Look! Up in the sky. It’s a bird. It’s a plane. It’s a bulldog.

No, really. It is a bulldog – the Alabama A&M University Bulldog.

High atop 17-story Two North Twentieth – originally the Bank for Savings Building – is a 176-foot by 26-foot billboard that promotes the historically Black college and university in Huntsville.

The maroon and white sign – touting the university’s slogan, “Start Here, Go Anywhere” – is part of Alabama A&M’s strategy to raise its profile across Alabama and beyond.

“We have embarked upon an effort to increase the visibility of the university in several markets, Birmingham just being one of those markets,” said Aaron Thompson, A&M’s assistant vice president for advancement and branding. “We base all of that from internal research that we do that’s defined by where our applications come from, where our visitors come from and where our largest alumni chapters are based. For all those reasons, Birmingham is a prime market for that.”

But that campaign goes beyond Birmingham. The university is advertising in 10 markets throughout the state.

“It’s a mix,” Thompson said. “We kind of run the full gamut of different strategies across different markets. I won’t get into what we do per market but it’s even across the board.”

While Alabama A&M is known in many circles across the state and beyond, Thompson said the school wants to maintain a strong presence.

“The idea of our advertising campaign is to keep that brand in front of those key markets,” he said. “You wouldn’t go dormant in those spaces. It’s just a way for us to connect with where we know where our base is and where hand-raisers are, people who are interested in the brand. It makes sense for us to go into those markets and try to connect and be visible there.”

The strategy goes beyond billboards. There is a rhyme and a reason to all of it, and that strategy has garnered attention.

“Absolutely,” Thompson said. “We’ve gotten so much feedback and enthusiasm, not only from alums and student but folks throughout the community who are just excited about seeing the brand in such a unique way in such a prominent spot in the city and in the state.

“That’s the genesis of the move,” he continued. “That’s no better place to highlight our brand and the things that we’re doing. It’s very simple but effective message atop the city.”

And the same can be said of the street-level promotions on specially wrapped Birmingham Transit Authority buses.

“Absolutely,” Thompson said. “We view these as touchpoints. We have a number of priorities. It’s not just about being seen there but it’s about making Alabama A&M a university of choice, whether that be choosing to attend A&M, choosing to support the university with their philanthropic dollars, choosing to be active as an alumnus. There are a lot of buckets there.

“The things that you’re seeing and the activities that we’re embarking upon are all about creating touchpoints. We’re not bringing people over the finish line but it’s a touchpoint as they’re going to grab lunch and they see the bus as a reminder of what the university means to them, what we mean in the community and it keeps them in that funnel of engagement.”

Alabama A&M has brought its marketing push into a city that already has other centers of higher education, but, Thompson said, it’s not about any other institution.

“It’s about us telling our story,” he said.

Thompson said the marketing campaign in Birmingham also had nothing to do with Alabama A&M’s effort this year to acquire the now closed, 192-acre Birmingham-Southern College campus.

“These efforts are independent of any of those external factors,” he said. “We are genuinely attempting to tell our story at a high level. That’s why we’re in markets, not only Birmingham but in Detroit, the (California) Bay area, Atlanta, Nashville, a lot of key markets. Those factors don’t come into play when it comes to our ability to tell our story.”

Alabama A&M and its rival Alabama State University will be prominent on the streets of Birmingham next week as the 83rd McDonald’s Magic City Classic presented by Coca-Cola comes to town. The football game between the Bulldogs and the Hornets will be Oct. 26.

“It goes without saying that the Magic City Classic presents a huge opportunity for both Alabama A&M and Alabama State to really leverage the largest HBCU Classic in the nation for exposure and growing affinity for our institutions,” Thompson said. “The roots run deep when it comes to how passionate people are about these institutions. It’s invaluable.”