Strategy Case Study — UCLA
Designing a unified communications system inside UCLA
How it started
The UCLA Strategic Communications team was stretched thin and overwhelmed. This small but resourceful group was responsible for nearly all of UCLA’s messaging and content — from the website and newsroom to the magazine, internal communications, and social media — but there was no consistent system behind it.
They knew it wasn’t sustainable. They needed a partner to help them define and design a clear internal framework for how content was created, curated, and managed across departments.
At the same time, they had just refined their external brand messaging — and faced a critical challenge: how to ensure that the internal structure could support and scale this messaging across a vast, decentralized campus.
What we did
Program 11 recognized that for UCLA — a university as complex as a small city — effective communication required more than just standards. It required trust, cross-team alignment, and processes that were defined from within, not imposed from above.
We conducted dozens of interviews across 21 departments to map key audiences, surface communication pain points, and align on a shared vision for how the university shows up — internally and externally.
The a-ha moment: Communication breakdown wasn’t about tools or talent — it was structural. Teams were operating without a shared framework for priorities, success, or decision-making. In a decentralized system, that meant every team did things their own way — and no one could scale what worked.
How it’s going
The communications strategy we developed landed just as COVID emptied the campus. We quickly pivoted to remote collaboration, workshopping the rollout over Zoom and building an action plan that could function under real-world constraints.
Because the playbook included clear audience and channel goals, workflow maps, and decision trees, teams had clarity on the who, what, and why behind every message — even in a crisis. That clarity helped them avoid the chaos many large institutions faced in developing and delivering urgent communications.
Today, five years later, those workflows and frameworks are still in use. The playbook serves as a living roadmap — guiding cross-department collaboration, enabling faster decision-making, and helping teams contribute to a unified communications system without starting from scratch.
