– Hub Strategy, the San Francisco-based integrated creative agency, today unveiled the first-ever overall visibility advertising campaign for the University of San Francisco to increase awareness and recognition for the institution.

The citywide visibility campaign will launch throughout San Francisco on transit shelters, billboards, taxi tops, Muni sides, online banners and San Francisco-based print.

The campaign also leans on San Francisco as a major part of the messaging, as well as the design. The background images are all photographs taken around the city. Hub steered clear of typical imagery of San Francisco, such as the touristy Golden Gate Bridge, and instead focused on giving perspectives of the city from USF.

USF President Stephen A. Privett, S.J., understood the value of thinking outside the norm. His own father ran two ad agencies and he was ready to take a risk with an advertising campaign that would cut through the clutter of traditional university advertising and actually stick with audience members.

"I was pleasantly surprised at how readily the University and its leaders were ready to get out there and stir it up a bit " said D.J. O’Neil, Creative Director of Hub Strategy. “The result? Headlines like ‘Academic standards higher than Haight-Ashbury in the 60s’ and ‘Learn to run a multinational corporation and still go to heaven.’”

Besides having a more edgy, contemporary, and unexpected tone, Hub also wanted to communicate that USF offers more than just a good education— it’s one that includes values. With headlines such as “Corporate titan, do-gooder, or all of the above?” and “Learn to run a multinational corporation and still go to heaven,” Hub was able to get the Jesuit messaging through in a fun, unexpected way.