Boise State Chief Communications and Marketing Officer Lauren Griswold was named one of three national finalists for the 2024 American Marketing Association Foundation Higher Education Marketer of the Year Award.
This award honors extraordinary leadership and celebrates innovation and achievement in higher education marketing. Criteria for nomination includes how the candidate’s work has helped advance or transform the field of higher education marketing and their organization, breakthroughs and advances in organizing and planning in the context of higher education organizations; development of unique methodologies, effective collaboration inside the organization and with outside partners, and creative approaches to marketing problem-solving and communications.
“Awards and recognition like this are never about the individual. They are about the teams, colleagues and communities of people who have worked and led alongside them, and this award is no different. It’s attributed to the extraordinarily talented communications and marketing professionals across our enterprise who have elevated the Boise State brand to where it is today — in its rightful place as a national brand positioned for continued excellence,” Griswold said.
Griswold created and launched the first-ever university annual communications and marketing plan in alignment with the strategic plan, Blueprint for Success, and has led efforts to scale it across campus. She has assessed and realigned Boise State’s enterprise-level communications and marketing office by functional area, analyzed operational structure and reorganized to better position the team for current and future business needs. She seamlessly blended creative strategy along with data-driven insights, to collectively achieve a new level of excellence, leaving a lasting impact on campus and in the community.
She and her team launched the Boise State brand platform and ad campaign, “Out of The Blue.” Leveraging market research and the university’s national reputation and brand recognition of The Blue turf, the Office of Communications and Marketing worked with a national agency, SimpsonScarborough, to produce and launch a brand platform, national spot and paid media campaign. The institutional spot was nominated for an Emmy in 2024.