using the stickers along with their plan to attend reunion in the summer.

Read the Latest Blog Posts

Nonprofit Marketing With Stickers

Do stickers work for non-profit? You bet they do. I kept seeing it everywhere. It seemed like every other car proudly displayed this blue square sticker with a thick yellow equal sign on it. My interest piqued, I searched the web to find what this ubiquitous window sticker was, quickly discovering the Equality sticker from the Human Rights Campaign. Immediately, the cause resonated, so I became an official supporter, just like that. All from a sticker on a stranger’s car window. That’s the kind of impact stickers can have. A simple sticker on a car window, laptop, water bottle, guitar

Design for Impact: Getting Started With Stickers

In part two, we looked at building a product experience that speaks directly to your intended audience. In the last article in this series, we’ll look at designing sticker sheets for maximum impact. Part One: Finding Your Purpose Part Two: Know Your Audience Everything’s planned out. Your sticker project has a clear purpose, a well-defined (and understood) audience, and a smart plan to get stickers in their hands. Now comes the fun part—design! It used to be that sticker designs were straightforward – a single recognizable or interesting logo was the entire piece–think white Apple stickers plastered on cars, notebooks,

Put Stickers in your Starting Lineup

It’s a question that’s almost always welcomed, even coming from a complete stranger. “Nice Bucks sticker! Are you a Milwaukee fan?” And just like that, fans connect and talk about the teams, leagues, players, coaches, organizations, communities, and how personal experiences shape their unique fanhood. Stickers are the catalyst for the kind of lasting engagement few other promotional products can inspire. These tiny traveling billboards can transform things we use every day into powerful branding tools that bring fans closer to each other and closer to the team. Impactful, lasting, versatile, and joyful, stickers deserve a spot in your marketing