UCA Opens Advertising Contract for Bids

The University of Central Arkansas has reopened its advertising contract for bids and is scheduled to hear presentations from agencies next week.

The university sent out a request for proposals on March 18 — a year before the end of its contract with CJRW of Little Rock, which has held the account since 2009.

Albright Ideas, CJRW, Cranford Co., Eric Rob & Isaac and Martin-Wilbourn Partners — all of Little Rock — responded to the request for proposals. The review committee has not yet decided which agencies will be asked to present next week, said Christina Madsen, associate vice president for communications, public relations and marketing at UCA.

Madsen said the university was required to open the contract for bids next year and “we thought it’d be much smarter to start it now and not get interrupted a year from now if [the agency] did change.”

“We have so many new people here, and we’re ready to just really take UCA to the next level,” Madsen said. “Whether that means a new look, a new brand, new ideas, we wouldn’t want to start something now and then have to get a new agency a year from now. We wanted to be sure it was streamlined and just get ready to go big.”

Madsen said that increased enrollment and a positive image for the university were “at the top of the list and that continues” for its advertising campaigns.

Last fall, UCA reported a 1.4 percent increase in total and first-time freshman enrollment with 11,698 students and 2,232 first-time freshman. That marked five years of enrollment increases for first-time freshman, according to the university.

UCA has also seen total enrollment increases in recent years, following a 2.4 percent decline in fall 2011 and a 0.5 percent decline in fall 2012.

Arkansas Business reported in 2009 that UCA’s advertising contract was budgeted at $753,000 through the end of fiscal 2009 and $800,000 per year after that.

Richard McKeown, senior vice president and chief public relations officer at CJRW, said in a statement that, “We are proud of our representation of UCA over the past several years, and of the demonstrated results we have been able to achieve together with them.”

“We are looking forward to reviewing and reaffirming those results as part of the review and presentation process that is underway,” McKeown said. “Beyond that, we will defer any further comment regarding the process to the University.”