Situation:

De Baak is a renowned training institute for personal growth. We have been offering training in personal leadership for more than 75 years. We don’t focus on knowledge but on soft skills: the emotional intelligence. De Baak wants to grow by attracting new clients.

Brief:

Since 2012 we have seen a stagnation in turnover, in the number of registrations and participants. We’re losing relevance due to an exclusive, corporate image in a highly competitive market. How do we make de Baak relevant and accessible to everyone who wants to personally develop themselves?

Commercial objectives:

Sign-ups: +12%

New participants started: +10%

Turnover: + 10%

Brand objectives:

Increase awareness from 34% to 40%

Increase consideration from 18% to 22%

Increase preference from 7% to 10%

De Baak wants to claim a leading position in personal leadership training with a striking and distinctive campaign concept.

De Baak gives space. It’s a simple idea. And it’s daring. Because we are going to do something disruptive with it in the campaign. In order to stand out in an increasingly cluttered category, we decided to flip the script: we urge people to stop. Here’s why. If you think about it, stopping might be the most productive thing you can do. Because stopping gives you space. Space in which you can reflect, focus on what really matters, get to know yourself and figure out where you want to go. We linked that idea of stopping and space to a feeling of pure relief and made a campaign that reflects de Baak’s sentiment that sometimes, standing still is the best way forward. The strength of the idea lies in the counter-intuitive way of using “STOP” as a way to help people progress.

Data

Personal development is hot, evidenced by the proliferation of books, podcasts and coaches registered with the Chamber of Commerce.

People are cynical about self-development, social media listening tools tell us.

Research agency conducted surveys, interviews and focus groups. Key findings:

We are #4 in brand awareness. Conversion in the brand funnel is relatively high.

Mental availability is limited. The power of our Distinctive Brand Assets below benchmark.

Brand image is stuffy and exclusive.

Approach

As an authority, we should not add to the echo chamber of the category. We need to take a stance. “To get the best out of yourself, you only need one thing: space”. We reposition the brand based on this idea. We focus the campaign on building awareness and memorability with a new visual identity and pay-off.

Target audience

Talk to everyone who wants to grow personally (not just executives and leaders).

CTA: STOP

Implementation

Instead of marketing individual training courses to a limited group, we build emotional distinction and a consistent brand experience that is expressed everywhere. We give space in the campaign, it is in our visual identity, but it is also the starting point for the content that we share on social media. Our media strategy followed 3 principles: mass reach, balance budget (85% brand, 15% activation), quality over quantity.

Timeline

20 Juni 2022 - 30 Juni 2023, several burst flights with always-on social content and activation online.

Placement

Paid: tv, outdoor, radio, social, print, branded content, online advertising, SEA.

Owned: DM, website, social organic.

Scale: Share of Spend within category over the entire campaign period: 17,4%

(Note: Results FY 2023 are based on a very reliable forecast because the majority of the available places have now been reserved.)

Commercial results:

Sign ups: +17% in 2022 // +34% in 2023

New participants started: +20% in 2022 // +23% in 2023

Turnover: +29% in 2022 // +25% in 2023

Brand Objectives:

Increase awareness from 34% to 45%

Increase consideration from 18% to 26%

Increase preference from 7% to 12%

Redirection of digital strategy resulted in:

-12,4% web sessions

+20,8% time on site

+36% conversion rate

Last year (2022) we celebrated de Baak’s 75th year. It was our most successful year, to date. And 2023 is bound to beat that record. De Baak shows how you can successfully claim your own position by reintroducing the brand in an extremely competitive market, based on 1 simple guiding idea and a sharp cultural insight.