ONE Northwood University

Dec 7, 2007

ONE Northwood Branding Platform

Colleagues:

We should all be aware that raising the visibility of Northwood University within the public eye is a key initiative for all of us. We have been working hard over the last several months on the marketing research necessary for us to move forward with decisions and messages based on real-world data. What follows outlines what we’ve been doing and to whom we have been talking. We’re not done yet, but we’re on our way. This is an exciting activity and when brought to fruition will help pave the way to a dynamic future for our University.

The establishment of a recognizable brand for Northwood University began with the creation of an executive level position and kicked off at the first meeting of the Branding Council in August with a lively discussion of past initiatives. The initial phase of building brand equity was a process of discovery (formal and informal dialogue) across multiple stakeholder groups with extensive time being spent with two audiences. Engagement of the faculty has been tremendous. Students are engaged and actively involved in describing brand attributes, concept testing and class research projects. Their input will be ongoing in order to keep the marketing and enrollment functions fresh and connected to the dynamic market.

Northwood University’s national brand is complex. There will be sub-brands for the operating units defined by geographic attributes and benefits sought by the end consumer. Color will no longer be the differentiator. There will be linkages and common elements as the market has the attention span to understand only one positioning of Northwood.

During the discovery process there were multiple sources of input to the brand development and integration work. Nine key brand attributes were found during this process. The key conclusion is an integrated marketing program that will strengthen our enrollment process and extend our competitive advantage. Key common elements are a powerful logo that communicates and reinforces University in our name along with consistent bold colors that show strength and distinctiveness. The key issues remaining are a market-based terminology for names, a website refresh in summer 2008, and a pricing study.

It is in our University’s collective best interest to have the target audiences familiar with a strong overall positioning. Northwood has done well with many employers and some trade associations pushing demand to individual operating units. However, we have not executed a consistent, synergistic and integrated brand strategy. Therefore, no overall trust mark or promise is clearly understood nor is there a clean positioning in the minds of the market. We are building a competitive advantage that the market understands and can become self-perpetuating. A broad-based, flexible and many times virtually connected team (employees, faculty, students, and consultants) is working through this dynamic process. The research process has been uncovering elements our students value and is beginning to address the scope and level of that value. The focus groups and class/club discussions have been consistent in the statements of a fundamental lack of name awareness. The admissions staffs have stated the difficulty of initiating the sales cycle with individual prospects and securing favorable treatment at a sufficient number of community colleges. They have to build awareness, familiarity, and interest all in stage one of the sales cycle due to the lack of recognition. We are actively in the process of learning Northwood’s relevance from the market’s perspective rather than internal best guesses.

The creative process began with a review of all existing materials with a focus on University College. They have been the most publicly visible unit with their recent advertising campaign featuring a mix of clever slogans and concepts. While effective for potential UC students, it had the effect of repositioning the University from the perspective of future traditional students. The DeVos Graduate School had the next most public face and its positioning was also separate. Both campaigns made the audience work to understand if either were part of the overall University.

Overall Marketing Goal: Establish a recognized brand for Northwood University in all its markets through an integrated marketing plan.
Positioning Statement for Northwood: Real-world faculty who develop student leadership skills for a global, free-enterprise society.

Core Objectives

Develop and maintain brand equity that can be measured and tracked. Brand equity to be carefully crafted and supported by programs that forge strong, favorable and unique consumer, customer, and influencer associations. Experiences with the brand will establish a defendable competitive advantage.

The Officer Team has agreed there will be only one seal used for the University. Look for it on this masthead.

The Branding Council has recommended a narrower array of colors. The dark blue that has been the unofficial or secondary Northwood color will be our primary school color. An official color palette will be released on January 3, 2008.

A new radio campaign for the University College program centers has been created with the ONE Northwood theme, in Michigan look for the new billboards before the holidays (along with our new, university-wide tagline); billboards will be coming to Florida and Texas in 2008. The radio ads and billboards can be seen here:

Florida Radio Ad (Right Click and select Save Target As)
Michigan Radio Ad (Right Click and select Save Target As)
Texas Radio Ad (Right Click and select Save Target As)
Northwood Billboard

Our research to date shows that, working together, we can achieve so much for this dynamic institution of higher learning. I hope all of us will continue to commit to assisting in advancing the reputation of our great University whenever we have the opportunity.

