Higher education in the U.S. has earned a reputation as the best system in the world, leading with research, public service, and teaching excellence.

Even before Covid changed the fabric of education, U.S. parents, students, and employers were starting to question the value of a college degree. Pressure continues today as Higher Education leaders tackle a mounting number of issues:

• Intense competition for students
• Budget pressures
• Managing COVID
• Employee turnover and burnout
• Student success
• Alumni and donor engagement
• Myriad of crises and issues that impact an institution’s brand

We have been fortunate to work with a diverse group of higher education institutions over the years. We have a successful track record partnering with colleges and universities on a wide range of branding campaigns, communications, and development strategies.

We have invested years of research into developing proven, proprietary methodologies (link to relevance page) that help higher education institutions stay relevant with key stakeholders – prospective students and parents, current students and parents, employees, public officials, alumni, and donors.

We can help you with the following:

• Academic program positioning
• Alumni and donor research
• Annual fund communications and marketing
• Branding and positioning
• Campaign communications
• Creative (from collateral to video)
• Crisis communications and issues management
• DEI communications
• Internal communications
• Organizational alignment
• Media relations
• Qualitative and quantitative research (understand key audiences, shape personas)
• Strategic planning
• Sustainability communications and positioning
• Thought leadership

A Sample of Our Higher Education Clients

We have worked with small private colleges, some of the Ivies, and some amazing public universities. A sampling of our clients:

• Dartmouth College
• University of New Hampshire
• Simmons University
• University of Pennsylvania
• Franklin & Marshall
• Bentley University
• Tufts University

Crisis Management

We have partnered with several leading colleges and universities to help them navigate sensitive issues:

• Title IX proceedings initiated by an alumnus against the governing board
• Changing a building name after the donor was found guilty of tax fraud
• Board attempting to remove a president against the wishes of the alumni and students
• A multi-year plan for DEI satisfied many stakeholders, but the unhappy stakeholders generated negative PR
• Protesting students take over a president’s office on social issues
• Budget cuts from the Board of Trustees with faculty up in arms over course cancellations