Kaplan University's Marketing Campaign Success
Advertising Campaign Challenges Tradition, Targets Students
Aug 10, 2009
Kaplan University’s marketing campaign, under the tagline A Different School of Thought, featured national television, radio, print and internet advertising. The campaign included full-page advertisements in USA Today, The New York Times and The Washington Post.
The campaign stands out from other university marketing because of its strong messaging around the fact that today’s students are not well served by traditional university learning models.
Marketing Campaign Differentiates Kaplan University
Kaplan’s campaign resonates with a generation of students, particularly adult-learners, who are often more plugged into iPods and social media than joining classrooms with hundreds of other students.
At the same time, the campaign highlights the non-tradition learning tools offered by Kaplan, including the use of podcasts and other technology to deliver lectures.
The television advertising campaign features two advertisements. The signature ad begins with a gentleman looking like a traditional university professor, dressed in a white shirt, tie and vest, addressing a large classroom.
“I stand before you to apologize,” he says and continues, “The system has failed you, I have failed you. I have failed to help you share your talent with the world and the world needs talent more than ever. Yet, it’s being wasted every day by an educational system steeped in tradition and old ideas.”
The advertisement quickly moves to the professor’s lecture being delivered to students over computers and mobile devices in a variety of settings such as subway stations, kitchen tables and in a person’s bedroom.
In many ways, Kaplan University appeals to a large target market of potential students who work for a living and want to improve career options by earning a first or second degree.
University Marketing Campaign Draws Attention to Talent Gap
Kaplan’s marketing campaign also makes note of a study by the National Center for Higher Education Management System revealing that by the year 2025, the U.S. will need to produce 63.1 million degrees to match leading nations in the percentage of adults with higher education degrees.
At the current pace, the United States will fall short by 16 million degrees.
An article in The New York Times about the Kaplan marketing campaign notes that the positive attitude displayed in the advertisements serves as an effective cure for the economy and provides hope for people wishing to better themselves.
Kaplan One of Several Online Schools Marketing Higher Education
In addition, as noted in The New York Times article, Kaplan is well aware of the soaring popularity of distance learning through online higher education. Competitors in the field include DeVry University, the University of Phoenix and Walden University and estimates are that almost four million students were enrolled in online education in 2008.
University marketing can take a page from Kaplan University as the institution breaks free from traditional messaging in its latest advertising campaign. The result is a new type of conversation about how a university education can remain relevant in society.
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