Concord Love #IheartCU

Image courtesy of concord.edu/advancement

“What is your favorite thing about Concord? Do you love the people, the atmosphere, or
something else?” The Advancement Office is asking anyone who loves Concord this question.

“The main goal of this campaign is to generate awareness about the positive things here
at Concord University. Since February is the month of love we thought this would be a good
time to get people to think about why they love Concord and to really put those thoughts into
words,” said Sarah Turner, Alumni Director at Concord University.

Everyone is welcome to participate and share their own personal Mountain Lion Pride.
“We are targeting everyone with this campaign—faculty, staff, students, alumni and the
community. We want to hear from anyone who loves Concord, regardless of their connection to
the school,” Turner explained.

Unfortunately, Mother Nature didn’t seem so supportive of the University’s share the
love campaign, the absurd amounts of snow forcing the program to sacrifice a week of progress.
“The snow definitely put a damper on some of the plans we had for the second half of the month.
Right now anyone can come over to University Point anytime during the day to tell us either in
writing, by photo or by video why they love Concord,” Turner continued.

For anyone who cannot get to University Point to talk about why they love CU, there is
another option. “If you can’t come by University Point to tell us, you can share on social media
why you love CU using the hashtag #iheartcu,” said Turner.

Friends of Concord may be seeing more “I Heart CU” events in the future. “We may plan
some additional activities throughout the rest of the semester and will share details on those
events as they are finalized,” said Turner.

This campaign does not just help the University determine what parts of the university
appeal the most to people, but also works to improve the atmosphere on campus. “With so much
negativity in the world today we wanted to do something positive and thought this would be a
quick, easy and relatively cheap way to spread some “feel good” vibes on campus,” Turner said.
“In addition to creating some brand awareness through using “I Heart CU” in some of our
advertising, we really just wanted to get people thinking about why they love Concord and to
share the stories we might not otherwise hear,” said Turner. “We actually got this idea from
another university—they did some different things as part of their campaign but the overall idea
was the same.”

“We officially kicked off the campaign at the Groundhog Breakfast on February 2nd. On
February 13th we passed out Valentine’s treats at the Welcome Center while offering people the
chance to tell us why they love CU,” Turner said.

 For more information on the I Heart CU campaign and how to be involved, contact Sarah
Turner by emailing alumni@concord.edu calling 384-5348 or visiting
http://www.concord.edu/advancement/i-heart-cu. Don’t forget to use the hashtag #iheartcu on
social media!