The Council for Christian Colleges and Universities
Branding/Image Development
The Council for Christian Colleges & Universities was eager to expand the reach of Christian education to new audiences. To do so, they wanted to understand what families expected from a Christian education, how they perceived Christian colleges and universities overall, and what value they placed on the dimensions of character development and spiritual growth. The outcomes would help the organization to define its brand and communicate the advantages of values-based college choices.
We created a research strategy that would allow us to explore these complex and sensitive issues, not only for Christian education as an industry, but also for individual participating schools. The approach required integrating several databases from 70 colleges and universities, reaching out to multiple audiences, and distilling the results into a cohesive marketing blueprint for the central headquarters and for individual institutions. At the conclusion of the research, we conducted a series of workshops on campuses throughout the country, offering reviews of the findings as well as short-, mid-, and long-term, practical strategies for implementation.
The communications campaign that has emerged from the findings is built on the foundation of commonly shared values throughout the organization, and yet it portrays the rich tapestry of alternatives within Christian education. Among the positive outcomes are:
- A powerful combination of messages both for the Council and for the distinctive missions of the members who participated;
- A messaging system for public relations, admissions, marketing, and advancement communications based on four distinct themes;
- New knowledge enabling the leadership and individual campuses to proactively engage the media as they make the case for a Christian education and as they respond effectively to recent attention from the media regarding Christian higher education;
- Increased visibility as a result of national media attention including articles in major newspapers, such as The Washington Times, Time Magazine, and The Los Angeles Times.
Read about Branding/Image Development.