Case Study

Texas a&M UniversiTy

Client: Texas a&M UniversiTy

Communication Tool: aggie PlaTforM Magazine

frequency: QUarTerly

objectives: loyalTy / aCQUisiTion /

sales / engageMenT

Target audience: B > C

Intelligence

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Culturally diverse.

Overview

Established by Texas A&M University of the United States in 2003, Texas A&M University at Qatar offers world-famous engineering, arts and science programmes to talented international students from 30 countries at their Qatar Foundation campus in Doha. With just under 600 students and 90 faculty members at any given time, significant interest from the alma mater at the College Station, Texas, and a history of world-class publishing, the Qatar branch was looking for a means to communicate with its staff, students and alumni.

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Enriching Qatar’s greatest natural resource.

The Challenge

A highly diverse cultural mix among students, a clear mandate for social outreach among all ‘Aggie’ alumni, and the need to speak directly to a new generation of Arab engineers and chemists, meant that effective bi-lingual communication with international relevance was key to turning their existing magazine, The Aggie Platform, into a must-read for anyone related to, or interested in, the Texas-Doha experiment.

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Passionate students.

The Solution

The existing magazine was taken under the Switch microscope in 2007 and re-imagined to include all of these audiences, requiring extensive review, improved content, expert translation and beautiful layout.

Working within Texas’ extremely detailed communications team and the brand guidelines they live by, we carefully created a magazine that appeals to a broad audience in the Middle East and the United States, in both Arabic and English.

The introduction of varied designs, photo essays and infographics helped bring the publication to life, resulting in a magazine that can speak to graduate students as easily as it can to academics.

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Engineering a bright future.

The Result

Widely considered a must read by the college body, The Aggie Platform is now a successful way to bring together on-campus news and opinion from the students and faculty.

A total of 4,000 copies are distributed quarterly to stakeholders in Qatar and the United States, and the publication has been so well received that the university has asked Switch to help produce a range of other titles, including their Annual Reports for the past four years, a 10-year Forward Strategy Book (2011) and a 2012 Research Yearbook.

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A living testament to the power of collaboration.

Switch is a strategic partner in our efforts to engage stakeholders and external audiences across the Middle East and around the world. Switch helps us develop, package and present dual-language content that communicates our key messages clearly and concisely, and the team’s creativity knows no bounds. Their impressive work is reflected across a range of projects, including annual reports and strategy documents, that promote the Texas A&M at Qatar brand.

Brady CreelCommunications Projects Manager

Department of CommunicationTexas A&M at Qatar

Testimonial

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In Numbers

TexaS a&M UniverSiTy

aggie PlaTforM Magazine

Bi-lingUal PrinT

4 iSSUeS a year

4,000 CoPieS diSTriBUTed qUarTerly

Always talking about you.

If you want your customers in Asia

and the Middle East to talk about you,

you need to talk to us.

talktoswitch.com

Switch Limited

1103A, Business Central TowersDubai Media City

PO Box 24173Dubai, UAE

Office: +971 4435 5711Mobile: +971 55711 8499Email: charlie@switch.ae

Switch Communications

48b Amoy StreetSingapore, 069874

Office: +65 6438 1998Mobile: +65 9005 4753

Email: owen@switchsg.sg

Switch Limited

Al Fardan Office TowerOffice 950, 9th Floor

Al Funduq 61PO Box 31316Doha, Qatar

Direct: +974 4410 1719Mobile: +974 7786 3136

Email: ridwaan@switch.qa