A Higher-Ed Case Study From 2U: What Digital Marketing has Taught us About University Brands

Rob Cohen, President & COO, 2U || Edtech Europe, London, UK

We are stewards for some of the best brands in the United States

ONLINE

ON-CAMPUS

Immersive Course Content

Live Classes Real-World Experiences

Social Engagement

Dedicated Support Services

The Recipe for Great Outcomes

What We Do2U enables great colleges and universities

to bring their programs online using an integrated Platform:

Proprietary Cloud-Based SaaS Technology

Bundled Technology-Enabled Services

CONTENT MANAGEMENT

SYSTEM

O N L I N E C A M P U S

A P P L I C A T I O N P R O C E S S I N G

P O R T A L

C U S T O M E R R E L A T I O N S H I P

M A N A G E M E N T

CONTENT DEVELOPMENT

S T U D E N T A C Q U I S I T I O N

P L A C E M E N T S E R V I C E S

S T A T E C O M P L I A N C E

S E R V I C E S

S T U D E N T &

F A C U L T Y S U P P O R T

The marketing task we face is unique and challenging

• Finding the right student at exactly the right time

• The time between when a student finds a program to submitting an application can be a long time

Several years ago we built an algorithm to guide our understanding of which programs have the ability to scale

IPEDS U.S. Bureau of

Labor Statistics

CareerBuilder

US News

Primary Data Sources

2U PROPRIETARY DATA

Reasonably Inelastic Market

University Brand Strength is HIGHLY

Regional

Two key insights came out of this research

We had seen this insight in the marketplace and in our early program experience

We had seen this insight in the marketplace and in our early program experience

College Enrollment College Costs

We had seen this insight in the marketplace and in our early program experience

Masters in Teaching Programs Masters in Social Work Programs

University Brand Strength is HIGHLY

RegionalReasonably Inelastic

Market

Two key insights came out of this research

• Every school is incredibly regional

• Even though the online modality makes geography essentially irrelevant – a strong

regional bias still exists

We explored undergraduate migration patterns at every U.S. University and found the

following:

Campus Un-dergrad

Campus Grad 2U Online Grad0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

53% 46% 41%

15% 18% 21%In RegionIn State

Enrollment Percentages by Geography

(Universities with launched 2U program)

Prospects Students0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

80%59%

Out of State Prospect & Student Percentages

Prospects across our programs are more national – the regional bias occurs as

students move towards submitting their applicationSubmit Rate by Distance to

Campus

0%

1%

2%

3%

4%

5%

Subm

it R

ate

0 1,5001,000500Miles from Campus

So why are University brands so regional?

University brands differ in key way from other established, world-class brands

Most brands have a relatively small competitive set…

…and their exposure is incredibly broad

1.7 billion servings

consumed per day

1 billion iOS devices sold

to date3.5 billion

searches per day

136 million customers flew Southwest in

2014

University Brands differ dramatically

• Many Universities competing for a share of voice

• Materially smaller set of people who have direct interactions with the brand

Exposure to these brands is inherently regional

This has been ingrained for hundreds of years

So what does this mean for our shared mission to expand the University beyond its geographic bounds?

Students enrolled

retention adjusted tuition bookings

*bookings as of Q1 15, all else as of year end 2014

$795mm

12,300Impact

Thank you!

RCohen@2U.com@RobertLCohen