Integrated portfolio campaign · Duke Engineering
From Problem to Prototype
ROLE
Strategy, positioning, campaign leadership
CHANNELS
Paid media, web, CRM, content
RESULT
200% of first-year lead goal · 230% of applicant goal
We needed to drive a significant shift in the enrollment demographics of the Pratt School of Engineering by targeting US-based undergraduates, early-career engineers, experienced career-changers, and potential online learners.
This also represented a major expansion of our marketing scope, our first comprehensive portfolio campaign that simultaneously elevated the Duke Engineering brand and drove lead generation for each of our 25+ master’s programs.
Audience research and competitive analysis revealed a crowded marketplace with significant opportunities for a brand willing to take smart risks.
➡ Analysis of competitor institutions showed what we called “the sea of sameness”: undifferentiated messaging, creative, and value proposition.
➡ Audience research spanning data analysis, persona creation, focus groups, and individual interviews revealed the motivations, barriers, and uncertainties that prospects experience, allowing us to develop a campaign that addressed those directly.
Strategy
Center authenic human transformation stories.
Instead of marketing engineering graduate programs through institutional claims and generic imagery, we would center authentic human transformation stories as students turn real-world problems into prototypes.
➡ A first-generation Mexican-American woman goes from a liberal arts undergrad to a space-tech roboticist.
➡ A busy father studies part-time and begins to solve technical challenges in his day job that had held him back for years.
We leveraged these real experiences of Duke students to make our campaign’s theme and message come to life.
I developed a robust strategy encompassing awareness, retargeting, lead generation, and full-funnel communications to drive enrollment among our target populations.
The campaign is multi-layered, from top-level brand awareness to portfolio-style ad groups addressing specific business goals to program-specific search campaigns driving lead generation for each of our 25+ master’s programs. I carefully stewarded our budget by aligning ad spend with enrollment goals at the program level.
Continuous optimization has been crucial to the campaign’s success, from ad copy, keyword, and bid adjustments to landing page testing and revision to the launch of improved full-funnel drip campaigns. I have led the conversation and made final decisions in each of these areas.
My role is to own the overall strategic vision, lead execution, and have final accountability for all decisions and results.
I own our agency relationship, a deeply collaborative partnership that has pushed us all to do our best work. The agency is responsible for strategic consulting, creative development, and day-to-day in-platform management, but I am fully engaged in these processes as the domain expert. I have ad platform access and regularly review our campaign structure, assets, and performance directly.
I am also responsible for performance reporting and strategic guidance of our internal stakeholders, including senior leadership, program directors, faculty, and staff. While we promote our brand to external audiences, I also build support for our strategy and vision within the organization.
Execution
This multi-channel campaign spans social media, paid search, dedicated landing pages, and a full-funnel CRM-based customer journey. Messaging layers move prospects through a narrative from top-level brand awareness to program-specific stories and information, designing numerous touchpoints and automated customizations to convert qualified leads into enrolled students.
Results
200%
of first-year lead-generation goal
230%
of first-year applicant goal
+15%
domestic enrollment year-over-year
The campaign exceeded its first-year acquisition targets within eight months while contributing to a 15% year-over-year increase in domestic enrollment. Performance data also informed ongoing reallocations of spend, creative testing, landing-page improvements, and CRM optimization.
What I Learned
Make the audience the protagonist.
In a category full of institutions making similar claims, our strongest opportunity was to make the audience the protagonist. Authentic stories about engineers solving meaningful problems gave prospects a way to see themselves in the experience, while disciplined segmentation and optimization turned that emotional connection into measurable acquisition that advanced our business goals.