Case Study

Babson College

Live Wire transformed Babson College’s image.

Through a strategic marketing and communications campaign, Live Wire transformed Babson College’s image, positioned its students and faculty as entrepreneurial leaders, and expanded its voice within the field of business education.

Overview

Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, is the country’s premier institution for educating entrepreneurial leaders. Founded in 1919, it grants both undergraduate and graduate degrees. It has been the #1 ranked program inentrepreneurship for 31 consecutive years and climbed The Wall Street Journal’s rankings of the best colleges in theU.S. to the #2 slot for 2025.

As the higher education landscape continues to evolve, colleges and universities recognize media coverage is growing increasingly competitive. Constantly seeking an increase in rankings and reputation, a business school must leverage every asset in their toolkit to strengthen its brand, protect its prestige, and position the school for success now and into the future. Since the start of Live Wire's campaign in 2022, Babson College rose 124 spots to an impressive #2 slot on the Wall Street Journal's college rankings - a true testament to the power of a PR campaign. It takes experience and a powerhouse of talent to navigate today’s challenging and evolving media environment. Top tier institutions like Babson College understand the value of working with a public relations firm like Live Wire Strategic Communications, LLC, whose talent and expertise delivered a comprehensive communications strategy to accomplish its objectives.

Goal

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Campaign Objectives

Serving as the agency of record for Babson College over the past two years, Live Wire has developed an integrated marketing and communications campaign that strategically aligns with the school’s business goals and objectives. From the school’s brand and key messages to its market position and communications activities, Live Wire workedwith Babson’s internal communications team to identify and implement the following PR objectives:

  • Elevate Babson’s brand and image to positively influence the school’s rankings;
  • Maintain and expand the school’s relevancy and rank within entrepreneurship;
  • Expand Babson’s share of media voice within the field of business education;
  • Diversify number of faculty utilized in the media campaign; and
  • Increase Babson’s feature placement coverage to 20-25%.

Campaign Strategies

Based on a comprehensive analysis of Babson College and its competitors, Live Wire recommended the following strategies to accomplish the defined PR objectives:

  • Proactively pursue the news cycle and engage journalists and producers at top-tier media outlets to secure high-level online, print, and broadcast media coverage;
  • Pitch and secure placements in influential publications that strategically align to targeted rankings;
  • Vet and prep student success stories and faculty research for placements in local and national media; and
  • Aggressively pursue the business media market to position Babson’s professors as the nation’s top expertson entrepreneurship.

Campaign Tactics

Live Wire developed and implemented the following comprehensive strategic public relations campaign on behalf of Babson College:

  • Elevating Entrepreneurship
    ‍    The diverse student body, world-leading programming, and innovative classes at Babson pave the way for inevitable entrepreneurial success. Live Wire worked with students, alumni, and faculty to prepare them for interviews and secure feature stories that exhibit their success. This year, Live Wire had the privilege of working with multiple students to highlight the success of their ventures andbusiness pitches in the 2024 Babson Entrepreneurial Thought & Action (B.E.T.A.) Competition.
  • Global Education Initiatives
    ‍    Babson’s wide array of education opportunities in the U.S. and abroad inspires faculty and students to accomplish innovative work. Live Wire has worked with faculty to secure coverage in strategically selected outlets to bring awareness to their programs with key audiences and to feature faculty research that showcases the impact of their educational programming.
  •  Proactive Pitching Surrounding the News Cycle
    ‍    Proactively pitching and chasing the news cycle is Live Wire’s most aggressive program. We strategically monitored breaking news or news on the verge of breaking on behalf of Babson College and pitched faculty members as industry thought leaders and experts to targeted outlets. From prepared quotes to deadline interviews with faculty, Live Wire has earned the trust and respect of reporters to provide instant, accurate, and unique sources for stories.

Results

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Distributed 144 pitches to over 500 top tier outlets

Researched, drafted, and distributed 144 pitches to over 500 top tier outlets

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117 Earned Media Placements

Completed 144 interviews with diverse faculty, resulting in 117 total earned media placements with 63 percent of coverage appearing in top-tier outlets such as the Washington Post, New York Times, and Wall Street Journal

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Top-Tier Outlets

Secured media placements in top-tier education focused outlets such as Inside Higher Ed and The Chronicleof Higher Education to highlight Babson’s global education initiatives

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Feature Stories

Secured twelve high profile feature stories highlighting alumni, directors, and students of Babson centers and initiatives in key local and
national outlets

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Maximized Exposure

Enhanced the impact of Babson’s coverage, increasing Babson’s feature placements from 13% to 22%

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