Building a Brand That the Next President Will Embrace CASE I/II New York City January 23, 2012
Building a brand the next president will embrace
Building a Brand That the ���Next President Will Embrace
CASE I/II New York City
January 23, 2012
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Building a brand the next president will embrace
Our Main Point • If institutions develop a brand the right way, then the brand
is bigger than any one individual at the institution. • The “right way” captures the essence of a place. It will
transcend past individual presidents and their personalities. • Not every brand deserves to survive presidential transition. • Brands evolve – if you have a humanly connected truthful
brand it will bend but not break.
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Building a brand the next president will embrace
Questions we’ll address • So what makes new leadership decide to retain instead of
replace a brand? • What sort of brand building process can increase the
likelihood that a new president will stick with it? • How do you educate your board and senior leadership
team? • Why should you care?
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Building a brand the next president will embrace
Great ‘brand’ schools have: • Histories in which they take pride
• Traditions that bind the generations
• Alumni who remain engaged for life
• The confidence to be themselves
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Building a brand the next president will embrace
When developing a brand, be sure it is: • Rooted in the institution’s core values
• Distinguishing
• Single-minded but inclusive
• Reflective of our reality and our aspiration
• Timeless, eloquent, elegant
This is why brand development is an art.
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Building a brand the next president will embrace
Brands new presidents are likely to hold on to Those that:
• Represent a big, timeless idea • Win respect of the stakeholders • Define the institution, not its leader • Have meaning beyond the phrases that capture them • Resonate with future stakeholders and current ones
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Building a brand the next president will embrace
Your new president is more likely to stick with your brand if it:
• Isn’t personal to the previous president • Is undeniably true • Hasn’t been beaten to death through overexposure or
poor stewardship • Is fertile enough soil in which to grow the legacy of a
new administration • Exists as more than an ad campaign or a “tagline” • Is flexible enough to bend
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Building a brand the next president will embrace
Brands new presidents are likely to discard:
• Brands that are worn out • Brands that are obsolete or which don’t support the new
administration’s mandate • Brands that speak narrowly to a previous administration’s
“version” of the truth of the institution
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Building a brand the next president will embrace
Why is it desirable that a well-conceived brand outlive its creator? • Because your brand is your institution’s story, and so long
as the institution exists, it can never be completely told • Because your brand is supposed to help you build
institutional reputation, and its capacity to do this expands with the passage of time
• Because it’s clear evidence of institutional integrity, good stewardship, and constancy of purpose
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Building a brand the next president will embrace 10
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012
Pres. Haaland holds brand development workshop
Long-‐term brand strategy approved and implemented
• MarkeBng CommiDee reshaped to be Brand Council • Search for new President begins, posiBoning statement used
Pres. Will retains brand strategy
• New seal for 175th
Pres. Riggs era begins
• Key messages adopted • Integrated markeBng plan developed
Building a brand the next president will embrace
What we found in 2003:
• We were graduating alumni forever grateful for their experience at the College, but not forever committed to the institution itself.
• We discovered little “brand reverence”— little sense that Gettysburg College is a little bigger than life
• We were matriculating students who had little interest in or appreciation of the meaning of the “place.”
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Building a brand the next president will embrace
The great irony: We were committing to preparing citizens of this country and others to “go out and change the world,” yet we would allow our students to matriculate largely oblivious to their four-year citizenship in (and subsequently life-long connection with) a place that in fact did change the world.
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Building a brand the next president will embrace
The Positioning Statement: (definition)
• A carefully developed interpretation of what the institution is best at, for whom, and why
• A strategic tool designed to serve as the foundation of the College’s claim to leadership in its category
• In its entirety, a statement that could describe no other institution
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Building a brand the next president will embrace
The Gettysburg College Positioning Statement Gettysburg is a college deeply rooted in the American experience. It was born of democratic values, strong optimism, and the firm conviction that only a liberal arts education fully awakens and prepares people to lead lives of enlightened contribution to a free society. Gettysburg stands as witness and authority to the depths of devotion required to confirm the nation and perfect its promise. This unique perspective has long shaped and strengthened the College’s development as an academic institution modern in facility and pedagogy, honoring of service to others, and committed to the preparation of the whole person. Gettysburg College is a highly motivated community of intentional students, faculty, and administrators, who come together in this place to build in each other a passion and capacity for the responsibility of citizenship, and the opportunity of leadership, within a community, a nation, and a world.
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Building a brand the next president will embrace
The promise of Gettysburg College: In 2003 this promise was codified:
Gettysburg College prepares its students to lead energetic, engaged and enlightened lives.
In 2010 the promise was recast:
Gettysburg College prepares its students to be leaders and active citizens of their professions, communities, nations, and world.
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Building a brand the next president will embrace
The Brand Signature of Gettysburg College:
Do great work
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Building a brand the next president will embrace
Building brand coherent traditions: • Class Flags/Convocation/Graduation • The First-Year Walk • The new and more proudly displayed college seal • The History of the College exhibit
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Building a brand the next president will embrace 19
Building a brand the next president will embrace
Transition to President Riggs • May 2008, EES Board Committee meeting, plans to enhance visibility
and improve academic reputation
• President Council retreats secured agreement on programs of national distinction and did a complete review of current research results to understand our image. Four external firms were brought in to brainstorm with the team
• EES team develops Communication Plan to increase institutional visibility
• Developed 5 key marketing messages with supporting programs and facts that was shared with the board during an April 2010 webinar. Reorganized the Communications team to better support institutional marketing and developed the first phase of a bolder approach to Do Great Work with the Admissions view book
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Building a brand the next president will embrace
Brand as it exists today (Year 10) • First-Year Handbook • Annual Fund solicitation • A new Viewbook • Search • Admissions Outcomes • VLS materials • President’s Video
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Building a brand the next president will embrace
Some Do’s and Don’ts • Do: keep a firm rein on your brand, but give it its lead and
let it run – If the brand is sound, you can trust the people of the
institution with it – The secret to any brand’s longevity: regular exercise
(exposure) good diet (great stories) and plenty of rest (no over-exposure)
• Don’t: Hammer the brand. If you treat it like an ad campaign, it will wear thin like an ad campaign, and beg to be retired
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Building a brand the next president will embrace
Do’s and Don’ts • Think broadly about your brand—message consistency is
important, but your brand is a three-dimensional concept, not a three-word phrase, a :30 sec. commercial or an Ad Word campaign
• Treat the brand line, and your expressions of it, with the same respect you wish others to give it
• Build equity in your brand over time—let it come to live in a comfortable place in the consciousness of your campus community
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Building a brand the next president will embrace
Building a brand the next president will embrace
Summary • If you believe in your brand, keep nurturing it • Use the brand to compel the next president to take the job • Demonstrate its currency and power to the new president • Bend the brand to accommodate new direction • If it won’t bend, start over • And next time, shoot for a more timeless concept
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Building a brand the next president will embrace
Thank you!
• Paul Redfern Executive Director of Communications & Marketing Gettysburg College [email protected]
• Peter Holloran President Cognitive Marketing Inc. [email protected]
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