Knowledge Industry Partnership - Bringing Students to One Big Campus

Braithwaite Communications PR campaign for the Knowledge Industry Partnership’s One Big Campus project was the 2003 Pepperpot Award winner, awarded annually by PRSA/Philadelphia. In fact, it received the best score in the history of the competition – perfect scores in all categories from all judges.

One Big Campus is an economic development campaign to attract, engage and retain college students in Greater Philadelphia. Braithwaite created a story that pointed to an economic development trend in which regions were embarking on formal initiatives to attract college students, young knowledge workers and businesses. In that story the agency positioned Greater Philadelphia as an example of a leader in the trend -- a forward-thinking region undertaking this first-of-its-kind effort. The agency made the story easy to cover by mobilizing not only KIP spokespeople, but also college administrators and students who could talk about the impact the initiative was having in their worlds. Braithwaite didn’t actually write the story, but given the end result, it may as well have.

The public relations success of the campaign both regionally and nationwide has firmly positioned Greater Philadelphia as an innovative region that is now being emulated by other regions across the country.