A little help for Hoover: UI Marketing Institute students help Herbert Hoover Foundation with major rebrand

The Hoover Presidential Foundation has turned to five University of Iowa students to help with its marketing and rebranding efforts, coinciding with the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum's $20 million renovation project. The museum in West Branch, at 210 Parkside Dr., is one of the oldest presidential libraries operated by the National Archives and Records Administration, but many people aren’t aware of its offerings – or even its existence. “I appreciate the opportunity to work with the University of Iowa as a nearby entity,” said Mundi McCarty, president and CEO of the Herbert Hoover Foundation, which supports the museum. “(To have) this opportunity to kind of dip our toe in with such an in-depth assessment of our organization…there's a value, I think, for organizations to work with the university and hopefully, (the) university to work with organizations and nonprofits.” The five students are part of the Henry B. Tippie College of Business’ Marketing Institute, a three-semester program that gives junior and senior marketing majors practical experience helping organizations solve real-world marketing and branding challenges. The museum’s first significant renovation is planned for January 2025 and the foundation leaders were looking for help developing ideas for a rebranding coinciding with the renovation, as well as boosting overall attendance and fundraising. An outside consultant was going to be “really costly and time intensive,” said Shelly Mott, the foundation’s executive director of development and planned giving, and said a board of trustees member suggested looking into the UI’s Marketing Institute.

The Institute typically works on a donation basis and charges $1,500 for nonprofits and $2,500 for for-profits, with the money cycling back to students after buying books, supplies, and awarding sponsorships. The UI students, Sarah Phan, Anna McDonald, Grayson Kilburn, Marisa Vasilevich and Caroline Peavy, along with the Institute's director and associate professor of practice in marketing Peggy Stover, began meeting with the foundation in Fall 2023. There were some unique aspects and challenges to the project, said Ms. Stover. The museum was not the first the Institute has worked with, but with any nonprofit, the challenge is “trying to do a lot with a little,” she said. Also, in today’s digital world, the entertainment available at your fingertips can mean museums take a back seat in people’s minds. “One of the big reasons that people do support (the museum) is because of the historic preservation aspect of preserving history. So it just becomes a challenge,” she said. “There's a lot of options out there for the average consumer to select in terms of how they want to spend their free time, and bringing awareness to this particular museum is a challenge.” As part of the researching process, the students sent over 31,000 surveys to foundation donors and UI faculty, staff and students. They discovered a general lack of public awareness of the museum and its events, even among the organization’s members. Some of the foundation’s most pressing challenges are its outdated marketing techniques, logo, and facilities, the group found, and a more comprehensive social media presence is needed to reach younger demographics. Ms. Peavy, a senior marketing and management major from River Forest, Illinois, said the museum’s strengths are its proximity to Iowa City and its traveling exhibits, which she suggested the museum highlight. However, tech and digital entertainment remain threats to in-person exhibits. “People are turning to online platforms for research” rather than visiting museums, she said. The students also made suggestions for promotional strategies, increasing engagement and utilizing tools such as digital content calendars so the foundation can reach its goal of increasing funding by 25% in the next few years. The foundation panel, which included Ms. McCarty, Ms. Mott and assistant director of marketing and communications David Ancelet, said the students’ findings were “practical and helpful.” “We knew that we were continuing to do things the same way, and we needed to just start thinking outside of the box,” said Ms. Mott, of contracting the Institute, and calling it a “wonderful experience.”

“It was very streamlined, and their communication and their amount of communication was wonderful and informative,” she said. “And they kept us updated throughout the entire process. I felt like they handled it very professionally and thoroughly and everything they've talked about – there’s no massive surprises, because they kept us updated throughout the process. We asked for updates, and they gave us regular updates. And so it's been a great process.”

Marketing Institute provides hands-on learning

The Marketing Institute was established in 2012 as an immersion program for junior and senior marketing students to gain practical, hands-on experience prior to graduation. In 2013, Ms. Stover assumed the role of director and overhauled the program so it followed a consulting agency model. Students learn how to manage clients and their expectations, how to manage a project, and how to think critically.

“You need to do the right thing for the client, not the easy thing,” Ms. Stover said. “(It) may not be what the client wants to hear, but they need to hear it and really provide the guidance and the coaching to say ‘this is what we recommend as consultants.’” It’s also important for students to also learn adaptability and how to “pivot quickly,” Ms. Stover said. During the students’ work with the museum, a new president was brought on staff, for example, and the students needed to bring her up to speed while maintaining the trajectory of the original project. Ms. Phan, a first generation college student, got involved with the Institute as a way to immerse herself in the university and further her career post-graduation, calling it a “prestigious program.”

“The guidance (and) support both professionally and personally” were highlights of the program, she said. “I feel like the board members (of the Institute) -- I can always go to for help, whether that be through internships or job applications or just personal advice and ways to better myself,” she said. “And then professionally, just going through those interviews and kind of applying those transferable skills that you learned at the Marketing Institute, being able to work with real-time clients, and then also excelling at what you do and pushing out new skills.” “Getting to work with real businesses has been really beneficial. When I've talked in job interviews, being able to talk about that real world experience has been very beneficial to me,” said Ms. McDonald.

“I've been able to use the skills I learned in the Marketing Institute, and they kind of go over to management. So it's been great having a new perspective in a different major and being able to think in different ways, just because of what the Marketing Institute has given us,” added Ms. Kilburn. Some past Marketing Institute participants have secured jobs with PepsiCo, Eddie Bauer, Colgate-Palmolive, the Federal Reserve of Chicago, Hormel, SC Johnson and Post, and have landed careers in China, Australia, Washington D.C. and other places. “We're like family,” said Ms. Stover. “Whenever you need advice, mom's still here.”