Brandtastic 1

BRANDTASTICa branding presentation and

workshop in two parts

Friday, January 29, 2010

Patricia VandenbergMount Holyoke College

Doug GapinskimStoner

Executive Director of Communications and

Strategic Initiatives

Creative Director



I. Presentation• What is a brand?• Why does it matter? • What’s new?• What does it look like on the web?


II. Workshop• A dive into branding process • Exercises for thinking about and assessing your institution’s brand• DIY testing: making sure the brand is being delivered by the marketing platform


What do you think?


Hint: it’s not a company’s logo or advertising.

Those things are controlled by the company. Instead, a brand is a customer’s gut feeling about a product, service, or company.

Marty NeumeierZAG: The # 1 Strategy of High-Performance Brands


Brand =/= identity.Friday, January 29, 2010

[A brand is] the association of a sound/image (the name ‘American Express’, the image of the Green Card) with an idea or expectation or experience (perceived values, a service promise and usage satisfaction).

Denzel MeyersBeyond Branding


In this example, the American Express brand is neither solely the name and logo, nor the content of expectation and experiences, it is the association of the two to each other.

Denzel MeyersBeyond Branding


The only word that comes close it reputation.

Your personal reputation, like a company’s brand, lies outside your control.

It is not what you say it is—it’s what they say it is. The best you can do is influence it.

Marty NeumeierZAG: The # 1 Strategy of High-Performance Brands






What does brand strategy matter?


Value is created when people reckon that a brand offers them something worth their while and they are persuaded to provide something in return... their time, money, attention, allegiance, brainpower and so on.

Simon Anholt and Sicco van GelderBeyond Branding


As with any organism, an organizations’ highest purpose is survival. And the only way to survive is to facilitate sustainable value exchanges between itself and its stakeholders.

The goal of [brand strategy]... is to offer a positive context for these value exchanges.

Tim KitchinBeyond Branding


PerceptionsInfluence, manage, or

reinforce how will people think about

your institution

ActionsChange how people

act in some way(more applications, better yield, more

donations, etc.)


How do we as educational advancement professionals do we influence perceptions and actions?


Data andresearch

Brand analysis

Marketingplatform

Public-facingwork

Institutionalstrategy


You find aninteresting way

to frame institutionalassets that aren’t

really differentiators.

You find a super-interesting way to talk about things

that really aredifferentiators.

Research helps you understand your institution’s assets and what the market places value on.

You collect stories that promote assets that the market places value on.


What’s new?


Integrated marketing has become a dialoguewith your audiences...


... so it’s now two-waycommunication: it’s

buzz vs. hype.


Democratic

Truthful

Social media,

Web sites

Rumors, gossip

Trust

Autocratic

Marketing-speak

Advertising,

Print

Press releases

Distrust

Style

Content

Typical media

Examples

Reaction

BUZZ HYPE–vs.–

excerpt from Beyond Branding


FacebookLaunched in 2004> 25 million members

LinkedinLaunched in 2003 > 43 million members

flickrLaunched in 2004> 3.6 billion photos

youtube• third most visited site• 20 new hours of contentper minute• bandwidth of youtube = bandwidth of entire internet in 2000


What are your audiencessaying about you?


Twitter

Facebook

College Confidential and

qualitative review sites

Rate My Professor

Blogs







What does brand look like on your institutional

web site?


• two-way conversation

• authoritative

• authentic

• experience-oriented

• effective distribution

• convenience


It’s usually the first time they see you.


Covering your brand in key areas on yourinstitutional site

and beyond.












This presentation:

clients.mstoner.com/case

Patricia VandenBerg

Mount Holyoke College

[email protected]

Doug Gapinski

mStoner

[email protected]

twitter: @thedougco


mailto:[email protected]




Education

Brandtastic 1