BANGOR – “Seven unique universities. One amazing state.” That’s the slogan that the University of Maine System unveiled as it launched a New England-wide student recruitment and public awareness campaign.

The campaign is intended to augment the existing recruitment and awareness efforts undertaken individually by Maine’s public universities, with a particular emphasis on promoting Maine as an appealing destination for high quality education.

Officials said that the University System decided to undertake the campaign in 2003, when an examination of Maine’s demographics revealed a projected steep decline in high school graduates beginning in 2007 and continuing for several years. Failure to act would have negative effects on both Maine’s economy and its quality of education.

The resulting campaign consists of several thematically related elements:

. Promotional posters and brochures distributed to all high school guidance counselors in the six New England states.

. A direct mail campaign designed to introduce 70,000 high schools juniors in the five other New England states to the educational experiences offered by Maine’s universities.

. A new user-friendly University of Maine System Web site designed especially to appeal to prospective students, their family members, teachers, guidance counselors and other so-called “influencers.”

. A coordinated e-mail campaign to directly communicate with prospective students, their family members and others.

Officials said that the campaign’s success in student recruitment cannot be measured until the spring of 2007, when today’s high school juniors – the target of the direct mail campaign – will be making decisions about whether and where to go to college.

To support the marketing campaign, UMS has budgeted $400,000 annually.

The University System initiated the campaign in June 2003, when it solicited marketing related services through a competitive bid process. As a result, it contracted with two Maine-based companies for assistance – Strategic Marketing Services of Portland, which handled qualitative and quantitative research; and Swardlick Marketing Group, also of Portland, which provided graphic design, content development and marketing strategies.

A separate competitive bid process was established to overhaul the functionality and appearance of the University System’s presence on the Internet. That contract was awarded in 2005 to Pennisi and Lamare of Falmouth and its partner on the project, TransitID of Portland.

Both projects are overseen by the University System’s Office of External Affairs, with assistance from several other System and university offices and personnel.