The University of St.Gallen is an official Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) member school and an active participant in the GMAC Annual and European Conferences. At the 2019 GMAC European Conference, recently held at INSEAD, our Senior Manager for Strategic Brand Projects, Andrew Dalik, presented a plenary session with Stéphane Schenk, Marketing Project Manager at OMEGA. The session: “Applying Lessons from a Luxury Goods Company to Graduate Management Education (GME)”.

There is more common ground between Luxury Goods and GME than most people realise. Brands in both industries are rooted in heritage, exclusivity, status, loyalty and quality, among other attributes. Growth over the next 5-10 years in both industries will be driven by Generations Y & Z. Using these two points as a baseline, the session explored what GME brands can learn from Luxury Goods brands in terms of embracing and implementing digital initiatives to connect with Gen Y & Z.

Some of the key takeaways included:

- Your brand strength is measured by the entire experience people have with it, not just the product itself. The entire digital footprint, from the application software to alumni engagement platforms, needs to be considered a core part of the brand.

- User Interface design either builds trust or erodes trust, with minimal and easy-to-navigate designs being the most trustworthy. The quality of images and the loading speed of digital platforms also build or erode trust.

-  Gen Y & Z don’t need to come into physical contact with your brand, such as visiting campus or attending an in-person event, to establish a sense of quality. They are accustomed to consuming brands primarily or entirely online.

-  Your brand can be simultaneously inclusive and exclusive. People should be able to experience your brand even if they may never directly experience the product.

Presenting at GMAC Conferences is a way for the University of St.Gallen MBA to provide thought leadership in the industry, strengthen existing partnerships and develop new relationships for future collaboration.