Fish On Friday For Catholic Schools In Denver

Last Friday I had the opportunity to attend a branding symposium as part of the brand development project that I have been involved with for the past three years for the Archdiocese of Denver's Catholic Schools. The keynote speaker, Frank Donaldson, gave an inspiring workshop about relationship building. During his session, Frank made several references to the flying fish at Seattle's Pike Place Fish Market.

Those of you who have visited the Pike Place Fish Market understand what a branded experience is all about. For anyone wanting to learn more about that Pike Place Fish Market brand strategy, I encourage you to read When Fish Fly by Joseph Michelli, PhD. You will note that I have Dr. Michelli's most recent book, The Starbucks Experience listed under the books link on this site as required reading for brand champions.

Experiences like those at the Seattle Pike Place Fish Market and Starbucks are those that we can learn from when we are developing our brands and help us in our role as brand champions.

Comments

[Sr. Elizabeth Youngs]

I, too, attended the Friday workshop. It provided some reinforcement and enhancement of information that has been given several times during the branding process. The loudest message I heard was that development is about relationship. That's really what sociologist James Coleman identified in the 1960s and 1970s as "Social Capital" and what the Church and Catholic schools identify as "community." It is one of the primary reasons that Catholic schools are successful. One of the reasons Catholic schools exist is to develop in chidren an experiential understanding of what it means to be community. This is a powerful part of the Archdiocese of Denver Catholic Schools' brand promise and one of the "proof points." Parents, alums, parishioners, donors, and prospective parents need to be part of our community. They need to be invited "eye-ball to eye-ball" to have a part in the mission. This invitation is the development aspect of fundraising, recruitment, and enrollment management. Brand champions from many of our schools attended the session. I hope they see what an important role they play in the mission of our church through Catholic Schools.
Mr. Donaldson told us that part of the success of the "Fish Story" is that people are having fun. That's an important part of community, too!