Brands with Vision: Moving from the Big Reveal to Agile Brand Development
Leaders from Lewis University have accomplished impressive enrollment gains in the past 10 years, but knew that a more effective branding program — building awareness about the institution and differentiating it from other colleges in the hyper-competitive Chicagoland market — would be the key to moving forward with the strategic plan. Lewis turned to an agency partner — Zehno — for recommendations on brand strategy, messaging and creative. Zehno guided Lewis through a highly iterative and inclusive process of community engagement to solicit feedback and input through the brand research, brand platform and brand creative phases of the project.
In this session, Zehno and Lewis recap this iterative brand visioning and the results, including:
- A “thrilled” Board of Trustees
- A president who immediately began “speaking from the brand” to all internal and external audiences
- A tagline that has become a rallying cry for internal constituencies
- For the first time in the university’s history, the same messaging, look and feel are being leveraged in tools from billboards to the website
- An 18% increase in applications to date for the next entering class
Guest speaker:
Raymond R. Kennelly, senior vice president, Lewis University