Elliance Case Study
Amplifying Lerner’s can-do culture.
Lerner College of Business and EconomicsRising to Meet Top Tier Competitors
The Lerner College of Business and Economics at the University of Delaware sits just off Interstate 95, some 40 miles south of UPenn Wharton, the business school that needs no introduction. Lerner, on the other hand, required more than an introduction — it needed a comprehensive brand and marketing strategy to assert its place alongside better known regional competitors (Wharton, Temple Fox, Villanova, Rutgers, St. Joseph).
Start-Up Meets Finance Strengths
Elliance narrowed in on two words (Opportunity, Inc.) to balance complementary aspects of the school’s changing culture. Even as Lerner and its students embrace creativity and disruption — the Opportunities inherent in an emerging start-up culture — a certain duality remains. Large institutional partnerships and investments, such as the Lerner JPMorgan Chase Innovation Center, reflect Delaware’s long corporate history (Inc.) especially as it relates to banking and financial services.
Finding Right-Fit Domestic Students
Lerner College of Business and Economics began seeing declines in international applications across all graduate programs — MBA and specialized Masters — even before a changing political tide accelerated the trend. Elliance coordinated a series of campaigns and open-house events that targeted right-fit domestic students. By the end of year-one, the campaigns had restored predictable, reliable enrollment — much of it driven by new interest from domestic students.
MBA: Earn and Learn
Unlike many MBA programs which lock students into full-time, part-time, on-campus or online silos, the Lerner College admissions approach is far more fluid. Elliance built a mobile-first landing page that emphasized program flexibility — and earnings payback. Five good reasons why a Lerner MBA made good money sense — built upon earnings and satisfaction data from the Graduate Management Admissions Council and Deloitte’s Global Human Capital Trends report.
“We wanted to reveal the true essence of the school that we have become: A school of consequence and a creator of opportunity. Elliance translated Lerner's new reality artfully and effectively. We are pleased.”
