CASE STUDY of images we want to lead with. In the past, we leaned heavily on architectural shots because that was the prevailing stylistic choice at the time. However, our preferences have changed to lead with more vibrant, active images of people and our campus life. Now, with AI-driven tagging and facial recognition, we’ re able to surface student-centered photos from past shoots that would’ ve been impossible to locate in our old system. We’ re not discarding what came before, but we are evolving. The tools we have now make it easier to align our visuals with a more student-forward approach, and that’ s a shift we’ re excited to make.
Facial recognition is helping us in other ways, too. We occasionally get requests like,“ Do you have a photo of Provost Crowley back when he taught music?” In the past, we’ d dig through folders or give up. Now we can just search for him by name. It’ s a small but powerful example of what happens when historical content becomes accessible instead of archived into oblivion.
In higher ed, there’ s never enough marketing staff to do all the work we’ d like to do. Technology is filling more and more of those gaps. A decade ago, we’ d have needed a full-time archivist to create this kind of visual library. Now, with the right tools, we’ re empowering everyone, from designers to department admins, to find and use the best possible content for the task at hand. The value of that can’ t be measured purely in hours saved or storage costs avoided. It’ s in the elevated quality of our promotional materials, the consistency in how we present our brand and the confidence our team now brings to every marketing project. We finally have a system that works for us, not the other way around. That’ s good news for marketing – and even better news for the university as a whole. p
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