Case Study: Bridging Campuses Through the SUNY Korea Convocation Video Production

Overview

Stony Brook University’s Marketing and Communications (MARCOM) team executed a cross-cultural video campaign to introduce President Goldsmith to the SUNY Korea campus. The project served as a strategic high-impact welcome to establish a unified institutional identity across global campuses.

Challenges & Opportunity

Physical Distance: Overcoming the President's inability to attend in person by establishing an authentic digital presence.
Limited Familiarity: Navigating initial team knowledge gaps regarding unique SUNY Korea traditions and campus culture.
Cross-Cultural Communication: Tailoring speech phrasing and tone to be respectful, accurate and culturally appropriate.
Language Integration: Incorporating a genuine, accurately pronounced Korean greeting directly into the video script.
Multi-Layer Approvals: Coordinating feedback loops across leadership teams operating in entirely different time zones.

Modern university campus courtyard with sleek academic buildings and a circular glass structure under a clear blue sky.

Strategy

The campaign employed a collaborative, research-backed production strategy to maintain absolute messaging consistency across global audiences.

Fact-Finding: Conducted deep-dive research into SUNY Korea’s history, student body and academic strengths.
Collaborative Scripting: Partnered with the President’s Office and SUNY Korea to center themes on celebration and belonging.
Presidential Alignment: Wove core leadership themes into the text to maintain consistency with broader institutional messaging.
Cultural Care: Teamed with a Korean-speaking student to record the greeting and review pronunciation with the President.
Adaptive Logistics: Developed agile workflows to manage production demands efficiently despite resource shifts.

Measures of Success

The project successfully strengthened the global relationship between campuses and built an immediate connection with the international community.

Executive Approval: Video production executed smoothly, earning high praise from President Goldsmith and SUNY Korea President Art Lee.
Cultural Sentiment: Successfully reinforced the core institutional message of "two campuses, one community."
Audience Introduction: Effectively introduced the new President's long-term vision to incoming international students, families and faculty.
Cross-Campus Alignment: Established a stronger, more collaborative operational workflow between communication teams at SBU and SUNY Korea.