The first-choice business school for purpose-led organisations

Context

Loughborough University’s School of Business and Economics has global ambitions. It’s already one of the UK’s top-ranking business schools, with an enviable list of accolades and accreditations. Now, amongst stiff competition, it aims to build on this to stand out on the world stage. To be a magnet for a much wider audience of postgraduate students and industry partners. 

People who have experienced the culture, environment and teaching ethos of the school – and its impact – instinctively get what makes it special. But until now it had proven difficult to capture and define that essence for those not familiar with it. 

Objective

We needed to help Loughborough see their label from outside the jar. To articulate their purpose in a way which avoided the curse of business school jargon prevalent in the sector. To transform how they presented themselves to the world, but bring clarity, focus and confidence to how they saw themselves.

Competitive identities are born from aligning a relevant and compelling external promise with a strong internal culture and sense of purpose. To have any chance of success, we would need to inspire and inform what the school did and how it behaved, as much as what it said. 

Approach

Critical to achieving this alignment, and to working at pace, was the formation of a core project team - known as the Rocketship - who were closely involved in the iterative stages of the project. The team represented the ethos and best characteristics of the school, and a cross-section of stakeholder and audience perspectives. Working in this way allowed us to get timely feedback, easily course correct where needed, and drive early advocacy among key internal influencers.

A new purpose, mission and vision

Beginning with the Brand Position phase of our Brand Ignition process, we uncovered insights from major business school reports, undertook a review of national and international competitors, audited prior audience and positioning work, and conducted over 20 in-depth interviews with faculty staff, students, university leadership and alumni.

For the first time, the Rocketship team were able to see how the school was perceived from the outside in. With this body of fresh evidence, we worked together to prioritise the aspects of the school which were attractive to both internal and external audiences and distinctive in the category.   

It became clear that Loughborough’s proven ability to drive impact and supercharge careers was underpinned by a deep-rooted belief that the challenges the world faces require a fundamentally different approach to business. Its caring, nurturing staff were motivated to challenge current business practice, policy and performance, in the interests of raising the game of business and its impact in the world. 

From here, we were able to succinctly capture this in a new vision for the school: to be the first-choice business school for purpose-led organisations. 

A powerful brand idea

Our task wasn’t simply to put Loughborough amongst the crowded field of global business schools. It was to ensure the school stands out. That meant once the purpose and vision were defined, we needed to create a powerful Brand Idea: driving awareness and acting as a rallying cry for like-minded students, staff and organisations. 

Currently under wraps until launch in early 2023, the Brand Idea has ignited conversation about how this can transform everything from course design to staff appraisals and events. In other words, igniting both an external promise and an internal culture. 

What’s next
We’re currently collaborating with the university’s internal design team to bring that idea to life through a distinctive visual identity, and with the university’s marketing team to develop a communications plan for launch and ongoing brand building.


Professor Jan Godsell, Dean of the School of Business and Economics, said, “Firehaus has been a joy to work with. Their insight, clarity of thought and creativity have lit a spark beneath how we think about ourselves and express that to the world. It’s played a vital part in how we go about delivering on our organisational aims.”

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