Office of Marketing and Communications
Woman in red sweater using laptop with Listen Learn Discuss website pulled up

Listen. Learn. Discuss.

Listen. Learn. Discuss. launched in August 2024 as a centralized source for the Ohio State community to find courses, workshops and events that provide opportunities to learn and practice the necessary skills to navigate difficult conversations.

Campaign tactics and launch

The platform launch period, which ended in September, included enterprise-wide message coordination, organic website promotions, “Welcome Back” communication placements and earned media. It transitioned, in October and November, into an active campaign and focused on the following tactics:

Storytelling

The Office of Marketing and Communications (OMC) leveraged the Ohio State News properties to promote the website and its key messages through three published stories.

Earned media

Listen. Learn. Discuss. received a front-page profile in The Columbus Dispatch as part of its pre-election coverage. Stories related to civil discourse were featured on radio stations statewide.

Events

OMC partnered with Student Life, the Institute for Democratic Engagement and Accountability (IDEA) and the Salmon P. Chase Center for Civics, Culture and Society to feature Listen. Learn. Discuss. in virtual and in-person events.

Social media

OMC enhanced the frequency and reach of the messaging to educate a variety of audiences through the active use of social media on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram.

The metrics

  • 4,985 total views

Generated by six Ohio State News stories and alerts about the platform and related events.

  • The most-read story featured the Center for Ethics and Human Values, and accounts for 2,218 of the total views.
  • 220 participants (in person and online)

Gathered by two large-scale Listen. Learn. Discuss. branded events.

  • 13,908 unique views of the website

All those just since the launch, with 38.6% of the new users visiting the site in October and November.

  • The number of new users and engaged sessions spiked on October 30, and engagement remained high throughout the week of the election.
  • The majority of visitors to the website were referred by a third-party source or through organic internet searches.
  • $1.2+ million in publicity value

Generated by Listen. Learn. Discuss. being mentioned in news stories 26 times.

Three students having a discussion outside on campus

Tactics currently in development

1 Proactively building civil discourse events related to issues of interest to the community throughout spring semester.

2 Producing impact stories with colleges and business units.

3 Developing program evaluation metrics with partners in Student Life and Academic Affairs.

4 Continuing to encourage adoption of Listen. Learn. Discuss. across the enterprise.