"We developed the institution’s first-ever brand strategy and platform, including our positioning, messaging system, and visual language. Our rally cry, “Here, progress never stops,” provides the touchstone for our core brand differentiators: the place of Ithaca and its community; the concept of progress, including the transformation of self and world; and our philosophy of learning, which is based in our founding as a music conservatory and the ideas of theory, practice, and performance.
We created IC’s branding platform using new messaging and visual systems. These new tools allowed us to develop audience-specific marketing campaigns. Our new undergraduate recruitment marketing campaign, which was used to recruit and yield this year’s fall class, gave us positive results that included an increase of 3 percentage points in our yield rate and exceeded our budgeted enrollment targets.
Through all channels—website profiles, social posts, video storytelling, targeted emails, and print publications—we introduced a coordinated brand approach celebrating the environment that cultivates ever-evolving progress. Our team showcased these ideas about transformation at Ithaca College, not just through flashy, triumphant stories, but also by including the sometimes messy, surprising, and confusing detours that move our people and programs—and us all—forward."
From the Judges
A strong approach and strategy for upholding the brand combined with extensive research made for a very strong entry for a first-ever brand strategy for the institution. The outcome was cohesive, showed a knowledge of audience, and included strong visuals and messaging.
