Gammon Theological Seminary
Background
In 2020, the pandemic disrupted Gammon’s 137th annual Founder’s Day celebration. GTSC was able to stand up a small live-streamed event but had bigger dreams for the 2021 event. They wanted to widen the audience, inviting others from outside of the circle of the Friends of Gammon to benefit from dynamic and encouraging talks.
To accomplish this, the seminary’s leadership turned to Clever for help organizing and executing a virtual Founder’s Day event. Clever’s team stepped in to handle all marketing and video.
Project Overview
Gammon Theological Seminary is a historically African American institution that educates Methodist pastoral students in Atlanta, GA. Gammon has been in operation since 1883 and partners with four other denominational seminaries as a part of the Interdenominational Theological Center.
Every year, Gammon celebrates the anniversary of their founding with a two-day Founder’s Day celebration. This is a significant occasion given the school’s long and storied history. The event includes worship, presentations, workshops, a Founders dinner, a collaboration event with current students, and an alumni luncheon.
In 2020, the pandemic disrupted Gammon’s 137th annual Founder’s Day celebration. GTS was able to stand up a small live-streamed event, but had bigger dreams for the 2021 event. They wanted to widen the audience, inviting others from outside of the circle of the Friends of Gammon to benefit from dynamic and encouraging talks.
To accomplish this, the seminary’s leadership turned to Clever for help organizing and executing a virtual Founder’s Day event. Clever’s team stepped in to handle all marketing and video aspects including:
- Recording speaker content
- Editing speaker videos
- Designing both digital and print marketing collateral
- Capturing testimonial videos to share
- Running the live stream elements on the day of the event
Despite Clever’s work and the smooth collaboration with Gammon, the event ran into technical issues when Amazon Web Services experienced nationwide outages that disrupted live streaming. Clever helped Gammon to pivot by re-airing the event with new promotions in the weeks following the event.
The rescheduled Founder’s Day live stream saw a record attendance with more than 800 new participants and helped the seminary to secure several new major donors.
This quick action and event’s results showed Gammon the value of a strong marketing partner. GTS has continued to collaborate on a number of other marketing projects, including a recent rebrand and redesign of their website and overhaul of their messaging strategy including paid advertising and social media content.
Thankfully, the Founder’s Day celebration has officially returned to being in person. The 139th annual event happened in 2022 with much success, and Gammon is more well-equipped to promote events like these with Clever Marketing as a trusted partner.
About Gammon Theological Seminary
The Mission of Gammon Theological Seminary, a historically African American institution, in partnership with The Interdenominational Theological Center, is to recruit, support, and educate faithful pastors and leaders in their call to ministry in the church, community, and throughout the world.Get Started With Clever
Services Provided
- Marketing Strategy
- Content Creation
- Graphic Design
- Web Design + Development
- Ad Management
- Email Services
- Social Media Strategy
- Social Media Management
- Video Production
The Results
- 800+ net new participants for Founders Day 2021
- Add More social media engagement due to consistent messaging and strategy
- Strategically built website to engage new visitors and keep recurring visitors informed
- Engaged subscriber list with a redesigned monthly newsletter
“When we decided to do a "virtual" Founders Day Celebration in August 2021, we had only four months to plan. We knew what we could accomplish, but we didn't know everything that was possible. The We Are Clever Team helped us to see and accomplish new possibilities in branding, marketing, and high-quality video production. We had a short timeline and the WAC Team worked diligently to help us accomplish this goal. When you hire Clever you really are adding an extension to your team. They work hard to understand your team's culture and values, yet they bring industry best practices that increase efficiency, productivity, and impact. Excited to continue to work with WAC.”
Dr. Candace M Lewis
President, Dean Gammon Theological Seminary