Sincerely,

Keith A. Pretty, J.D.
President and CEO
Northwood University
4000 Whiting Drive
Midland, MI 48640
989.837.4203 (phone)
989.832.9590 (fax)

pretty@northwood.edu

Dec 7, 2007
	ONE Northwood Branding Platform Colleagues: We should all be aware that raising the visibility of Northwood University within the public eye is a key initiative for all of us. We have been working hard over the last several months on the marketing research necessary for us to move forward with decisions and messages based on real-world data. What follows outlines what we’ve been doing and to whom we have been talking. We’re not done yet, but we’re on our way. This is an exciting activity and when brought to fruition will help pave the way to a dynamic future for our University. The establishment of a recognizable brand for Northwood University began with the creation of an executive level position and kicked off at the first meeting of the Branding Council in August with a lively discussion of past initiatives. The initial phase of building brand equity was a process of discovery (formal and informal dialogue) across multiple stakeholder groups with extensive time being spent with two audiences. Engagement of the faculty has been tremendous. Students are engaged and actively involved in describing brand attributes, concept testing and class research projects. Their input will be ongoing in order to keep the marketing and enrollment functions fresh and connected to the dynamic market. Northwood University’s national brand is complex. There will be sub-brands for the operating units defined by geographic attributes and benefits sought by the end consumer. Color will no longer be the differentiator. There will be linkages and common elements as the market has the attention span to understand only one positioning of Northwood. During the discovery process there were multiple sources of input to the brand development and integration work. Nine key brand attributes were found during this process. The key conclusion is an integrated marketing program that will strengthen our enrollment process and extend our competitive advantage. Key common elements are a powerful logo that communicates and reinforces University in our name along with consistent bold colors that show strength and distinctiveness. The key issues remaining are a market-based terminology for names, a website refresh in summer 2008, and a pricing study. It is in our University’s collective best interest to have the target audiences familiar with a strong overall positioning. Northwood has done well with many employers and some trade associations pushing demand to individual operating units. However, we have not executed a consistent, synergistic and integrated brand strategy. Therefore, no overall trust mark or promise is clearly understood nor is there a clean positioning in the minds of the market. We are building a competitive advantage that the market understands and can become self-perpetuating. A broad-based, flexible and many times virtually connected team (employees, faculty, students, and consultants) is working through this dynamic process. The research process has been uncovering elements our students value and is beginning to address the scope and level of that value. The focus groups and class/club discussions have been consistent in the statements of a fundamental lack of name awareness. The admissions staffs have stated the difficulty of initiating the sales cycle with individual prospects and securing favorable treatment at a sufficient number of community colleges. They have to build awareness, familiarity, and interest all in stage one of the sales cycle due to the lack of recognition. We are actively in the process of learning Northwood’s relevance from the market’s perspective rather than internal best guesses. The creative process began with a review of all existing materials with a focus on University College. They have been the most publicly visible unit with their recent advertising campaign featuring a mix of clever slogans and concepts. While effective for potential UC students, it had the effect of repositioning the University from the perspective of future traditional students. The DeVos Graduate School had the next most public face and its positioning was also separate. Both campaigns made the audience work to understand if either were part of the overall University. Overall Marketing Goal: Establish a recognized brand for Northwood University in all its markets through an integrated marketing plan. Positioning Statement for Northwood: Real-world faculty who develop student leadership skills for a global, free-enterprise society. Core Objectives Develop and maintain brand equity that can be measured and tracked. Brand equity to be carefully crafted and supported by programs that forge strong, favorable and unique consumer, customer, and influencer associations. Experiences with the brand will establish a defendable competitive advantage. The Officer Team has agreed there will be only one seal used for the University. Look for it on this masthead. The Branding Council has recommended a narrower array of colors. The dark blue that has been the unofficial or secondary Northwood color will be our primary school color. An official color palette will be released on January 3, 2008. A new radio campaign for the University College program centers has been created with the ONE Northwood theme, in Michigan look for the new billboards before the holidays (along with our new, university-wide tagline); billboards will be coming to Florida and Texas in 2008. The radio ads and billboards can be seen here: Florida Radio Ad (Right Click and select Save Target As) Michigan Radio Ad (Right Click and select Save Target As) Texas Radio Ad (Right Click and select Save Target As) Northwood Billboard Our research to date shows that, working together, we can achieve so much for this dynamic institution of higher learning. I hope all of us will continue to commit to assisting in advancing the reputation of our great University whenever we have the opportunity. Sincerely, Keith A. Pretty, J.D. President and CEO Northwood University 4000 Whiting Drive Midland, MI 48640 989.837.4203 (phone) 989.832.9590 (fax) pretty@northwood.edu