Framing Our Future initiative II.A.2. “Transform and Activate the College’s Brand Identity,” calls for The College of Wooster to tell its story in a new, dynamic way that resonates with prospective students. Over the last several months, the Marketing and Communications team worked with an external agency to conduct extensive research, including internal and external surveys, focus groups, 1:1 interviews, competitor analysis, and brand workshops. The goal was to understand “the Wooster difference” and how the College is viewed by both insiders and outsiders.
Guided by our strategic plan working group (Alyssa Retza, Anna Duke, Caity Stanowick, Erin Perna, Melanie Long, Rich Danch, Stephanie Stuck, and Steve Crawford, co-led by Alexa Konstantinos and Kathleen Lawry), all this information was analyzed, discussed, and iteratively refined to create a brand platform that will shape Wooster’s marketing moving forward. The platform includes brand pillars (the College’s core characteristics), the brand promise (what Wooster commits to for its students), reasons to believe in it, and the brand story alongside tools like vocabulary and messaging examples designed for our target audiences.
Between April 15 and 17, the Marketing and Communications team led “brand camps” to invite the campus community to learn more about the new brand story and how to use it. After months of research, conversation, and hard work, it was exciting to share the new brand narrative and hear people start using it. However, building the brand platform is just the beginning. The next step is to launch the new messaging to external audiences through our application generation campaign in early summer. Planning and material development for that campaign are already underway.
If you weren’t able to attend brand camp but want to learn more, please reach out to Alexa Konstantinos or Kathleen Lawry, who would be happy to share! You can also read about the new Wooster brand narrative and see how it comes to life in our comprehensive brand guide (Wooster login required).