Copenhagen Business School invites business leaders of the future to ‘be the change’

Following the financial crisis, the executive master program Master of Management Development (MMD) at Copenhagen Business School (CBS), experienced a decreasing number of applicants. To turn things around, MMD wanted to make its strengths more visible to increase awareness and attract new participants. Based on an analysis of MMD's existing strengths, we delivered a new visual identity and created synergies between real life experiences and media efforts. Through a combination of events and press communication the public attention increased significantly, resulting in a doubling of applicants.

The participants at the program are leaders wanting to develop their management skills. Participants had to design their individual educational course and set goals for their own learning. The absence of a set curriculum forced leaders to reflect on their own learning – and the learning of others.

Authentic strengths of MMD

The inherent strengths of an organization can constitute a valuable source of inspiration for developing the brands future direction, identity, vision and culture. Therefore, the process began with a mapping of MMD’s authentic strengths. The analysis revealed five authentic strengths that made MMD stand out from other executive master programs:

1. Relational, research-based and active learning
2. Personal learning: You learn how to learn
3. Develop yourself as a leader and human
4. Analytical and reflective leaders
5. Implementation of experiments in practice

We decided to develop the future strategic and visual direction in correspondence with the authentic strengths: personal and relational learning and reflectiveness. Consequently, these authentic strengths laid the foundation for new MMD’s payoff:

To secure the necessary visual anchoring we adjusted the visual expression of MMD to fit the new strategic changes. The new identity came to life through several communication materials and created a unified perception of the brand.

The new identity was developed within the overall design guidelines from CBS, as it utilizes the CBS font and overall color scheme. However, to give MMD its own unique identity and distinct expression, we developed a new logo and changed the colors. The business blue of CBS runs through all communication activities to create recognizability as a CBS program, while the green color underlines the seriousness and professional approach of MMD.

Learning through relationships

During the process of mapping the authentic strengths, it became evident that the participants of MMD work and study in reflection pairs. As a result, the new identity primarily emphasizes the ability to learn through relations and the knowledge embedded in these relationships. To emphasize this authentic strength all visual elements illustrate selected MMD reflection pairs.

The pairs exemplify the positive energy and the collective learning embedded in the relationships.

Inspiring brochure

As the new visual identity has a strong focus on the reflection pairs, we created a brochure for the program that reflected the new identity and the strength learning through relationships. Handpicked reflection pairs decorated the cover and exemplified the unique MMD energy.

The brochure both communicates the unique structure of MMD and its professional content.

By adopting an experience communication approach we actively engaged participants and ascribed a deeper and more emotional meaning to the brand. We communicated to a small target group on a more active level, creating a personal relationship with the audience.

To strengthen the process of recruiting participants for the program, we created both digital and real life experiences where potential participants could feel what it is like to be a part of MMD. Instead of adopting a traditional campaign approach, we developed a relevant conference that demonstrated the benefits of MMD to potential participants.

Be the change conference

As a pivotal point of the communication we developed and executed the conference “Be the change”. More than 140 executive leaders participated to get inspired by speakers from leading international corporations, together with CBS professors who spoke about the importance of changing yourself in order to change your organization. We planned the conference, booked the best speakers, venue, and media coverage, to ensure that participants would get an eventful and inspiring day with MMD.

Video and podcast

We recorded the whole event in order to create small films of each speaker, vox pop videos with the participants’ reflections and short films with highlights of the day. The films were distributed through MMD’s Facebook page, website and newsletters to create long-lasting momentum. We also produced a series of short podcasts with professors at MMD. The podcasts were posted on MMD's website to inspire and attract future participants:

An event holds a wide range of opportunities to tell the target group about the brand and its key messages, and constitutes an opportunity for creating strong personal relations. Combining real life experiences with digital communication activities created a strong platform for MMD that secured long-lasting value on social media platforms, the website and newsletters.

To create public attention that supported the events and digital experiences, we conducted a wide range of press communication activities for MMD. The synergy between articles in the largest Danish daily newspapers and the inspiring ‘Be the Change Conference’, strengthened the position and credibility of MMD’s brand among the public

To support the brochure, we placed a long line of stories about MMD in professional media, management magazines and daily newspapers. The content of the external communication mirrored the look and content of the brochure and illustrated some of the unique features of MDD, such as ‘Job Swops’. By drawing parallels to previous communication efforts, we created synergies across communication activities, which resulted in a total value of press coverage of 340% of the investment.

With the joint effort of a new visual identity, a sharpened brand payoff and the use of different communication efforts, we increased the public awareness of MMD and doubled the number of applicants.

Transform your brand

Would you like to know more about getting the attention of potential customers? Meet us for a cup of coffee and we will give you our honest opinion on the possibilities for strengthening your brand and business. Give us a call or write an email to Nikolaj Stagis. We can help you build a brand image that reflects your purpose and strategy and attracts customers. 

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