Leadership Communications Work Samples

Tulane is all about thinking big, thinking differently, thinking creatively, and acting with urgency to solve societal issues. Having launched a $1.3 billion fundraising campaign, we built an equally audacious presidential platform to raise national and global reputation.

Situation

In 2018, Emory University’s Goizueta Business School was looking forward to a milestone year. 2019 marked both the 100th anniversary of the school and the 25th anniversary of its naming. Keenly aware of the storytelling potential on the horizon, Dean Erika James engaged longtime partner 160over90 for a commemorative branding engagement designed to honor the school’s legacy of answering the call of business, and to usher Goizueta into its next century as a model for what business education will be.

Solution

To underscore Goizueta’s principled approach to education and to raise visibility in the anniversary year, we developed and launched a thought leadership platform for Dean James, specially designed to channel individual passion points while advancing institutional priorities in front of key media, corporate partner, alumni, and donor audiences.

We conducted extensive discovery sessions with the Dean and her leadership team; audited peer b-school deans to understand competing priorities and assess white space; and crafted a “Virtue Capitalism” platform for Dean James centered on the idea of leading a business school in service to business, ultimately in service to society.

That platform came to life via an open letter to business, earned media in local and national outlets, an optimized social media presence, and a series of high-profile industry speaking engagements including keynotes at the 2019 Conscious Capitalism Summit and the 2020 AACSB Communicators Conference.

To close out the anniversary year, we concepted, wrote, designed, and produced a high-end impact report/coffee table book encapsulating all that Goizueta Business School stands for and has done in service of a better society—what we coined the “The Goizueta Effect”—with a special forward from Dean James. This, along with an anniversary video, debuted at an exclusive private event held in honor of the late Roberto Goizueta, hosted by the Dean.

Results

Of note, the anniversary event, video, and impact book [in combination] were instrumental in securing the largest gift in Goizueta Business School history: $30 million from the Goizueta Foundation in December 2019.

While Dean James moved on to Wharton as of July 1, 2020, we’re confident the Goizueta brand positioning and the aptly named “Goizueta Effect” will continue well into the years ahead.

In 2015, under a new university president and in the absence of a foundation president, Texas A&M launched one of the boldest comprehensive campaigns in the history of public higher education. We helped the Aggies concurrently raise funds and recognition, positioning [since-retired] President Young as a national thought leader and champion for A&M.