Case Study: 2U unites 50 mental-health advocates and drives 2.5M social impressions with BuzzStream

A Case Study on Uniting a Community of Advocates Online

2U’s inbound marketing team, working for Counseling@Northwestern (The Family Institute’s online Master’s in Counseling), launched the #BreakTheStigma campaign for Mental Health Awareness Month to unite a broad, multi-discipline group of mental health advocates around reducing stigma. The challenge was to engage busy, grassroots thought leaders across varied specialties and build authentic, sustained relationships rather than one-off outreach.

Using BuzzStream to organize contacts, create personalized email templates, and schedule targeted touchpoints, the team executed tailored outreach that emphasized empathy and relevance. The campaign secured responses from 50 reputable organizations, produced a Twitter chat with 11 expert panelists, generated nearly 2.5 million impressions on Twitter, and led partners to promote the initiative to their networks—demonstrating strong engagement and trusted long-term relationships.

2U

Megan Dottermusch

Inbound Marketing Manager