Brand Champions

Brand Champions to Meet in Chicago

 

I will be in Chicago October 21-22 facilitating a brand strategy conference with a couple of my colleagues for Catholic Secondary Schools at the Crown Plaza Hotel. The conference will benefit high school advancement departments and administrators seeking to develop an effective brand strategy for their school in order to strengthen enrollment.

Chicago is one of my favorite cities and Catholic Schools have been one of my favorite organizations to work with. It is so refreshing to work with constituents who understand the importance of aligning business practices, marketing and other aspects of the organization with their core values. For anyone interested in attending you can contact the National Catholic Educational Association in Washington DC.

Branding in Atlanta

I wanted to give a shout out for the Academy of Marketing. They will be holding their fourth international colloquium, and their first conference in the United States next month at Emory University. The conference is for the Special Interest Group on Brand, Corporate Identity and Reputation.

This will be my first opportunity to attend one of their conferences and I am honored to have the opportunity to present there on Friday, September 12. My topic will be on internal branding within a university setting.

If you are in Atlanta then, check out the conference!

Education Brand Champions to Meet in Chicago

I wanted to let those of you who work with Catholic Schools, PK-12, that my organization, BrandED consultants group will be facilitating a branding conference in Chicago, October 22-23, 2008. As you know, we have worked with many Catholic School organizations including school systems in Denver and San Antonio, La Salle University and the University of Dallas.

Our experiences have been fantastic, and we look forward to many more. If you are interested in attending you should contact the National Catholic Educational Association, who will be hosting the conference and handling the registration.

We hope to see you in Chicago this Fall!

Brand Champions Return to Chicago

I wanted to let you know well in advance that I will be facilitating a round table discussion on internal branding at the American Marketing Association's 2008 Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education on November 17 in Chicago. As many of you know, I am a strong advocate of creating programs that engage employees in the brand development process. After all, our employees should be our greatest brand champions.

When I first got really serious about branding, I researched many organizations in many categories. I found that the most successful brands were those that understood the value of their employees and established programs for their employees to understand and embrace their brand. As I work with organizations today, and continue my research, my findings are the same. Sustainable brands are those with internal branding programs.

I hope you will join me in Chicago as we engage in a dialogue about how to incorporate branding on college and university  campuses. Does your organization have an internal branding program?

Brand Champions to Meet in Atlanta

I want to remind everyone that I will be presenting a paper at the 4th International Colloquium of the Academy of Marketing Brand, Corporate Identity and Reputation conference on September 12, 2009 at Emory University. My paper focuses on the assumption that employees are the most important asset on college and university campuses, and by developing an internal brand strategy, institutions of higher learning are more likely to achieve their strategic goals.

This will be the first time that the UK-based Academy of Marketing Special Interest Group will hold its international conference in the US. It will also be the first time that I have presented at one of their conferences. I discovered the AoM about a year ago. I was delighted to finally find a professional organization that has a primary focus on branding.

Are you a brand champion? Why don't you check them out?

Technology and Brand in Higher Education

 A friendly reminder that I will be presenting at the Noel-Levitz national conference on student recruitment, marketing and retention on July 16 at 2:00 pm at the Hyatt Hotel in downtown Chicago. I want to invite anyone who is a part of brand development, enrollment and technology at their school to attend.

The session is designed to provide an opportunity for us to engage in a dialogue about the convergence of brand and technology, in the context of enrollment management. The session will be very much 2.0. I hope to see you there.

Brand and Web Converge in Chicago

I want to let everyone know that I will once again be presenting at the National Conference on Student Recruitment, Marketing and Retention conference hosted by Noel-Levitz. This year I will be presenting in Chicago on July 16 at 2:00 pm, Hyatt Hotel. The title of my presentation is A Sustainable Brand Strategy Determines the Right E-marketing Solutions.

Your school may not sell coffee or manufacture motorcycles. But, like Starbucks and Harley-Davidson, your school relies on employees to deliver on-brand experiences for your customers. At the same time, your school feels increasing pressure from your competitors to develop the latest e-marketing solutions to help effectively position your school in the minds and hearts of your employees and customers.

So, if you want to learn more about my thoughts on the convergence of brand 2.0 and web 2.0, come check it out in Chicago.

Brand Speak in Indianapolis

Yesterday I was fortunate to have the opportunity to present at the 2008 National Catholic Educational Association Conference in Indianapolis. This was the second year in a row that I have had the pleasure to talk to Catholic School educators about the importance of developing a sustainable school brand. As you may know, this is one of the largest conferences in the United States, in terms of attendees.

Like last year, I co-presented with Richard Thompson, Superintendent of Catholic Schools in Denver. As we did last year in Baltimore, Mr. Thompson and I presented the case study of the branding initiative that we have worked on together for the past few years. As I have mentioned in previous posts, the Office of Catholic Schools in Denver are among the leaders in educational branding, and have done a magnificent job of championing the Catholic Schools brand.

For those of you in attendance in Indianapolis, or anyone else, what are your thoughts about branding initiatives for your school, or educational branding in general?

Brand Speak in Denver

Yesterday I had the pleasure of being the keynote speaker for the Cherry Creek Chamber of Commerce as part of the organization's business success series. The title of my presentation was, Branding: Latest Fad or Sustainability Strategy? For some, the word branding still has confusing or negative connotations. For a growing number, branding is the means to a sustainable future.

Our group yesterday was comprised of small, medium and large organizations. We covered a lot of material including, the evolution of branding, the process for building a sustainable brand, case studies and what it means to be a brand champion. I hope that those in attendance found relevance to the presentation and are able to immediately take the appropriate next steps to developing a sustainable brand at a personal or organizational level.

For those in attendance, or anyone else, what did you think, latest fad or sustainability strategy?

Branding: Latest Fad or Sustainability Strategy?

I will be presenting on the topic of brand sustainability at the Cherry Creek Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday, March 25, 7:30-9:15 am. For anyone who is interested in attending, go to the CCCC website and click on the RSVP link towards the top of the business success series page.

The session will be applicable to any size organization and anyone wanting to learn more about developing a sustainable brand strategy. I hope to dispel the myth that is still out there for some that branding is just a fad or gimmick, and if they wait it out, branding will just go away. For those who think this way, their organizations might go away.

I look forward to seeing brand champions in the Denver area at the event. Two of my favorite brands, Starbucks and Whole Foods Market will be sponsoring the event. The event is free to members, and $15 for non-members.