Ghostwriting to get GEMS Education’s leaders heard regionwide

Situation

GEMS Education, the world’s largest operator of private schools, wanted to strengthen its relevance regionally in the Gulf and locally in the communities its schools served. In doing so, the group aimed to bolster its competitiveness among the elite schools that promised to nurture students holistically.

Meanwhile, the group had identified individual schools that would benefit from a shift in perception to increase their appeal among parents on the hunt for a new school. Helpfully, GEMS’ teaching cohort included numerous school leaders who were also subject matter experts and could therefore talk to challenges and topics that mattered to parents.

The brief was to convert an executive’s genuine point of view into a publishable argument for media, to meet the group’s strategic goals while painting individual schools in a positive light.

Response

We activated a ghostwriting campaign for two senior leaders at GEMS who also headed up individual schools.

Regional tier one media were pitched exclusive stories that addressed pressing topics tied to calendar events: the damaging cycle of self-criticism among young girls for International Women’s Day, and the need to apply education as a tool for addressing climate change, for the close of climate event COP 27.

Face-to-face interviews were conducted with both leaders to gather unique, expert opinion, and to define an authentic voice for each. Instilling the personality of each author was fundamental. We then led the copywriting from start to finish, drafting and signing-off the brief, producing all drafts, and pushing through feedback and edits.

Outcomes

Two purpose-driven long-form articles written to a standard worthy of the GEMS name across two tier one media titles.

Both articles carrying the executive’s own voice and expertise, tied to the school’s strategic agenda.

Evidence of GEMS’ holistic approach to teaching shared across earned media and each school’s social media pages, reaching parents of prospective students directly.