1. 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 1

2. 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.
Building a brand the next president will embrace 2

3. 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?
Building a brand the next president will embrace 3

4. 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
Building a brand the next president will embrace 4

5. 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.
Building a brand the next president will embrace 5

6. 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
Building a brand the next president will embrace 6

7. 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
Building a brand the next president will embrace 7

8. 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
Building a brand the next president will embrace 8

9. 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
Building a brand the next president will embrace 9

10. Pres.
Haaland
•
MarkeBng
CommiDee
holds
brand
reshaped
to
be
Brand
Council
development
•
Search
for
new
President
Pres.
Riggs
workshop
begins,
posiBoning
statement
era
begins
used
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
Long-­‐term
• New
seal
•
Key
messages
brand
for
175th
adopted
strategy
•
Integrated
approved
markeBng
plan
and
Pres.
Will
developed
implemented
retains
brand
strategy
Building a brand the next president will embrace 10

11. 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.”
Building a brand the next president will embrace 11

12. 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.
Building a brand the next president will embrace 12

13. 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
Building a brand the next president will embrace 13

14. 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.
Building a brand the next president will embrace 14

15. 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.
Building a brand the next president will embrace 15

16. The Brand Signature of Gettysburg College:
Do great work
Building a brand the next president will embrace 16

17. 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
Building a brand the next president will embrace 17

19. Building a brand the next president will embrace 19

20. 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
Building a brand the next president will embrace 20

21. Brand as it exists today (Year 10)
• First-Year Handbook
• Annual Fund solicitation
• A new Viewbook
• Search
• Admissions Outcomes
• VLS materials
• President’s Video
Building a brand the next president will embrace 21

22. 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
Building a brand the next president will embrace 22

23. 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
Building a brand the next president will embrace 23

24. Building a brand the next president will embrace

25. 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
Building a brand the next president will embrace 25

26. Thank you!
• Paul Redfern
Executive Director of Communications Marketing
Gettysburg College
predfern@gettysburg.edu
• Peter Holloran
President
Cognitive Marketing Inc.
peterh@cogmark.com
Building a brand the next president will embrace 26