FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The University of Arkansas has begun work on a marketing initiative to attract larger numbers of African American students to attend the state’s flagship university, initially by using a statewide media campaign to increase diversity on the campus, the top institutional priority.

University officials have been in talks with Advantage Communications Inc., a Little Rock-based company, to develop a strategic plan to recruit more African American and Hispanic students to the University of Arkansas.

The campaign would include a series of print, radio and television ads to be distributed primarily in central and southern Arkansas. The firm is also working with the university to create a plan to recruit Hispanic students from surrounding northwest Arkansas.

“I have said that increasing diversity at the University of Arkansas is my top priority and now is the time to move forward with a specific initiative to complement the efforts currently under way by our admissions office,” according to Chancellor John White. “It is imperative that the university be a more diverse, welcoming community that reflects the cultural and ethnic makeup of our state, nation and world.”

G. David Gearhart, UA vice chancellor for university advancement, led the team that worked with Advantage Communications to create the plan.

“Advantage Communications has created a very thorough and thoughtful marketing plan for the University of Arkansas. Michael Steele and his top-notch staff have an impressive track record of helping agencies diversify. We feel that their success in other venues and expertise in this area will help us enhance our diversity,” Gearhart said.

The initial cost of the marketing initiative is $300,000 and will be funded entirely through private funds.

Enrollment at the University of Arkansas was at 17,821 students for the fall 2005 semester. Eighty-one percent of the undergraduate student body is from Arkansas. The number of freshman African American students climbed more than 8 percent compared to the previous year, while the number of freshman students of Hispanic ethnicity jumped nearly 42 percent.

While growth in the number of freshman African American students was up significantly, the total enrollment of African American students grew 0.1 percent that year. African American students make up 5.5 percent of the overall student body.

The number of Hispanic students attending the university grew 24.8 percent from 2004 to 2005. Hispanic students make up 2.1 percent of the student body. According to a 2004 study on population projections conducted by the UA Center for Economic Research, the number of Hispanic residents in Northwest Arkansas has increased from 29,963 in 2000 to a projected 43,039 in 2005, an increase of more than 13,000 residents.

Dawn Medley, director of admissions, said: “This effort has the potential to enhance the efforts of our recruiters throughout Arkansas by providing complementary messages. If prospective students and their parents see an ad, hear a commercial and then get a visit from a University of Arkansas recruiter, then they may be more apt to feel that we’re doing a better job of saying: 'We want you here.’”

Advantage Communications Inc. is a full-service, multicultural agency with offices also in Memphis and Short Hills, N.J. The president and chief executive officer, Michael Steele, is a pioneer in marketing segmentation and an innovative marketer who spent 15 years with the Coca-Cola Co., rising to the level of executive vice-president. He led a group of investors in a management buyout of HomeBanc Mortgage Corp. He launched Arkansas’ first minority, full-service advertising agency, Advantage Communications Inc., in downtown Little Rock in 1999.  He is widely known across the United States and internationally for his marketing innovation and leadership in leveraging marketing to influence and change consumer behavior. He has also pioneered marketing segmentation and multicultural marketing.

Steele said: “We are looking forward to working with the state’s flagship institution on their quest to enhance diversity. We’ve worked with a number of agencies for that specific purpose and feel confident that our expertise and professional staff are well-suited to take on this most important task for the University of Arkansas.”

Advantage Communication’s recent clients include Alltel, Arkansas Department of Health and Human Services’ Stamp Out Smoking initiative in Arkansas (a minority youth advertising campaign consisting of print, radio and television media) and the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau (management of the diversity marketing activities). Other clients include the Federal Bureau of Investigation, where Advantage Communications’ campaign helped the agency attract a significant increase in minority applicants, Arkansas Diagnostic Center, Twin City  Bank, Arkansas Regional Organ Recovery Agency  and the Little Rock School District.