BY LEIGH ANN COLEMAN ’09

Sam­ple adver­tise­ment which will fea­ture Wes­ley stu­dent images

IT’S HARD TO define a col­lege that has meant so many dif­fer­ent things to each gen­er­a­tion that has passed through its halls, whether those halls belong to Old Main or the Henry Belin DuPont Col­lege Cen­ter. One thing is for sure. There’s a spirit that has always remained con­stant at Wes­ley Col­lege. That spirit is demon­strated by the pas­sion with which our fac­ulty teach their stu­dents, the rela­tion­ships that make Wes­ley feel like a sec­ond home, and the many ways our grad­u­ates carry out the mis­sion of the insti­tu­tion by mak­ing a dif­fer­ence in the world around them.

This past fall, the Col­lege received a $113,150 grant from the Jessie Ball DuPont Foun­da­tion, pro­vid­ing the oppor­tu­nity to undergo an impor­tant ini­tia­tive. Under the guid­ance of Per­forma Higher Edu­ca­tion, a national con­sult­ing group from Burling­ton, N.C. spe­cial­iz­ing in pri­vate higher edu­ca­tion, the Col­lege began a com­pre­hen­sive mar­ket­ing and re-branding study. In direct response to one of the pri­or­i­ties in Wesley’s strate­gic plan, this process sought to enhance the College’s niche within the mar­ket­place through the devel­op­ment of a cohe­sive and con­sis­tent mar­ket­ing approach, com­plete with a new logo and a revamped website.

In a fast-paced world where higher edu­ca­tion insti­tu­tions are in fierce com­pe­ti­tion for stu­dents, not to men­tion fundrais­ing dol­lars, strate­gic and effec­tive mes­sag­ing is an essen­tial ingre­di­ent in posi­tion­ing one­self for a bright future. For Wes­ley, this meant being able to suc­cinctly express what makes a Wes­ley edu­ca­tion unique and com­mu­ni­cate that across all chan­nels, to attract prospec­tive stu­dents and engage the var­i­ous audi­ences of the Col­lege and the greater com­mu­nity. At the core of this project was gain­ing a greater under­stand­ing of what Wes­ley means to all who are clos­est to the Col­lege— its alumni, cur­rent stu­dents and par­ents, employ­ees, vol­un­teers, friends and neigh­bors. After all, how could we tell Wesley’s story to attract the next gen­er­a­tion with­out first weav­ing together the many threads of its his­tory? Learn­ing why Wes­ley is spe­cial to so many alumni and friends and the col­lab­o­ra­tive approach in defin­ing its brand was the great­est ben­e­fit of the process.

“Great Things Await”

The oppor­tu­ni­ties that exist at Wes­ley and what the insti­tu­tion pro­vides to its stu­dents is at the heart of Wes­ley College’s new brand line, “Great Things Await.” It also sig­ni­fies a rich insti­tu­tional his­tory and iden­ti­fies a new era, with the antic­i­pa­tion of a thriv­ing future. “Great Things Await” will be used on its own or to com­ple­ment the College’s new wordmark.

A New Twist On Tradition

The Col­lege crest has been a sym­bol of the core val­ues that define the Col­lege and have been car­ried out since the adop­tion of the name Wes­ley. The new word­mark is a fresh take on the shield that makes up the cen­ter of the crest. This will replace the DuPont Col­lege Cen­ter sketch logo that has been used on mate­ri­als and adver­tise­ments for the Col­lege since the 1990s. Within the shield, the shells sym­bol­ize the coat of arms of John Wesley’s fam­ily, each rep­re­sent­ing the four gospels: Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The cross is a sym­bol of the College’s Chris­t­ian ori­gins while the lamp and book rep­re­sent knowl­edge and life­long learning.

How To Tell The Story

Sam­ple adver­tise­ment which will fea­ture Wes­ley stu­dent images

In order to tap into and hone the Wes­ley story, we enlisted the help of count­less alumni, fac­ulty, stu­dents, staff and par­ents to deter­mine cur­rent per­cep­tions and develop a clear, cohe­sive brand that could be com­mu­ni­cated with con­sis­tent mes­sages. Through a series of focus groups and sur­veys, Per­forma col­lected valu­able feed­back that guided deci­sion­mak­ing toward the end result.

“Cap­ture Your Dreams” is the tagline for Wesley’s new admis­sions recruit­ment mate­ri­als. This con­cept res­onated most strongly with prospec­tive stu­dents, gar­ner­ing close to 80% of the vote when tested against another poten­tial tagline. It will be dis­played along with fresh pho­tog­ra­phy on print adver­tise­ments, bill­boards, mail­ers, tele­vi­sion and radio.

Per­haps the most sig­nif­i­cant over­haul in the re-branding process will be com­pleted this sum­mer. With the Inter­net undoubt­edly being the most con­ve­nient and pop­u­lar way to learn about Wes­ley Col­lege, improv­ing this com­mu­ni­ca­tion tool was high on the mar­ket­ing pri­or­ity list. In July, Wes­ley will launch its brand new web­site. Not only will the site pro­vide a more mod­ern and sleek design, it has been restruc­tured to accom­mo­date the indi­vid­ual needs of those who com­monly uti­lize the site. When you visit wesley.edu you will be eas­ily directed to the infor­ma­tion most per­ti­nent to you, based on your rela­tion­ship with the Col­lege. The roles will include: Prospec­tive Stu­dents, Cur­rent Stu­dents, Fac­ulty & Staff, Alumni, Fam­i­lies and Com­mu­nity & Vis­i­tors. Once you have cho­sen your path, the site will pro­vide rel­e­vant and orga­nized menu items, mak­ing it much eas­ier to nav­i­gate and find information.

Beyond the visual appeal of each piece of the new brand, the true value is in how it encom­passes the many facets of Wes­ley, empha­siz­ing its her­itage while pro­pelling the Col­lege for­ward as it seeks to edu­cate the lead­ers of tomor­row. An impor­tant fac­tor in attract­ing and retain­ing stu­dents is mak­ing sure they are the right fit for the insti­tu­tion. This is only achieved by being very inten­tional in our mes­sages, effec­tively rep­re­sent­ing Wes­ley and the many oppor­tu­ni­ties that lie ahead for a poten­tial stu­dent that would best ben­e­fit from and make the most of a Wes­ley Col­lege education.

A new brand alone will not raise the aca­d­e­mic pro­file, raise money for stu­dent aid, or set our grad­u­ates apart in a tough job mar­ket. But telling the story of who we are, what we do, and what the Col­lege stands for in one uni­fied voice will ulti­mately raise the bar for those already con­nected with the Col­lege and those with whom Wes­ley will play a future role. Wes­ley Col­lege faces the same chal­lenges that any other col­lege faces, but it isn’t just any other col­lege. It’s your col­lege. And we hope that you will join us in telling our story.

A pre­view of the revamped web­site with the new word­mark and brand line and var­i­ous roles for navigation