Case study · Integrated campaign
Get Vaxxed: don't miss your shot
Northeastern Illinois University drops students from enrollment when immunization records are missing — a bureaucratic deadline with real consequences. I built a campaign that turns compliance messaging into something students actually look at: one mark, one voice, every channel from posters to phone screens to hat embroidery.
ROLE
Concept · Art direction · Copywriting · Design
CLIENT
Northeastern Illinois University, Student Health Services
CHANNELS
Print · Digital · Mobile · Environmental · Merch
YEAR
2025
01 · THE BRIEF
Nobody reads a compliance notice. Everybody reads a dare.
The facts were dry: submit your records to the health portal or lose your enrollment. Previous messaging read like the fine print it technically was. The campaign needed to reach a commuter-campus student body across every touchpoint they pass in a day — and it needed a voice with enough attitude to compete with everything else on their phones.
The copy platform
One word — shot — doing double duty, and one threat — dropped — said out loud.
“Don't get dropped. Get vaxxed!”
“Don't miss your shot at greatness…”
“Vaccinate now… or get dropped later!”
02 · THE CONCEPTS
Three headlines, one system: NEIU blue, bandage gold, and room to breathe.
Every execution shares the same bones — the university's blue, a warm gold pulled from the bandage motif, generous white space, and a two-step call to action that makes compliance feel easy. The tone flexes from playful to blunt without breaking the system.
03 · THE SYSTEM AT WORK
An on-brand campaign symbol that survives everything from pixels to thread.
The campaign mark — two crossed bandages — is the system's workhorse: legible at sticker size, stitchable on a cap, recognizable as a push notification. Merch turns compliance into a badge; “Vaxxed, relaxed, and still in class” lets students wear the punchline.
04 · WHAT THIS WORK TAUGHT ME
The stakes are the story.
“You will be dropped from enrollment” was buried in the old messaging as a liability. Moving it into the headline — playfully, but unmistakably — is what made the campaign impossible to scroll past.
A campaign is a promise of repetition.
One mark, one palette, one voice — then range inside it. The same system that shouts from a poster whispers from a cap. That's what makes it recognizable on the tenth impression, not just the first.
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© 2026 Marilyn Frank