Thought Leadership Content for Higher Education
World-Class Thought Leadership Content and a Multichannel Campaign
By creating a trends report, we helped Sodexo position itself as a global thought leader on higher education and campus life
- Editorial strategy
- Content creation
- Campaign planning
- Social content development
The Situation
Sodexo Universities, a leader in campus dining and facilities management for public universities and private colleges, sought to engage their audience, university leadership, in a new way. Already well-known for its food services, Sodexo had an opportunity to share its point of view about its robust offering around a bundle of quality-of-life services for students and staff. The idea was to strengthen awareness of these solutions and connect with university leadership beyond food and facilities.
The Challenge
To position itself as a thought leader on higher education and campus life, Sodexo wanted to create a global report on key trends affecting the student journey and campus experience, featuring unbiased insights from world-class education experts and researchers.
Tendo helped Sodexo refine its marketing goals, and uncovered the need for an asset that would drive brand awareness, brand education, and sales enablement. Tendo’s recommendation: Don’t merely create a report; build an integrated content campaign around this anchor asset and share the story across multiple channels.
The Approach
Tendo led a complex collaborative effort to:
- Create an Editorial Advisory Committee in tandem with the Sodexo Institute for Quality of Life, an in-house think tank, and identify five global education trends to profile.
- Interview 11 education experts around the world.
- Bring the story to life in a 32-page print and digital 2018 Sodexo University Trends Report, which balanced approachable language with academic rigor.
- Translate the text seamlessly into a range of content formats—blog posts, social posts, emails, videos, and infographics. For example, each trend had a separate front and back cover, allowing Sodexo to spotlight individual trends, providing readers with additional flexibility and choice.
The Result
Sodexo had never produced thought leadership content and a campaign at this scale, and the effort paid off. The report generated immediate buzz and helped their sales teams expand relationships with existing and new university accounts.
Sodexo shined a light on major changes under way in higher education and universities’ critical role in preparing students for a complex world. And Sodexo continues to leverage this high-value trend report in industry publications, conferences, trade shows, social media, and sales conversations.
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