Case Studies

Creating a Human Connection With An Academic World

No matter their location in the world, area of specialism or position in the rankings (if any), business schools exist in an incredibly competitive landscape. Each institution faces the same challenges in vying for top quality students in key markets, attracting high calibre faculty, gaining funding for research, establishing corporate partnerships, developing alliances with other institutions and access to other influential collectives. All, often, whilst putting forward a fairly similar offering.

In an effort to reach these goals and stand out from the crowd, many institutions (we’d say the smart ones) go a little further than simply pumping out marketing material, attending recruitment fairs and placing adverts.

Public Relations is an incredibly useful tool when it comes to strategically building an individual public identity, raising brand awareness beyond more constrained and prescribed means such as rankings, and providing multiple ways for new audiences to engage with them.

However, ask most business schools what they want to accomplish with a public relations campaign and the answer is often visibility. 

For PR to be effective, institutions should have a more prescribed version of what that visibility should be, to fit in with strategic goals, programmes they are seeking to secure wider interest in, or other wider brand building activities.

Desired audiences could be prospective programme applicants, potential industry partners or investors, government bodies, those part of social movements or educational quality assessors. Each of these goals requires a tailored approach.

The power of research

In building a public persona, many business schools look to their most senior figures, the Dean, programme directors, vice chancellors etc, or seek to share the stories of their talented student and alumni networks; their experiences providing an active return on investment for readers.

Whilst all of this can be highly valuable, one area commonly overlooked but utterly invaluable is faculty, particularly less senior academics, and their research.

Faculty research really is one of the most credible and compelling assets a business school or higher education institution possesses to prove its capability to the wider world.

By refining a focus and delving into academic expertise, an institution can find an effective means of differentiating itself from its peers.

Then, in gaining the ability to effectively communicate that area of academic excellence to key stakeholders; institutions can build a robust reputation in their key focus industries. 

When faculty research dives deep into pressing business challenges, illuminates emerging trends, or dissects social structures and offers a fresh perspective on how to move forwards it provides a solid body of evidence as to why engaging with that faculty – and the institution by extension – is a valuable endeavour. 

Without making a deliberate effort even the most ground-breaking works and ideas may remain confined to academic journals, reaching only a narrow specialist audience. 

With that perspective in mind, breaking academic insights out of academic realms and finding an effective means to share them with the wider world is a no-brainer when it comes to institutional brand building.

A strategic public relations campaign can provide that vital bridge between academic exploration and broader public discourse. 

Don’t always look to the top

By proactively positioning faculty as thought leaders through regular and diverse media engagement, institutions can demonstrate their relevance and capabilities in neutral settings (people expect marketing materials to provide a very rose-tinted view of an institution’s capability) building brand awareness, enhancing sentiment and generating trust. 

Diversity is an effective route when it comes to selecting which faculty to work with too. Many institutions fall into the trap of only prioritising those academics who are well-known in academic circles due to their senior positions within an institution, or their lengthy sets of credentials and citations.

Their work is certainly valuable, but it also pays to look to new members of faculty, particularly when it comes to gaining fresh perspectives, working in new disciplines and offering a greater variety of perspectives.

Often, this can get bigger and better results. Journalists are more likely to pay attention to a good story or spokesperson than an impressive CV. For media it’s not academic standing that matters, it’s the quality of the ideas shared with them.

At the end of 2024, a client brought a research paper to BlueSky’s attention, with a simple request – where can we share this?

The paper was authored by a newer member of the faculty who had recently completed his PhD. The study, simply entitled; “Relative Income and Mental Health in Couples”, helped to make the paper more immediately accessible to a casual reader, but it was still too academically dense to be more broadly appreciated. Academic papers in their typical form are often only ever noticed and shared by one type of audience – other academics.

Our brief was to find the means to share this with a broader audience.

In reviewing the paper, some important, data-backed findings emerged;

• When women in heterosexual couples became the breadwinners, the mental health of their male partners declined.

• Where wives earned more than their husbands, the probability of receiving a mental health diagnosis increases by as much as 11% for the men.

• The types of mental health diagnoses revealed a gendered difference. Women were more likely to suffer stress and neurotic disorders whereas men’s diagnoses were more substance-related.

• The result was more pronounced for urban and educated women

All of these findings had a clear real-world impact, and deserved an audience beyond an academic community. We devised our approach…

The key audiences? Women of course, and professional-aged women at that. But this research had a wider and vastly important learnings for a general business, leadership and management audience as well as for societal readers. Those occupied with raising families, navigating a work life balance and who may even identify with some of the findings above.

