How the Hankamer School of Business tells its best stories
By Sharon Aschaiek | October 26, 2022
It was the headline that grabbed my attention: “Wonder Women”, designed in the same bright red, yellow and blue colours as the uniform of one of my childhood heroes. I was instantly interested.
I clicked to discover a package of stories about impressive and successful female graduates of the Hankamer School of Business (HSB) at Baylor University in Texas: The president of a poultry research and development company owned by Tyson Foods. A growth marketing manager at a cosmetics company that is disrupting the beauty industry through philanthropy geared to diverse communities. An A+E Networks executive who produces TV shows and documentaries.
Published in the latest edition of the Baylor Business Review, the stories were well researched, the copy was concise and conversational, and the design—in the 9.5-in. by 11-in. print magazine, which associate dean C.J. Jackson was kind enough to mail to me—clean, dynamic and engaging.
With alumni magazines being one of my favourite higher ed communication vehicles to write about and for, I contacted editor Justin Walker to learn about their approach to telling stories that best represent the school and its community members.
“Each issue has a theme. We stay on top of trends in the business world, and what is currently of interest to business practitioners now and over the next six months,” says Walker, who has been the school’s manager of publications since 2019.
Publishing twice a year and with an online presence, the BBR is produced by Jackson, Walker and their team, which include a web editor, video editor, university and external photographers, freelance writers and an outside design firm. The print version reaches about 42,000 alumni and other BBR stakeholders.
Each edition features profiles of four alumni who are a mix of older and more recent graduates, a story about a current student, and four to five articles on current business trends and issues. There is also the dean’s message and a few items on alumni news, noteworthy HSB activities and initiatives, and mentions of HSB in the news.
In the current issue, the main feature article is about the distinct strengths and advantages female executives bring to the business environment. It includes comments from HSB faculty members from information systems and business analytics, marketing and management, as well as female leaders from Google and cloud services firm VMware. It’s an insightful read that’s enhanced with vintage cartoon-style graphic images of the sources. The clever lede brilliantly captures the edition’s Wonder Woman lens on business:
“Faster than a speeding stock ticker. More powerful than a male-dominated boardroom. Able to leap complex problems in a single bound. Women are using their business superpowers to elevate themselves—and their companies—to previously unimagined heights.”
This was one of our favourite editions to put together. People are really engaging and enjoying it,” Walker says. “I shared one of the stories on my personal LinkedIn, and it got more likes than I think all of my previous posts combined.”
The BBR is promoted via the school’s Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram channels, and the school’s marketing specialist tracks engagement levels on social media to help determine resonant content for future issues.
Since it began publishing in 1983, the BBR has racked up numerous awards from organizations such as International Association of Business Communicators, the American Advertising Federation, the Council for Advancement and Support of Education and the w3 Awards.
“The awards mean a lot,” Walker says. “We’re constantly competing against our past self to be better and to keep our standards up.”