#ologie

[goetiiavacuum]

adam and eve apple. quote translates to “I am your half”

[neurolinkinstitute]

So much fun recording our Fall Honors Convocation with an amazing crew! #convocation #honorsfraternityinduction #ologie (at Manhattan College) https://www.instagram.com/p/CF0D1ugDalB/?igshid=1h0zwiqg1whma

[jenniferjohnsonsblog]

Brand Lessons 3: Choose the Right Partner

If you are considering a brand study, picking the right partner is key. Having gone through this with two organizations, I can definitely say you can’t do it on your own, nor can you outsource it from soup to nuts with no internal support.

Why Not Outsource the Whole Thing?

You can outsource things like research, writing, visual creation, etc. But you can’t outsource the internal communication and leadership. And if that goes poorly, it will sink your entire initiative. Someone on your staff has to be fully committed to the brand. Plan for 50-75% of one person’s job for 12-24 months. The nature of that work will evolve over time – a good portion of it happens before and after an outside vendor is involved.  Tasks range from building the case in the beginning, then assembling task teams, possibly delving into research findings, generating ideas, gathering and articulating feedback. Later in the process, that person will go through cycles of communication about the research, findings, strategy, key messages and finally visuals. We spent months in individual and small group meetings socializing our strategy, value proposition and voice attributes long before the visuals were complete. 

In the end, this time investment paid off exponentially. Our campus had time to internalize the strategy, taking much of the subjectivity out of the visuals that came later.

Why Not Go It Alone?

There are four big reasons to find a strong creative branding partner.

1.       People at branding agencies work on brand all day, every day. Their expertise and cutting edge knowledge of trends just can’t be replicated in-house.

2.       Their outside perspective will help you truly get to the heart of what’s differentiated about your brand.

3.       They bring a level of credibility to the work which will go a long way with certain leaders in your organization.

4.        They will keep you on task and to a timeline. Doing it in-house inherently takes longer. Distractions can’t be prevented.

 Finding the Right Partner

Finding the right partner takes a critical evaluation of the time, skills and resources you have on staff. We found the perfect partner in Columbus, Ohio based @ologie. 

We chose Ologie because they had a perfect blend of higher ed and non-higher ed experience. We wanted someone who could take best practices from other industries and apply them to a university. But we also wanted people who knew the landscape of higher education and could help us navigate what’s trite, what’s overdone and what’s truly differentiated.

The second reason we chose Ologie was because they were willing to meet us where we were. They didn’t apply a cookie-cutter approach. For us, we had the time and research skills to get our brand project started on our own. Using staff, volunteers and student research assistants, we conducted almost 20 focus groups, a market awareness survey and a competitive audit. We completed a thorough analysis of our own history and messages. We got our hands on all the research we could about the behaviors and attitudes of incoming undergrad and grad students. We distilled all of this research and generated themes. We even got to a place where we started to net out what is out the center of the brand ven diagram – authentic, compelling and differentiated.

But then we needed a partner. We needed someone to validate our findings, and articulate them in a unique compelling way. Ologie did exactly that. They took just the right amount of time to get to know us. They embraced our research. And when they presented their findings they somehow managed to take what we knew to be true about Queens and reframe it in a fresh light.

Mobillize all the internal resources you can to work on your brand project. But don’t think you can go it alone. Find the right partner who is willing to take the time and understand you!  

[mot-ologie]

Laissons tomber les mots.

Je fais des fautes, des phrases pas françaises. Je me relis, j'essaye de me concentrer sur chaque mot, sur les conjugaisons, la grammaire. J'ai jamais aimé ça, car je n'arrive pas à saisir toutes les règles qui régit la langue française. Mais j'écris depuis un moment, depuis que j'ai 15 ans, ou moins. J'ai commencé par noter des choses dans mon agenda, dans les cases, dans les pages, vierges ou presque dénudée de rendez-vous, de devoirs scolaires. J'ai gardé dans un coin de ma chambre d'enfant, les nombreux recueils qui contiennent mon début de trace écrite. Parfois je m'immerge dedans, relisant ma pensée d'avant. Des mots fautifs. Mot-ologie. Un bel endroit pour écrire et rendre public mes frasques, mes déboires, mes pensées. Je vais y mêler des choses de ma vie, l'embellir, la salir. J'ai bien trop de choses dans la tête. À plus tard mes mignons. Ee.