University of Central Florida

America’s 2nd Largest Public University, One Trusted Media Partner Since 2016

About

The University of Central Florida is a public research institution based in Orlando, Florida, serving more than 68,000 students annually. UCF offers a wide range of undergraduate, graduate, online, and continuing education programs and is known for its innovation, scale, and national reach.

Length of Relationship

9+ years (since 2016)

Departments Supported

UCF Online, Foundation, Athletics, College of Business, College of Nursing, CCIE, CREOL, Rosen Hospitality, College of Engineering, CAH, UCF Health, Continuing Education

Main Objectives

Lead generation, enrollment growth, brand awareness, donor & alumni engagement

Modalities Supported

On-Campus
Online
Hybrid
Continuing Education

CRMs & Platforms

Slate
Salesforce
Internal databases

Primary KPIs

Cost per Lead (CPL)
Lead Quality
Total Leads
Application Volume
Event Registrations (Info Sessions, Webinars)
Donor Engagement Metrics (for Annual Giving campaigns)

The Challenge

As one of the largest public universities in the nation, the University of Central Florida (UCF) operates like an ecosystem of its own—with unique departments, audiences, goals, and timelines across nearly every vertical. Since 2016, Swish has supported UCF’s diverse marketing needs across central marketing, academic colleges, athletics, alumni engagement, and continuing education.

‍

Each group brings its own objectives: generate higher-quality leads, drive enrollment growth, increase donor engagement, or elevate brand awareness across a wide range of prospective students—FTIC, transfers, adult learners, graduate students & non-degree seekers (certifications), etc. Managing this complexity requires both agility and structure. Some campaigns are years in the making; others are turned around overnight.

Layered into this challenge is UCF’s bold, evolving mission to become the leading metropolitan research university in the nation—a goal that requires marketing efforts to drive not just enrollment, but impact, visibility, and long-term institutional positioning.

‍

Swish was tasked with supporting all of it—balancing high-volume lead gen with brand stewardship across dozens of stakeholders and campaign types.

The Approach

Swish acts as an extension of UCF’s internal teams—centralizing media strategy while tailoring execution to the unique needs of each department, college and campaign. Our focus is to bring consistency across campaign strategy, media placement, and measurement frameworks while adapting to each group’s workflow, speed, and tech stack.

‍

Key initiatives included:

Supported 12+ departments and colleges with tailored media strategies and audience plans—from donor campaigns and undergrad/grad recruitment to continuing education and certification programs

Developed internal go-to-market frameworks to accommodate both campaigns with longer planning timelines and fast-turnaround needs—enabling us to confidently handle <1-week or even same-day launch requests without sacrificing quality or strategy

[Updated as of June 2025] - Managed 150+ unique paid media campaigns, including high-profile efforts like UCF’s annual Day of Giving, UCF Online, and university-wide brand campaigns

Provided ongoing platform and CRM integration support, helping teams connect tools like Slate and Salesforce with ad platforms to enable full-funnel visibility

Assisted with internal team growth, participating in new-hire interviews and onboarding to help vet and ramp up talent across UCF’s marketing ecosystem

Contributed thought leadership as invited speakers at UCF-hosted industry events, including the Executive MBA Council (EMBAC) Conference

Designed and developed custom landing pages to support department-specific campaigns

Launched targeted awareness campaigns to support high-visibility institutional changes, including the rebranding and renaming of the UCF College of Medicine