Digital
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UVA Darden Business School As Usual

Creative ads for UVA Darden.

Opportunity 

Darden saw a huge growth opportunity in positioning itself as a lifelong learning partner—not just as a stellar MBA program.

At the same time, Darden wanted a campaign that reflected an impressive ascent in the rankings, with more Top Ten rankings than any other business school; and greater awareness/credit for the School’s intellectual capital—which included transformative ideas like stakeholder theory, effectuation, and design thinking for Business.

With Yes & Lipman Hearne’s extensive experience with business schools marketing, we had the kind of deep knowledge, sector landscape perspective, and short learning curve that Darden was looking for.

Five UVA Darden creative ads.

Insight

In testing, we discovered that audiences were ready for a bolder and more audacious Darden. Our campaign asserts that Darden embodies the ideal response to a world defined by “business not as usual,” by being “not business school as usual.” We also found that audiences were open to a campaign that used humor—that it felt inclusive and spoke to Darden’s confidence in the position it was staking out. As we gathered talking points for the campaign, we realized we had more than a tagline, we had a comprehensive and profound articulation of what made Darden different.

In addition to its focus on purpose, the previous campaign was also highly stylized and focused on individuals, and we sought a more direct, chummy, and inclusive relationship with our audiences.

UVA Darden ad with copy

Solution

Out of testing, a bold, thought-provoking campaign had evolved: “Not Business School as Usual.”  This campaign uses authentic copy to drive messages and rally audiences ready to stand up and stand out in their careers—the same way that Darden has become a leader in top ten rankings among high-performing business schools worldwide. “Not Business School as Usual” has played out across paid, earned, and owned channels, reinforcing the meaning behind “Darden-ness” and solidifying Darden’s position as the lifelong learning partner for aspiring and veteran business professionals.

Creative production is still ongoing as we expand to additional campaigns and audiences.   

The ‘&’

We think of this work as more than a contract. Our partnership with Darden drives us to be conscious of not only final deliverables but how the Darden team at large will use these deliverables and talk about them with prospective students and the public. We’ve helped secure buy in through presentations and discussions with board members, the admissions team, and other stakeholders to ensure that the whole of Darden’s internal community will be on the same page with elevating this campaign as true Darden ambassadors.  

the Results

The Enterprise campaign metrics reflect one of many media campaigns we executed. The Enterprise Campaign launched 05/01/24 and ran through 06/30/24. The goal was to make a big splash in the marketplace and draw a lot of attention, building awareness of Darden as the #1 public business school according to Financial Times (2024).  

Overall, the campaign achieved 16.4M total impressions, 8.6M of which were digital impressions, and 28.7K total clicks/page views.  

  • On LinkedIn, our campaign saw a 150% increase in Share of Feed amongst the Top 20 MBA Programs (according to US News), and 350% increase in Share of Feed among DC-based competitors.  
  • Our NYT Flex XL ad earned 1.7M impressions with a 0.46% CTR, just shy of the 0.51% benchmark. The CTR was an impressive 0.83% on the NYT’s education section front.  
  • The digital display ads with Washington Post far exceeded the 0.12% benchmark at a 1.01% CTR.  
  • On Meta, we earned 4.9M impressions on an estimated reach of 1.9M. We also had over 307K 3-second video views and over 45K complete video views.  
  • YouTube saw 1.2M impressions with an average watch time of 13.8 seconds.  
  • Mobile phones had the highest percentage of impressions served at 40%, followed by TV Screens at 33% , Computers at 15% and Tablets at 12%.  
  • Our prime spot at Reagan National Airport garnered an estimated 7.8M impressions and was shown 48,384 times during the course of the campaign which is a 20% increase from the contracted number of showings.  

Overall, cost-per-click (CPC) and cost-per-lead (CPL) for our digital ads have decreased in cost, due to our effective creative and eye-catching and smart copy than previous campaigns for Darden. This new campaign brand, Not Business School as Usual has improved their overall business goals and marketing budgets. 

The client received a new campaign and set of messaging to help expand the idea of “Darden-ness” and talking points that amplify the momentum of their ascension in ranking to the world’s #1 public business school, while gaining internal buy-in along the way. Together, we’re continuing to add on to a full brand guide, as our partnership extends, that gives them a full picture and highly detailed look at what creative assets should look like to stay true to their new brand and campaign, Not Business School as Usual. This project takes the guess work out of client reviews so they have rules and standards to follow moving forward.