In tandem with Haskayne’s new brand launch in May 2023, the University of Calgary introduced a marketing campaign--Choose Change--to increase brand awareness and recruit applicants to our three master’s programs: MBA, Executive MBA, and Master of Management. We ran a survey that aimed to capture Canadians’ feelings around career change. After analyzing feedback from the survey, our graduate outcomes surveys, and alumni interviews, we crafted campaign messaging that speaks to people’s emotions around change. We addressed what individuals said was important to them when embarking on career change, such as financial security and workplace flexibility. We then encouraged audiences to choose a specific program (e.g., the MBA). The campaign included integrated advertising, video content, web pages, alumni testimonials, and sponsored content. Advertising ran across the following digital channels: Google, YouTube, Meta, LinkedIn, StackAdapt, and Daily Hive. The campaign ran in May 2023 and garnered 2.4 million impressions. Digital components significantly outperformed past campaigns and far surpassed industry benchmarks. We experienced an increase in applications during this time period year over year, ranging from 7% to 27% across programs. For the first time since its launch in 2019, we met our enrollment target for the Master of Management program ahead of applications closing.
From the Judges
The strategic use of emotional messaging tailored to Canadians' career change sentiments, coupled with program-specific content, led to impressive results surpassing industry benchmarks. This campaign exemplifies effective marketing strategies for increasing brand awareness and recruiting applicants in the education sector.
