Marketing for Magis: How Jesuit colleges and universities chose collaboration over competition

Abstract

For years, Jesuit colleges and universities in the United States avoided joint marketing or branding; in spite of their common mission and heritage, the institutions have long faced competition for students with similar academic profiles from common geographic regions. But in 2015, the institutions overcame their differences to launch a joint national marketing campaign that capitalised on Pope Francis’ first visit to the United States. As the first Jesuit leader of the Catholic Church, Pope Francis is viewed by many as a transformational figure, whose leadership style is influenced by his Jesuit education. The offices of marketing and communication for US Jesuit colleges and universities saw the visit as an opportunity to show how they all offer the same kind of education that has made Pope Francis so effective as a leader, and did so by encouraging prospective students to visit a common microsite to learn about all their schools. Working together with the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities, they launched a month-long national campaign that drew public exposure and garnered visits to every single one of their homepages through the microsite. The success of this campaign led to two more campaigns in 2018: a jointly-funded promotional video for Jesuit higher education and a social media campaign in support of Loyola University Chicago’s men’s basketball team’s appearance in the Final Four round of the 2018 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. In an era of shrinking state and federal support for education (and smaller numbers of traditional-aged students), Jesuit schools have found ways to overcome competition and work together in pursuit of the same shared goal: helping new students understand and appreciate the value of a Jesuit higher education.