Northern College adopts ‘GO NORTH’ and ‘STAY NORTH’ slogans for five-year recruitment strategy

Northern College has adopted the slogans “GO NORTH” and “STAY NORTH” as part of a five-year marketing and student recruitment strategy for its campuses in Timmins, Haileybury, Kirkland Lake and Moosonee. The college announced the branding plan Oct. 15.

The new slogans are expected to show up in Northern College advertising and recruitment materials, including efforts aimed at students both within Northeast Ontario and elsewhere in Canada, according to the college’s announcement.

Northern said it will use “GO NORTH” mainly in advertising targeted outside the region where its four campuses are located, while “STAY NORTH” will be used for messaging closer to those campuses.

Jaret Dicks, the college’s executive director of marketing, communications, external relations and recruitment, said Northern intends to keep the same core messaging “year over year for at least five years or longer.” He also said the college plans to extend its advertising and recruitment into new domestic and international markets, but the announcement did not identify which markets.

In the same release, Northern College president and CEO Mitch Dumas said Northeast Ontario is experiencing “industry expansion, job creation and an unprecedented demand for highly skilled professionals.” Dumas said the college sees itself as a “talent pipeline” and said recruitment messaging needs to be “effective, catchy and representative of what an education at Northern can provide.”

Northern said it expects the updated branding and recruitment approach to boost domestic enrolment at its four campuses, but it did not provide enrolment targets or baseline figures.

The college also said its graduates have high employment and job satisfaction rates, but it did not include figures to support those claims in the announcement.