Working with our friends at Donorschoose.org, we identified local public school classroom projects that ranged from an interactive whiteboard for a kindergarten classroom, to weekly reading periodicals for a special education class, to a library of books for a sixth grade classroom, to advanced placement exam books for a high school AP class. We selected and funded these specific projects because they closely aligned with the passions of both our clients and our staff.

As our 2011 mission comes to a close, we’re happy to report on the results of our support in the words of the teachers who requested our help:

“Ever since the books arrived, students have been eager to read every book from cover to cover and to share their favorites with their classmates, friends, and siblings. As a reading teacher, it is so exciting to see students invested in literature!”

“I am just SO grateful for your loving contributions to my project. I know that these books will be valuable resources for my students this year and for years to come. I hope that my students will meet my 100% pass rate goal when they take their AP test in May.”

“Now, Kindergarteners at our school will have access to an incredible tool to learn, and not only the board, but the great software too!”

Hearing back from these teachers about the impact of our efforts on students truly inspires us to continue our work in support of visionary organizations—both as individuals and as a firm. This year’s service mission may be coming to a close, but our work is not done. We look forward to a new year and new ways to contribute for 2012.

Visit Donorschoose.org to learn more about their work or to help public school students in need.

Check out photos of our team rallying behind their chosen team theme of “Heart + Sole” as they race to the finish and celebrate education at a post-race party that included Mexican food, mariachi bands, and dancing.

Visit the 2011 Carrera de los Muertos website to learn more about the event or to participate in next year’s race.

Value  =  experience ÷ cost

A college or university, then, has a choice between two routes to increase its perceived value:  it can increase understanding of the quality of the experience it offers, or it can lower its rates.  The latter path leads to smaller budgets, squeezed faculty, reduced opportunities, and a slow and painful death spiral. The former goes right to and through the brand.

Why is it that seven of the ten most selective universities in the country are Ivies?  Are they really that much better than Duke and Chicago and Vanderbilt and Emory and University of Virginia, whose selectivity rates are as much as four times that of Harvard? And how can that august leader-of-the-pack command $50,000 annually from the families of eighteen-year-olds itching to walk its hallowed halls?  The answer:  brand power—and in the case of the Ivies it extends to the whole family, with all eight member institutions being ranked in the top fifteen universities nationwide.  Harvard, quite simply, owns the idea of best-in-class in this country, to the extent that it makes headlines if the top slot in U.S. News isn’t colored crimson.

Reliable studies place the “added value” that consumers are willing to pay for a premium brand at 6%-20%, depending on the category—and higher education may well be at the top of that range.  If a consumer (parent, prospective student) believes that his or her future will be fundamentally better by attending a power-brand college or university, the relative cost difference is marginal compared to the longer-term gain.  So the assignment is theoretically simple:  improve perception of the brand so more people are willing to pay more to associate with it.  The execution, however, is more complex.

Understanding and activating your brand potential begins with a clear-eyed assessment of where your brand sits now—in the mind of the beholder! It’s not enough that you think you know what your brand is or stands for; if nobody shares your opinion, you’re living in a fool’s paradise and your branding initiative will splat like gefilte fish on granite.  You have to know where your prospect places you in the pantheon of organizations or institutions from which he or she could get a similar service.  If the prospect is not looking for a lifetime value brand, but wants a commodity—an individual course or simple certificate—then he or she will go elsewhere. And that’s fine.  We’re not trying to sell all services to all people.  But if your prospect is looking for a value brand, a badge that can be worn proudly as an entry on a c.v., a lapel pin, or a work-out hoodie, you have to deliver a clear, accurate, and compelling portrait of how your brand links to your prospects’ ambitions—and the prospects will pay the price.

So you start by doing brand-focused market research, determining how your prospects see you, how they differentiate you from your competitors, and—importantly—what they value.  With this knowledge you can begin to build your brand platform, develop a creative brief and effective brand expression, and lay out your brand marketing plan.  All easier said than done, I know, but do-able nonetheless.

