Northeastern University Embraces Technology Entrepreneurship

Recognizing the need for a new educational paradigm for entrepreneurs, Northeastern University (NEU) established the School of Technological Entrepreneurship (STE) and turned to Peppercom to develop the public relations strategy behind the launch of the STE. With more than 2,000 colleges offering courses in entrepreneurship, Peppercom's first challenge was apparent: to break through the clutter and differentiate Northeastern's STE from competitors in order to reach its target audience.

According to our research, the question of whether entrepreneurs are born or bred had long been debated, but no one had ever gone directly to the source (entrepreneurs) to ask them. To help put an end to this debate, we surveyed a group of entrepreneurs. Our survey uncovered that only 1 percent of entrepreneurs identified "higher education" as their primary motivator for starting a business, and that entrepreneurship is typically taught in silos (i.e. entrepreneurship programs are part of business, engineering and other programs). These two findings underscored NEU's key differentiator: STE is the only stand-alone, interdisciplinary technological entrepreneurship institution in the country.

Peppercom used survey results to launch STE to the media and on launch day leveraged the data to create a panel discussion featuring successful entrepreneurs. Additionally, we also created a series of high-level podcasts, using the survey results as discussion topics.

More than 79 outlets covered STE's launch, including the Boston Globe, Washington Post, Inc., Mass High Tech and Tech Web. Web traffic to the STE site during the month of October-when the majority of Peppercom's outreach was conducted-increased by an average of 100 unique visitors per day. On the day of the STE launch, web site visitors rose by 271 percent. Increased awareness through the launch activities also resulted in increased interest in the school from current and prospective students, academics and donors.