Success beyond personal gain
Brandon Kirby, Director of MBA Marketing and Admissions at RSM, believes the message will resonate with prospective students who are looking for success beyond personal gain. “When RSM introduced its mission to be a force for positive change in the world in 2017, we knew that we could take that message and run with it,” said Kirby, commenting on the origin of the campaign. RSM’s mission is underpinned by the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) from the United Nations General Assembly, and became the strategy for the new MBA messaging.
Profile of prospects has shifted
Speaking on the need for the campaign, Kirby commented: “Over the years, we’ve seen a shift in the profile of the prospective students with whom we interact. Conversations around entrepreneurship and making a difference in the world have become just as commonplace as salary after graduation and personal gain. We needed to evolve our marketing to recognise this shift.” From this realisation came the campaign tagline, The MBA of Value.
High-end campaign
Working with award-winning Amsterdam-based advertising agency, The Odd Shop, RSM’s MBA marketing team conceptualised a visually arresting campaign designed to stand apart from typical marketing associated with higher education. “It was important to us to create something really special and high-end,” said Kirby. “At the same time, we also wanted to highlight the valuable accomplishments of our alumni, which delivers on the campaign message. We feel that we’ve achieved both goals.”
Juxtapositioning
The messaging is designed to juxtapose traditional business terms (profit, shares, goals) with the idea that an MBA education can help inspire positive change. And with the recent announcement that The Financial Times is to review its methodology for MBA rankings to incorporate more CSR-focused areas, Kirby believes that the campaign is very timely and aligns with the modern world of higher education.
For more information and to see the campaign, please visit mbaofvalue.com.