And then, most importantly:  you execute the plan, keeping track of the effect of each of its myriad strategies and tactics by the results they generate and by an ongoing program of market research.

We have seen this create phenomenal results at the University of Cincinnati, Northern Arizona University, University of Texas at Arlington, University of Chicago Booth School of Business, and elsewhere.

At Cincinnati, a brand-based “Every Student Counts” campaign reversed a decade of faltering enrollments, brought them to an all-time high in FTE student body, reduced their discount rate, and triggered alumni enthusiasm that contributed to the success of an $800 million capital campaign.  Moreover, tracking research showed that public perception of the University shifted from “big” and “basketball” to “quality education” and “excellent faculty” over the course of the branding campaign.

At Northern Arizona University, not only did enrollments skyrocket even after tuition jumped up 40%, but the whole gamut of stakeholders—from prospects to students to faculty to staff—registered significantly greater agreement with fundamental brand messages such as “faculty as mentors” and “good fit” as a result of an aggressive branding campaign.  And the “Mountain Air Makes You Smarter” campaign also captured the attention of William Franke, a successful Phoenix businessman and philanthropist who made a commitment of $25 million to name the NAU College of  Business because of its undergraduate orientation and success at educating first-generation Hispanic and Native American students—attributes he first learned about through the branding campaign.

The University of Texas at Arlington has seen enrollment skyrocket more than 33% in the three years since the “Unbranded” brand campaign was launched. University of Chicago Booth School of Business has claimed and held the top slot in EMBA education according to Business Week rankings.  University of Minnesota Morris reclaimed its position as the top-quality liberal arts option in the UM system.  University of Miami has climbed into the top 50 national universities according to U.S. News—withstanding many a storm along the way—due in no small part to the gale force of President Donna Shalala who epitomizes the Hurricane brand.

Brand campaigns work. They’re not easy; they take diligence and investment; they have to be continually reviewed, assessed, measured, and freshened—but they work.  They deliver dollars to the bottom line because they align an institution’s “offer” with the values and interests of its constituents, and those constituents are therefore willing to pay more.

Bottom line:  a brand campaign is the best investment you can make to improve your bottom line. A tautology, but that doesn’t make it any less true.

— Rob Moore, CEO and President

For more insights on branding in the higher education space, read Rob’s book The Real U: Building Brands That Resonate with Students, Faculty, Staff, and Donors.

On April 30, Megan Cotten and I volunteered at Hands On DC for their annual Work-a-thon. Hands On DC is a DC nonprofit that organizes projects to make physical improvements to DC-area schools.

Below are pictures from our work at Raymond Elementary. Megan and I showed off our art skills by painting a food pyramid in the cafeteria (or what appears to be a food pyramid!).

Later that evening I went back to Raymond Elementary to spend time with the students and chat with their parents about their child’s future and progress in school. This turned out to be a great event!

Thanks, Megan, for teaming up with me.

— Eric Bailey, D.C. Office Coordinator

Visit Hands On DC to learn more about their work or to volunteer for their next event.

_______________________________________________
The Hispanic Scholarship Fund is a current public affairs client of Lipman Hearne, Inc.

About the article authors: Frank Alvarez is president/CEO of the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, which has awarded more than 100,000 scholarships over 35 years. James McNamara, former president/CEO of Telemundo now serves as chair of Panamax Films in Coral Gables.

All told, he’s right on target.  I wrote the book to meet both a beginner’s needs and a mid-level professional’s interests in learning more.  And hey, he ends up saying, “the final product is a worthwhile how-to resource for higher ed marketers.  I plan to share it widely with members of our branding and marketing team, and maybe even with some administrators.”

Thanks, Andrew. Your autographed copy is on the way.  Bound to be worth at least $2 more than the face value, someday.

