With all eyes on Aggie athletics, NMSU pours advertising dollars into recruitment

Following one of New Mexico State’s most successful school years for athletics, the university is reporting an increase in applications.

“We’re very pleased with that,” said Bernadette Montoya, the university’s vice president of student affairs and enrollment management.

Over the month of December, the university received more than $24 million in earned media from bowl game coverage, said Justin Bannister, the university’s associate vice president for marketing and communications.

“Just off the charts,” Bannister said. “It was really phenomenal.”

“What we have seen, and that has been, I think a greater sense of pride,” Montoya said. “Timing is everything. We certainly want to take advantage of this highlighted information that’s out there about our great university.

The university’s fiscal year runs from July 1st to June 30th. From last fiscal year to next fiscal year, NMSU will invest an additional half-a-million dollars on advertising, Bannister said.

“Anything we can do to kind of capitalize on the excitement,” Bannister said. “Anything else that we’ve done to put New Mexico State University in the news as a place where students want to come, we want to capitalize on that as much as we can.”

Bannister said the university has also seen an increase in applications from Tucson. Following that spike, the university has decided to infuse $25,000 into advertising in southern Arizona.

“It was really fortunate that we were able to have a bowl game there in Tucson to showcase what New Mexico State University is all about to that audience,” Bannister said.