The Challenge

Ironically, their international business school needed more domestic students.

With an innovative curriculum and great outcomes, Brandeis was receiving plenty of qualified candidates from across the globe. However this was a double-edged sword, as it was leading to a sharp decline in domestic students. They needed to better balance these numbers to rank in the big leagues of U.S. business schools.

The Insight

By emphasizing 21st century readiness, we could bring Brandeis into a broader consideration set.

Globally-minded business school prospects know that a tech-driven, global outlook is key to thriving in today’s interconnected economy. We realized that Brandeis’ rigorous, data-driven curriculum and truly international community already made it a smarter choice. We just needed to get the word out!

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Persona Building

Four key-prospect sub-segments guided our thinking:

1. Highly ambitious domestic undergrads who want to go straight to grad school for a masters.

2. Global corporate strivers interested in a full-time program, who may already be in the workforce.

3. Fintech innovators with an entrepreneurial mindset.

4. Data-driven, rigor-seeking people seeking to use data to drive business outcomes.

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The Ideation

Three conceptual platforms. One winner.

The creative and strategy teams created 3 marketing campaign platforms, each bringing Brandeis International Business School's key differentiators to life in different ways. To make our work as sharp as possible, and to make sure it resonates, we held focus groups with key constituents.

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Smarter Experience

"Next Big Thinkers"

In just three words, we were able to sum up what sets IBS apart from other business schools. It’s not just the curriculum, and it’s not just a focus on data or international issues — it’s a unique mindset, shared by professors and students alike. “Next Big Thinkers” are globally minded, comfortable with tech and ready to invent the future of business.

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The Outcome

The application pool expanded dramatically.

We launched a hyper-targeted marketing campaign that quickly saw results with the domestic audience we were targeting. Click-thru rates for Display, Social and Paid Search were well above expectations, and it led to dramatic increase in domestic leads. And with the quality of their program, we expect to see Brandeis' ranking among top graduate business schools to start moving up as well.