CASE District VIII’s 2020 Virginia Carter Smith Grand Crystal Award was presented to the College of New Caledonia during the Best of CASE VIII Awards Luncheon on Jan. 30 during the district’s annual conference. 

“The College of New Caledonia Rebranding Project” was selected as the most outstanding entry among nearly 400 entries in the competition honoring the past year’s best work in advancement services, alumni relations, annual giving, marketing and communications, and philanthropy across the district. 

“Best of CASE VIII judges were wowed by the thorough, balanced and reflective work that went into producing the College of New Caledonia Rebranding Project,” said Pat Spanjer, co-chair of the Best of CASE VIII program. “Through market research, CNC discovered a disconnection between its reputation and its visual identity. The college set a goal to unify CNC through a new visual identity, brand and website — their success in doing so is a model for all of District VIII.”

The rebranding project encompassed six campuses spanning an area of 117,500 square kilometers, featuring an extensive consultation with the entire college community every step of the way, including brand definition workshops, focus groups, interviews, and presentations and meetings with all stakeholders. Once the rebranding was established, extensive brand training began to empower all employees with the knowledge and tools to use the brand in their daily work: how they talk, think, look and act, make decisions and ensure CNC is recognized as a world-class institution.

CNC staff members recognized for contributing to the project were Camila Sanchez, Crystal Gelsinger, Taren Johnson, Alyson Gourley-Cramer and Lakeysha O’Neill. The entry also was honored as the Grand Gold recipient in the Alumni, Student, Donor and Community Engagement category.

Learn more on the CNC Brand website and watch the college’s “Why choose CNC?” video.