Video for colleges and universities.
Giving days, ballot campaigns, recruiting, and program series for Ohio colleges and universities. Columbus State Community College has been a client since 2015. Ohio State's Day of Giving films helped beat donor goals by up to 283%.
Higher education asks more of video than most industries. The same institution needs to move donors on a giving day, win a county-wide vote, recruit a 17-year-old and their parents, and explain a grant-funded program to a review board, often in the same semester and from the same communications team.
Doozy Crew has produced for Ohio institutions since 2015, when Columbus State Community College became a client. That relationship includes the Issue 21 campaign, three 30-second broadcast spots that helped pass a $300 million bond issue for the college, and a grant-funded video series for Columbus State. For The Ohio State University, our Day of Giving films, built around five students and five causes, helped the university beat its goals for current donors, lapsed donors, and new donors, the last by 283%. We've also produced for Ashland University.
The common thread is real students and real stakes. Pre-interviews, scripts written from lived experience, cinematic production on campus, and edits built for the channel they'll actually run on, whether that's broadcast, a donor email, or a recruiting page.
Giving days and campaigns: donor segments respond to different stories, so we build films that can be personalized by audience, the approach that drove Ohio State's results. Ballot issues and levies: broadcast spots with 30 seconds to make a case to voters who may never set foot on campus, which is what Issue 21 asked of us.
Recruiting and programs: the honest version of campus life outperforms the glossy one with students and families. Program and grant-funded series: multi-video work that documents a program for funders, partners, and future cohorts, delivered on a schedule that matches the grant.
How we work.
Pre-interview
We talk with the students, faculty, or alumni who'll carry the story before anything is written. Scripts and voiceover come out of those conversations, not a template.
Script + approvals
Scripts, shotlists, and a visual treatment are approved by your communications team (and, where needed, advancement or campaign leadership) before we book crew.
Production on campus
Cinema-grade cameras, natural and purposeful lighting, full sound capture, and drone aerials where the campus calls for it. We schedule around classes, events, and the people who are giving us their time.
Post + versions
Editing, color, sound, and motion graphics in-house, with the cutdowns and personalized versions your channels need: broadcast, email, social, and web.
- Master film plus platform cutdowns (16:9, 9:16, 1:1, :15 / :30 / :60)
- Personalized versions for donor or audience segments
- Broadcast-ready :30 and :60 spots
- Campus and facility drone aerials
- Series delivery on a schedule that matches the program or grant
- Licensed music and full post-production in-house
Recent higher education video production work.
Most full-service projects range from $8,000 for a single hero film up to $90,000+ for multi-day, broadcast-finish campaigns, with most landing between $15K and $40K. Series and multi-video programs are quoted as a package. Every quote is fixed-fee after the kickoff call so it can go into a budget request as a single line.
Common questions, quick answers.
Which colleges and universities have you worked with?
Columbus State Community College (client since 2015, including the Issue 21 bond campaign and a grant-funded video series), The Ohio State University (Day of Giving campaign films), and Ashland University.
Can you produce a giving day campaign?
Yes. For Ohio State's Day of Giving we produced films built around five students and five causes, with personalized titles for segmented donor lists. The campaign beat its goals for current donors by 205%, lapsed donors by 182%, and new donors by 283%.
Have you done ballot issue or levy campaigns?
Yes. For Issue 21, we produced three 30-second broadcast spots for Citizens for Columbus State. The $300 million bond issue passed in the March 2020 primary.
Do you work with our communications or advancement office, or with an agency?
Either. We've worked directly with institutional communications teams and alongside campaign firms. Approvals run through whoever owns the message on your side.
Can you handle a multi-video series for a grant-funded program?
Yes. We've produced a grant-funded video series for Columbus State. Series are scheduled and quoted as a package so delivery matches the program's reporting timeline.
Do you travel to campuses outside Columbus?
Yes. Columbus is home base and most of our shoots happen outside it, across Ohio and beyond. Travel rolls into the fixed quote.
Got a project worth making?
15 minutes is enough to know if we're a fit. No deck, no slides.