The ads are black and white and bold, with messages from David Suzuki, Bill Gates and Bono asking prospective graduate students “What do you think?” about today’s most pressing global issues. The messages are getting across – loud and clear – boosting graduate enrolment by 300 per cent in the Department of Food, Agriculture and Resource Economics (FARE) at U of G.

The advertising campaign designed by Len Kahn, B.Sc.(Agr.) ’85, and his Guelph-based company Kahntact won first place in a national marketing competition sponsored by the Canadian Agri-Marketing Association. The winners were announced at the association’s awards presentation Nov. 15 in Saskatoon.

FARE chair Alan Ker called the ad campaign an important part of a recruitment effort that successfully boosted enrolment and raised the department’s profile. “It certainly contributed in a significant way to the overall effort being made to present the department in a new way and attract students who wouldn’t necessarily think of the University of Guelph – but should – for graduate studies,” he said.

The ads appeared in student media at Queen’s University, the University of Waterloo and the University of Toronto earlier this year.

The Canadian Agri-Marketing Association is a network of agricultural marketing and business professionals.