Stained Glass Strategies

I recently launched a newsletter for social media communicators at Notre Dame that features a "Gold Star" interview taking a look at the behind-the-scenes of cool content. My second ? went to McKenzie Lookebill , the marketing and communications program coordinator in the Notre Dame School of Architecture (SoA).

When my colleagues in Brand Content published Painting with Light, a long form piece on a SoA class on stained glass, McKenzie jumped into action to tell the story in the best way on Instagram, the platform where the SoA focuses most of its social media energy.

The resulting Reel saw the SoA reach a new audience of more than 250,000, and helped land an interview for the professor on the podcast "Talking Out Your Glass."

How long have you been with the University?

I have been at the University/School of Architecture for a little over a year now.?

What was your inspiration for this content?

Last April, I walked into Walsh Family Hall of Architecture to Professor Stephen Hartley and a student carrying a giant stained-glass window. I knew it was going to be a fun day after that. Hartley shared that the window was a test piece for the National Cathedral in Washington, DC by artist Charles Z. Lawrence. The materials were donated to Hartley by Lawrence’s family after his death.

Instead of completing my morning to-do list, we set up the over-7-foot original drawings for two separate window sections, one being a portion of the window I saw earlier that morning.?Hartley told me he was in the midst of adding a stained glass course for the fall semester. A little under a year, an official course, and a few pitches to Brand Content and Media Relations later, the Painting with Light course was covered by?Notre Dame Stories.

How did you create the Reel?

I worked closely with Professor Hartley to record some of the unique pieces of glass he has collected for his personal collection with students, and a dark room to record the panels of stained glass from the National Cathedral. The audio I collected was originally from recording a casual conversation with Hartley, and later a second recording to fill in a few gaps.

Do you have any tips for creating content?

Foster relationships with faculty and students within your department, and you will find stories that are above and beyond. I have created an open space within our office so that faculty members and students come to me with stories and post ideas, projects, and opportunities I would have never known about on my own. This has lead to the school’s consistent content calendar, a place for faculty and students to point to to share the most up-to-date content (via social media), and a way for us to recruit prospective students and faculty.

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

Overall, the collaboration was a year in the making and concluded with the feature reel of the importance of stained glass in architecture and stained glass as an art form. From the Reel,?the podcast “Talking Out Your Glass”?asked Hartley to be a guest with other industry professionals Judith Schaechter, Megan McElfresh, and Amy Valuck.

This single story has allowed us to reach a new audience of more than 250,000 people.