The University of British Columbia (UBC) has selected DDB Canada and OMD Vancouver to help raise its profile and reputation among Canada’s political and business elite.

The agencies were involved in a combined pitch for two assignments – the first, to make key influencers, like policy makers, academics and business owners, aware of UBC’s research strengths in areas such as sustainability and human rights, Marty Yaskowich, managing director of Tribal DDB, tells MiC.

‘This is not a student recruiting campaign,’ Yaskowich stresses in regard to awareness building. ‘It’s really aimed at finding political and business elite in this country and making them aware of the uniqueness of British Columbia and what it’s doing as far as a tier-one global university.’

It’s the agencies’ unique approach to media that he credits with winning the business. Initial planning will include a combination of film, print and social media outreach. For example, he explains, the fall campaign might target business leaders and academics with a mix of specialty channel buys with channels such as BNN and Discovery, or via in-flight pre-roll ads. Media plan details, however, have not been confirmed, Yaskowich notes.

‘It’s a bit of a departure for a post-secondary institution,’ he says, adding that the team will also suss out where dialogue about elite universities is happening online and target influencers in that realm.

The second assignment that DDB and OMD will handle is to develop new fundraising and alumni engagement communications targeting about 260,000 graduates. The campaigns will run through 2011 and include both domestic and international target markets.

UBC’s previous media campaigns were handled by Cossette.