There was no specific industry to tie this to either, all of which ruled out a specific pitch. As the story was so widely relatable, we opted to lead with an old industry standard – a press release.

Is the press release dead?

No, far from it. Press releases often receive a bad – but not wholly underserved – reputation. Often they are written poorly; spanning several pages, littered with industry-speak and self-congratulating quotes, burying key information far too far down the story to effectively grab a reader’s attention. In short, many press releases are written without consideration for who they’re being sent to and how they will be used.

But a well-written release? That sort of material can travel around the world and live on for years to come.

We wrote a simple, one page release which lead with the key findings of the research (not a lengthy description of where it came from) provided enough clear data to back these points up to ensure their credibility, offered some background into how the research was conducted and, most importantly included a quote from the academic which provided the “so what?” element of the story – explaining why the findings mattered and what next steps may be taken to improve things for men and women, offering readers some further food for thought.

We kept it factual, unbiased and direct in tone. No marketing fluff or thinly veiled promo, just the facts, the implications, a dose of thought leadership to set the wider context, and a clear contact point for further information.

The headline was, like the study’s original title, kept punchy. Short enough to be easily read and understood in a busy inbox.

We also worked with the member of faculty every step of the way to ensure we’d interpreted his research accurately, that he was happy with the narrative we had put forward, and that he was comfortable to speak with any media who might be keen to know more.

Timing matters

The start of the year can be a busy time media-wise; a mix of the usual news cycles interspersed with puffier, fluffier pieces around predictions for the year ahead, resolutions, best practice etc. To cut through the nose, you need a story idea with a clear sharp focus and a message. This study, and the press release written for it, offered exactly that.

There are also calendar-based events that can make certain types of story appeal more at certain times of the year. The much discussed “Blue Monday” – which occurs the last Monday before the January pay-day (people are suffering back to work blues, limited bank balances, a post-Christmas slump and all in typically poor weather) can also make pieces on mental health a little more desirable if pitched right.

We built a selection of distribution lists for our release – identifying writers at publications that reflected the institution’s values, were well regarded by audiences, and covered the breadth of focus that the study held. We also made the release available on our own newsroom.

And then, with the institution’s backing, we set it free into the world.

The response was staggering.

A typical response from a busy journalist to a well-written press release is to either publish the text in its entirety, or to ask a few follow up questions to support the writing of a further piece.

Both of these things happened. But also, the release inspired writers to dig a little deeper.

The research was featured in national newspapers and magazines across the UK in stories that not only shared the key findings but illustrated their value through independently sought case studies and quotes from other bodies, and references to other studies – all building the credibility of the original piece. Each story was different from the next. Each mentioned the faculty member and his institution by name. And each included (since it was so insightful) his quote from the release.

As most outlets ran the story, others were encouraged to pick it up too. The research spilled into Europe, the US and Asia and was translated into other languages. Momentum continued to build. In August and September the research was still making national news.

In little over eight months, the study – and the institution – was featured by outlets from the Newcastle Chronicle to the Times, the BBC (in multiple languages), the Spectator and the Telegraph, the New York Post, Yahoo, Medium, The Jamaica Star, iefermedia in Greece, HK01 in Hong Kong, Corriere della Sera in Italy and Corrio Braziliense in Brazil… the list goes on.

As a result, the study received an estimated 10 million views.

Why did it work?

This story was clear and relatable to a wide audience. Sharing it so widely was the most appropriate form of action as a first step in getting this study out into the world.

But, not all academic research is suitable for widespread dissemination and requires a more nuanced and niche approach with media. Focusing on this type of activity is by no means less valuable than the broader-focus opportunities. In fact, research that lends itself to sector specific and trade presses can be far more valuable when it comes to brand and reputation building in specialist areas.

The research was broken down to be easily understood, set out in an accessible manner, and shared with the right outlets. 

The research, and the academic responsible for it, were prioritised over promotional messaging for the institution – in leading with the story and sharing expertise up front the Institution benefitted from the positive response from media outlets and readers.

What happened next?

Aside from helping to build visibility for the institution beyond its existing circles, the researcher also benefited from greater recognition for his work, being invited back to talk on similar topics. His next study, exploring how women given the opportunity to learn alongside other women helps to enhance their professional prospects has also secured wider appeal. 

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