On a recent weekday evening, hundreds of eager students from the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami streamed into the nearby AMC multiplex at Sunset Place. They were there to experience their beloved school’s first Hollywood moment: A screening of the hit film “Mean Girls,” which features an avidly drumming “band geek” wearing a distinctive, dark green Frost School of Music sweatshirt, in a key early scene.
The students were thrilled; eagerly posing for selfies with the movie poster, donning free Frost School sweatshirts, and chattering excitedly. When Frost’s big moment came during the movie, they whooped wildly to celebrate.
But as Frost Dean Shelton G. Berg made clear, he wants the rest of the world to celebrate, too.
“We know we’re one of the greatest music schools in the world,” Berg said to the packed auditorium, which cheered him like a rock star. “People in our industry know it.”
“We want everybody to know it.”
The “Mean Girls” screening was central to a weeks-long marketing campaign to promote the Frost School’s appearance in the hit movie, a first for the school. The effort has also included giving Frost School sweatshirts to students and faculty and encouraging them to share their pride in the school’s appearance in the film on social media.
But all this goes beyond one Hollywood moment, significant as it is. Promoting the Frost School’s appearance in “Mean Girls” is an important first step in a much broader and more ambitious enterprise: to expand the school’s reputation so that the Frost School is the first name that comes to mind when people think of an elite music school. Not just for prospective students and the music world, for whom the Frost name is already synonymous with musical excellence, but for everyone.
“There are going to be millions of people who are going to see that image of us in a hit movie associated with a serious music student,” says Dean Berg. “That’s an opportunity to build our reputation outside of our higher ed bubble to catch up with the fact that we are one of the world’s greatest music schools.”
“Mean Girls” is a piece of that strategy. It’s one more way we can convey the promise of a best-in-class education at one of the top music schools in the world with an even greater number of people across the U.S. and the globe.”
The iconic “Mean Girls” brand is an excellent vehicle for this plan. The new film is based on the 2004 original while incorporating musical numbers from the 2018 hit Broadway musical. The franchise has become a cultural touchstone for generations of teens and 20-somethings, whether in the meme-ification of lines like “Get in loser” and “The limit does not exist,” or the epic swagger of pop star Renee Rapp, who repeats her Broadway performance as boss mean girl Regina George in the new film.
Over and over, Frost School students at the screening emphasized how inspiring it was to see their school in the newest version of a film most of them seemed to have grown up on.
“It’s such an artifact for our generation,” said Elizabeth Stamerra, who is studying music therapy. “Everyone knows it, everyone knows the iconic lines.”
“It’s very much an honor to be part of something that’s getting so much exposure,” said Sam Velez, a sophomore in Frost’s M.A.D.E. program. “When I was applying to music schools, Frost being in such a big movie would have made me want to apply here even more.”
The promotion around “Mean Girls” is part of a transformative, long-term marketing and PR strategy developed by the Frost School leadership as the school moves into its second century. The effort has already generated major media coverage for the grand opening of the $36.5 million Knight Center for Music Innovation in November. The Hollywood Reporter, the entertainment industry bible, just included the Frost School in its influential annual list of the world’s best music conservatories.
For Frost students, their movie moment shows the world what they already know.
“This is so cool, so amazing,” said Ashia Barnes, an opera soprano getting her masters in vocal performance, and an ardent fan of both the original movie and the Broadway musical. “It brings me such joy that I’m at such a great school, and it’s being represented the way it should be.”
