UCLA Return to Campus

After an unprecedented year and a half for UCLA, with in-person learning and experiences upended by the pandemic, UCLA’s Strategic Communications team saw their months-long 2021-22 Return to Campus activation as a chance to turn a once-in-a-lifetime moment into a movement to come together in community, joy and reflection.

Working closely with experiential marketing firm Manifold, and a newly created in-house experiential team, the campaign was a dynamic series of in-person activations and online engagements that brought the campus community and local Westwood neighborhood together after spending more than a year apart. From the very start of the academic year until commencement and through the summer, they celebrated the spirit of UCLA and surrounding town of Westwood with renewed optimism, while acknowledging hardships many of their students, staff and faculty had faced during the pandemic.

Their main campaign objectives were to: 1) Rally the community after an extraordinarily difficult year of remote teaching, learning and working. The 2020-21 academic year was challenging for the entire university community — a fully remote year filled with hardship, isolation, loss, cultural shifts and a new normal. It was time to appropriately recognize that, but also look forward to the return to in-person teaching and learning with a renewed spirit, opportunity and optimism. They wanted to spend the year celebrating what it means to be a Bruin, part of a community and part of the #1 public university in the nation with recognition, aspiration and hope; 2) Revitalize Westwood foot traffic and businesses to restore its place as a world-class college town. Westwood once was full of energy, offerings and resources important to their community, but it suffered during the pandemic; and 3) Continue to foster the momentum of the welcome back campaign through the end of the academic year and far beyond, ensuring connections to one another and the community endure.