Jutta Kasslin, Head of Marketing at Aalto University in Espoo, Finland, leads Aalto’s marketing efforts to attract top talent to its six schools. Passionate about sharing student’s stories and experiences at Aalto, she heads a marketing team with a strong focus on inspiring content and customer-centric approaches throughout the customer journey. In her role, Jutta emphasizes innovativeness in strategy and execution, ensuring Aalto's compelling narrative reaches aspiring students. She also leads the development of marketing practices to make sure Aalto stays relevant for its target audiences.
In an age where AI is reshaping digital marketing, authenticity remains crucial for targeting Generation Z. This session explores how Aalto University effectively uses student-generated content to foster genuine engagement and drive applications. Student-created content has always been at the core of Aalto's marketing, encompassing social media, Aalto.fi, events, and recruitment materials, showcasing a holistic approach. Now, for the first time it includes paid campaign, too. Contributing also to building an even stronger community brand, which Aalto strives to develop further.
Key insights
Authenticity as a Differentiator: Gen Z values genuine experiences. Student-created content offers relatable, trustworthy messaging, making it a powerful tool to authentically connect with younger audiences.
Understanding the Audience: Gen Z values facts. Aalto blends student photos and videos with impact-driven facts, illustrating students' contributions. This data-driven yet authentic approach effectively appeals to prospective students.
Pre-test results: In August 2024, concept was tested on YouTube and Meta in four countries showed that Meta traffic became 58% more cost-efficient, and YouTube VTR increased by 105%. This demonstrates the effectiveness of student-generated content and the cost efficiency from AI-enhanced campaign planning, buying and measurement.
Looking forward, it's important to explore Generation alfa’s preferences to evolve messaging for future students.
Presentation with Helena Vannas