Consistent colour boards and logo lockups are common deliverables that follow a new brand strategy. But have they moved the needle for you in the past? To get a different result — more students excited about enrolling, more alumni to show their school pride, more support for your capital campaign — you need to use different tools. And your brand’s language and imagery are going to be as powerful as tools get.
But discovering what your brand wants to say and how you want to say it is the hardest part.
So here’s what you do.
First, find a unique point of view that can be articulated through imagery and video. If you’re not sure where to start,
do a competitive analysis. Whatever you see your competitors doing, don’t do that. Avoid cliches and stay away from what’s already being done. You have a different story to tell anyway.
When the University of Manitoba launched its
Trailblazer campaign, the point of view was through that of children. The hero image is a black and white rendering of an Indigenous girl with a piercing stare, icicles clinging to her scarf and hat. A rather far cry from the ubiquitous backpack-clad, jovial students walking on campus in the sunshine.
And yet, the stark images of the Manitoba prairie evoke possibility. Grit. Spirit. An unmistakable reflection of the people (and prospects) of the University of Manitoba.
The ad copy picks up where the visual story leaves off with the university’s achievements according to the children in each image. I am a trailblazer. I am a rebel.
What made the Trailblazer campaign successful wasn’t the new colour scheme or revamped logo. It was the story of the people of Manitoba — proud of where they came from and confident in where they’re going.
What kind of story does your institution want to tell?