Fulbright School of Public Policy and Management (FSPPM) Admission Campaign
A refreshment of the communications strategy during the admission period in the year 2023 with the aim of attracting younger candidates
Challenge:
Fulbright School of Public Policy and Management has been a unique, long-standing institution in Vietnam, offering a master's education in public policy. After 26 years, the School started facing a significant challenge in admissions due to the limited public interest in public policy and a growing preference for economics and natural sciences education. The School's management made a critical decision to expand the pool of candidates by opening its doors to new graduates from diverse backgrounds. To achieve this, in addition to shifting the admission strategy, it was essential to change the communication approach in order to attract more attention from the new graduates while still preserving the true values of the school's heritage.
Direction and Execution:
We discovered an insight about hesitant candidates through in-depth interviews with some candidates: They couldn't see the connection between their interests or specialization and the public policy’s course offerings. Since this is a highly personal journey of exposure and exploration, it cannot be resolved through mass communication alone. Thanks to the tremendous support from the School's alumni, we successfully established a series of personalized experiences for candidates to find their own "connection" or "reason to believe." This is basically a one-on-one consultation program with alumni. However, it was not as simple as it may seem.First, we engaged our audience with a "gamified experience" that tested their everyday knowledge related to public policy. Based on their answers, we matched them with relevant alumni options who shared their areas of interest. Finally, they arranged virtual meetings with the alumnus they chose. The comprehensive process described above was hosted on a landing page with an efficient yet cost-effective data management system behind.
This gamified experience hit three key targets: collecting data on potential candidates, breaking down barriers for hesitant candidates, and fostering networks among people with similar interests.
https://fsppm.com/We also revamped the School's representation on social media, adapting to emerging formats and platforms, such as playful infographics, reels, shorts, etc.
In this project, I worked closely with the creative manager and academic affairs and admission team to strategize and execute the campaign. My main responsibilities were setting the visual benchmark, preparing and proofreading content, designing key materials, coordinating and managing stakeholders, including content and media agency, web development team, and production house.
