Case Study

Specialist business education consultancy, CarringtonCrisp, wanted to grow awareness of its offer with business schools internationally.

CarringtonCrisp works with universities and business schools to offer imaginative approaches to their ever-changing world, using data and creativity to drive analysis, insight and practical solutions.

Long-standing, regular reports have become a blueprint for those in higher education who want to manage change using data to drive understanding of their key audiences. Consulting, creative and research services provide the tools to help institutions define their offer, identify their audiences and stand out from the crowd. CarringtonCrisp helps universities and business schools change, building on the power of imagination to deliver growth in a highly competitive and crowded international marketplace.

 The company had built up an international presence over more than a decade, but only occasionally appeared in the media.

Roe Communications recommended targeting journalists that would generate the most impact for CarringtonCrisp, rather than pursuing a scattergun approach. These were business education journalists at outlets such as the Financial Times and The Economist, as well as influential trade press such as BusinessBecause and The PIE.

We also knew that in order to achieve a consistent profile in this crowded space, it was important to have frequent contact with journalists, to ensure that CarringtonCrisp was top-of-mind. At the same time, we wanted to ensure that our stories carried significant news value, relevance and topicality for their audiences. We also used our creativity to look for other opportunities for Andrew Crisp such as profiles and comment slots.

We developed a strategy to:

• Use CarringtonCrisp’s research reports to generate regular, positive media coverage within key publications
• Identify major trends within the business education market for commentary
• Build strong relationships with CarringtonCrisp and relevant journalists
• Position Andrew Crisp as the “go-to” commentator on business school trends

We used CarringtonCrisp’s existing research report schedule to launch a new story to the media every quarter. We analysed each report to identify the most newsworthy angles on student motivations and link them, where possible, to the current news agenda.

Examples included skepticism amongst students about business school’s social media channels and websites – tapping into a wider trend about fake news and lack of trust in the media, and the demand for business ethics teaching – tapping into a growing trend around business with purpose.

In many cases, we drew on segmented findings to pull out interesting comparisons between geographies and gender.

We deliberately cultivated the business education editor at the FT (the most influential business education journalist globally). We offered him exclusive access to the reports and interviews with Andrew Crisp under embargo. This was followed up by individual pitches and press releases to wider media. We also introduced Andrew Crisp to new journalist contacts on publications such as The Economist.

• Between December 2018 – December 2019, CarringtonCrisp was featured in the Financial Times on seven occasions.
• In total, 20 pieces of coverage appeared in major publications including the FT, Handelsblatt, The Australian, and The Globe & Mail, and trade publications Business Because, Poets & Quants and PIE News.
• We positioned Andrew Crisp as a leading commentator on global business school trends. He has since been asked for interviews on issues such as Asia’s emergence as a centre for business education and the value of business school rankings.