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“WE CANNOT BE COMPLACENT AND ASSUME THAT, IN EDUCATION, WE ARE ABOVE SUCH THINGS AS BRAND IDENTITY AND MARKET POSITIONING” FELICITY BLAKE, THE KING’S SCHOOL, ELY
facilities, the best teachers and a history of academic and sporting achievement are all major at ractions. But these are the kinds of things that parents and pupils discover after they've scratched beneath the surface. The initial challenge is to at ract their at ention in the fi rst place: and this is increasingly being achieved via carefully engineered branding and advertising campaigns that deliver the values of the school quickly and eff ectively. These campaigns can manifest themselves in a
number of ways. In some cases, it might simply be a name change: a school might become an ‘international academy’, for instance, implying a friendlier policy towards foreign students, and perhaps even globally recognised tutors. However, many schools are going the whole hog and revamping every aspect of their visual identity, from their prospectus to their vehicle wraps. One such school is The King’s School, Ely, which has
just spent big on a campaign that has seen its entire public image overhauled. This includes a striking new logo, which marries the school’s thousand-year heritage (via an illustration of an historic tower) with vibrant modern graphics that refl ect King's Ely's contemporary at itude towards learning. “We engaged an outstanding rebranding company
– Reed Brand – that took the school right through the process, beginning with an audit workshop that encouraged us to analyse what it is that makes King’s Ely so special,” explains Felicity Blake, the school’s Director of Recruitment and Communications. “Their next task was to express that essential ethos through a re-designed logo and carry that brand identity throughout all of our
communication channels.” While Blake hints that the project was “expensive”, she
insists that it was also worthwhile. “The result is a strong identity and a brand that really does refl ect who we are,” she explains. “We’ve had very positive feedback from both parents and stakeholders, who – like us – believe the new image to be smart, professional and exciting.” The idea of carrying a brand identity throughout all
communication channels is one that Solihull School has taken very seriously. The school has recently developed a ‘Style Guide’ to ensure that a consistent message reaches all of its stakeholders, including families of prospective pupils. “The aim was to have a cleaner, clearer and more consistent brand that was immediately recognisable, and could be worn, displayed and advertised with pride,” says the school’s Marketing Manager Rachel Hadley. To achieve this, the school's marketing team began
by researching other schools’ brands and style guides. They then worked in conjunction with Solihull’s governing body, alumni group the Old Silhillians Association and even current pupils to create a guide that refl ects both the tradition of the school and the innovation of its future. Central to the project was sharpening up the school
crest, something they wanted to achieve without compromising the tradition of the institution's 450- year history. In addition, the school changed the nomenclature incorporated within the crest from ‘Solihull School’ to simply ‘Solihull’. The new crest was then used to facilitate a whole range of school branding, from stationery to large-scale signage.
ABOVE: King's Ely's striking new logo has been well received. BELOW: Martin Bojam from 360 Education
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