-Rob Moore, President and CEO

Céad míle fáilte: While the Irish greeting for “100,000 Welcomes” hasn’t translated exactly to  that number of new client relationships in 2010, we have had quite the busy first two quarters at Lipman Hearne establishing new partnerships. We are proud of, and excited by, the collaborations that are underway and would like to take a moment to properly welcome the following nonprofit organizations:

Advocate Health Care
Alverno College
American Medical Association
California State University, Northridge
Council for a Strong America
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
George Washington University
National Defense University
Northwest Area Foundation
Rhodes College
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Schoolnet
Seton Hall University
Society of Actuaries
University at Buffalo
University of Alabama in Huntsville
University of Pittsburgh Katz Graduate School of Business
University of Virginia Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy

Upon reading the first article in a three-part Business Week series examining high-profile searches for new business school deans, it struck me that it is hard to overstate the importance of getting this process right. As with a corporate CEO position, the individual leading each of these institutions — or at any top business school — is brand ambassador number one, and will play a critical role in stewarding these global enterprises amidst the most highly competitive period in business school history.

Being a b-school dean today is one of the hardest jobs in the world. Each of these institutions will do well to select someone who not only has the hard credentials, but understands that these are also complex brands for which their leader must embody the brand promise with diverse and demanding constituents around the globe. Their most valuable asset, their reputation, is on the line.

- Tim Westerbeck, Managing Director & Principal

•    University of North Texas
•    Arcadia University
•    East Carolina University
•    Texas A&M (three pages worth! And they’ve been doing it for months.)

On top of that, this issue includes smaller ads by San Francisco State University, Western New England College, University of Houston, University of Scranton, University of South Florida, Vanderbilt (Peabody College), Metropolitan State College of Denver, and others.

What gives?

I know that the Chronicle is the paper of record in academe—no dispute there.  But the great majority of eyeballs that these institutions are buying with these image ads have nothing to do with the products or services that the ads purport to be selling.  What difference does it make that the academics who make up the bulk of Chronicle readership know the touching life story of a Bolivian student at UNT?  Why would these readers care about the new accelerated three-year baccalaureate program at Arcadia?  What new service would these readers be expected to buy from Texas A&M based on three pages of ads extolling their research contributions?

Even more puzzling is that some of the ads seem to be geared to the student recruitment market, and if I know anything about the teen reader, I know that they are not reading the Chronicle, unless it’s available by text and IM.

The only rationale I can gin up for these ads is that they are an attempt to influence the voters in the U.S. News and other rankings—but at nearly $16,000 a pop for a full-page, four-color ad, I’m not sure it’s money well spent.  Quick calculations suggest that Texas A&M has spent somewhere between $250,000-$300,000 this year alone on these ads, and we’re not even to the end of the first quarter.  Now, as a marketing guy, I am of course in favor of advertising: it’s one of the only ways you can get your message out in a way that you completely control.  But good advertising is about targeting—configuring your buy in such a fashion as to make sure that you’re able to reach your target audience with a message that will cause them to do what you want them to do.  But some of these ads just seem to me to miss the mark—or at least to aim at a mark that I don’t understand.

If I’m missing something, fill me in.

- Rob Moore, Managing Partner

Central to the site is Lipman Hearne’s best asset: the staff. Visitors can browse staff stories in the People section, hear staff members’ voices through quotes that float throughout the site, and catch glimpses of them as they travel the globe. (In one such glimpse, a space suit is involved.)

Other media-rich features include portfolios of work, curated along special themes, such as Wasabi for the Brain and The Dean’s List. In addition, the stories of successful collaborations are told through selected case studies, including University of Cincinnati and The Nurse-Family Partnership.

Key Insights reports, presentations, and articles are also available on the site. Information sharing tools make it possible for visitors to share these resources and news articles with colleagues.

Check out Lipman Hearne’s website and leave a comment here – we’d love to hear your feedback.

- Erin Kelly