THE FLATIRON SCHOOL - A WEWORK COMPANY
GROWTH MARKETING STRATEGY & PLAYBOOK
Flatiron School was looking for strategic support to tackle the task of expanding the class and cohort size of their new Atlanta location (its sixth campus worldwide and first in the southeast U.S.) while creating a proven playbook that would support growth in this uncharted territory.
"The strategy was so detailed and well thought out that we didn't have any questions. I am amazed that Nicola and team were able to conduct this level of research and capture the marketplace so accurately from overseas."
- General Manager, Flatiron School Australia
THE CHALLENGE
The strategies that had worked so well for Flatiron’s flagship campus in New York and allowed them to expand into new locations in the US and abroad were failing in the Atlanta marketplace.
Atlanta was chosen for its robust business economy which has seen a recent influx of digital developers and designers with startups like MailChimp and BitPay calling the city home.
(And that’s not to mention the recent influx of millennial job seekers excited to enter the field.)
With a unique education model that promises a tuition-back guarantee based on graduate employment placement and an international reputation for being an absolute game-changer in the world of coding, Flatiron School believed its success in Atlanta would be a no-brainer.
But the same unconventional spirit that drew Flatiron to the city in the first place was proving difficult to understand by the marketing powers that be.
Despite Atlanta’s growing tech community, the average class size at Flatiron’s local campus remained frozen in the single digits.
THE STRATEGY
My team and I conducted deep market research, one-on-one interviews, and more to answer the fundamental question of Flatiron School’s appeal (or lack of) to the people of Atlanta.
The strategy that we created with my Constructive Rebellion Framework was specific to the city’s personas, and included recommendations around marketing creative, messaging, and paid media strategy.
Along with this, we provided a list of suggested partnerships, events, and other grassroots methods for connecting with the Atlanta community in an authentic way to boost their enrollment and establish themselves among the city’s powerhouse providers of technical education.
the outcome
Within the first month of implementing our strategy, Flatiron’s Atlanta campus had more than doubled its average class size and their numbers continue to grow.
Thanks to Rebel & Reason’s explosive success with the Atlanta project, we were brought on to develop the marketing strategy for Flatiron’s Australian launch in Sydney and Melbourne.
We again applied our Constructive Rebellion Framework and conducted deep market research and surveying to provide recommendations on class offerings and price tolerance, along with marketing creative, messaging, and paid media strategy.
After the success of Flatiron’s launch in Australia, we were brought in once again to revise their existing strategy for their campus in London and generate recommendations for creating new offers and opportunities in the U.K.’s booming cyber security industry.
