Expert guidance
The education landscape is always changing. We understand global market trends and policy shifts so you can make confident, informed decisions.
Ensuring you stand out in the global market
Helping you make an impact through strategic communications and digital marketing
HiveMBD provides digital marketing and strategic communications services to give your institution a competitive edge. We support universities, schools and public bodies through multi-level strategic branding and marketing campaigns.
Strategic approach backed up by experience
Intelligence
Strategy
Powerful digital branding
Tell your institution's story to a global audience to make sure your brand is seen by the right people, no matter where they are in the world.
Delivery
Smart student recruitment
We help universities and schools recruit the best students and successfully launch in new markets.
Our services
- Go-to-marketstrategy
- Competitor analysisdashboard
- Design andcopy
- Public policy andmarket analysis
- Public Affairs andpolicy engagement
- Media/Stakeholderrelations
- Communications andcampaign delivery
- CrisisCommunications
- Communications, media andpublic affairs training
- Automated bannercreation
- Multi-touch attributionanalytics
- AIutilisation
- Custom digitaltools
Impact and Value
The global market for British education is entering an ambitious new phase. The UK Government's 2026 International Education Strategy (IES) aims to increase education exports to £40 billion annually by 2030.
Higher Education - The UK higher education sector is encouraged to focus on high-value, sustainable international student recruitment from a diverse number of markets. Embracing this challenge, UK universities are rethinking their international recruitment, especially with over 620,000 students already registered with UK universities worldwide through transnational education (TNE) programmes.
Schools - Similarly, UK independent schools are actively capitalising on global demand. Around 50 UK schools have already established more than 150 international campuses worldwide, successfully exporting the British school brand. While traditional markets like China and the UAE remain strong, schools are also looking at opportunities in emerging markets across Southeast Asia and Latin America.
HiveMBD supports UK universities and schools to achieve their global growth through strategic communications, proactive public affairs and digital brand campaigns to secure sustainable opportunities in new markets. Whether diversifying a UK university's international recruitment strategy or establishing a new UK school campus overseas, HiveMBD ensures your global strategy is resilient and sustainable.
More than 100 of us at your service
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HiveMBD Leadership team
Giles Bancroft
Over 20 years of experience at the highest level of political and corporate affairs. His early career was at the centre of UK politics and campaigns. I was a Special Adviser to the then Transport Secretary and later led on delivering counter-narrative campaigns across the UK. Also worked as an adviser to major corporations. My experience in project management, behavioural change campaigns and as a national media spokesman ensures you receive seasoned strategic counsel alongside precise, high-impact operational delivery.
LinkedIn
Chris Cuddihy
Over 20 years experience in public policy, public affairs, and strategic communications. Before co-founding Hive Strategy, I spent six years at Pearson in senior leadership roles covering both UK and global public affairs. Previously, established and led the Education and Skills practice at Lexington Communications. Headed communications for TES Global (then publisher of the TES and THE), and management consultancy FTI Consulting. I began my career at the Department for Education in both Private Secretary and policy roles covering Schools, Post-16 Skills and Workforce Development, and Higher Education.
Karl Kukner
Over 12 years of experience in online marketing project management, spanning Meta and Google Ads, website delivery, and creative planning. I lead HiveMBD campaign execution from brief to launch — coordinating paid social and search, landing pages, asset production, and cross-team timelines so programmes stay on brand and on schedule. My background combines performance media know-how with structured programme management for international education and public-sector clients. I bring a detail-oriented, hands-on approach that ensures strategic plans translate into reliable, measurable delivery.
Erki Heinsaar
Over 15 years of experience building and leading digital marketing strategy across the Baltics, Nordics and Western Europe. As CEO of MBD — the largest digital media agency in the Baltics — I oversee client strategy, business development, and agency operations in all markets. My expertise spans digital strategies, programmatic advertising, multi-touch attribution, performance media, and data-driven campaign measurement. I have led major accounts in travel, telecoms, education, retail and B2B sectors. My rigorous, results-oriented approach ensures you receive both strategic clarity and precise operational delivery.
Our experience
The HiveMBD team has worked for a wide range of organisations in the UK and internationally through their careers, including:
- Prince's Trust
About HiveMBD
500+ active clients
120 people
15 years in marketing
Mediabrands Digital is a certified Meta Business Partner and Google Premier Partner, these hard-to-achieve partnerships apply to only a few select agencies in the EMEA region and are backed by having more than 150 personal certifications. The benefit to you is financial grants, fast track support, valuable market insights and higher level Google and Meta strategists in your service.
Book a 10 minute demo
Go-to market strategy
The best ways to grow student enrolments from abroad
BookCompetitor analysis
Competitor benchmarking utilising Meta and Google platforms
BookMessaging strategy
Combine research, data and experiance to deliver messages that convert
BookResults prediction
Predictive data and analysis from previous campaigns
BookBudget planning
Reach your goals and avoid over-spending
BookDigital marketing
Free audit of your current marketing tactics
BookRecommendations
The strategic counsel and hands-on support from Hive Strategy has elevated our community engagement and delivered real traction in increasing understanding of the school.
Head of Marketing, International School of London
The IBU is happy to have found a full service digital media partner to help us continuously increase the reach and spread the thrill of biathlon globally. We have chosen MBD as our digital partner because of their proven track record in successful digital activities and strong strategic vision in growing biathlon followers worldwide.
IBU Communications Director
The collaboration is to us a perfect example of uniting partners with different KPIs and objectives in a strong and highly integrated digital campaign that covered the entire marketing funnel from awareness to conversions. Mediabrands has, throughout the entire process, been very proactive in providing timely updates, insights and optimizing the performance. The campaign has resulted in a highly satisfactory level of bookings and we are confident that it has also contributed to raising the awareness on longer term.
Visit Denmark Market Director in Italy & France
airBaltic and MBD have been partners since 2016 and MBD has been helping us to grow in new markets as well as increase our market share in existing ones. When Tampere came into focus in 2021 MBD created a digital strategy and executed it in a way that resulted in growing our revenues there by 497%. This was due to good knowledge of the Finnish market and innovative approach, which also led us to win the Digital Awards 2022.
airBaltic VP of Marketing
Hive Strategy + MBD
What started as a successful collaboration on a digital campaign for an international school has evolved into a strategic joint venture. By combining Hive's public affairs and communications expertise with MBD's digital and brand capabilities, we've created a 120-person partnership. From our first successful project to global digital brand campaigns, we offer our clients a complete approach to modern communications. HiveMBD blends data-driven digital campaigns with strategic communications to protect, grow, and transform brands on a global scale.