Smile Please

“Say cheese!”

Here we are in a severe recession and parents need to make informed decisions about the most appropriate school for their children. Yet too frequently Independent School prospectuses and web sites resort almost exclusively, to images of smiling children! Yes it is important that children enjoy the process of learning, but “cheesy snaps” are not going to convey those distinct ingredients that make each school special.

In fact to reveal the true benefits of a school takes time and a well thought out strategy. Images that reflect the character and spirit of a school will involve careful planning and research. Furthermore, there is a rare skill in being able to understand the real benefits of a particular school. Is it highly academic, does it major on extra curriculum activities, is it highly artistic or musical, dose in maximise on its unique location, near water mountains or centres in a major city? The process of accurately reflecting the life and spirit of a school is more complex than it first appears! Nonetheless this is very important if we are going to give parents and future children the ability to exercise choice.

Pretty pictures are one thing, but even more demanding is how do you effectively communicate the very qualities that make one school different (or even better) from the next. It’s all too easy to confuse school photography with wedding photography, spreads, festooned with smiling attractive children. In fact many photographers commissioned to handle schools are in fact wedding photographers. But this photographic culture can have a limited scope and even demeaning effect in communicating the real advantages of a particular school.
 All too frequently parents and staff are getting short changed because schools’ marketing material looking superficial and identical to promotional material of competitive schools.
The question, which needs to be addressed, is “how can prospective parents make informed choices for the most suitable school for their children, when the marketing material is identical to other schools?”

The answer is simple – “with difficulty!”

In this time of a financial challenge, parents, more than ever need to be able to make informed choices. The importance of clear information to avoid confusion when selecting a school for their children.
There are a few basic questions that when addressed, will help schools to shape and create effective marketing material. Why are we producing a new prospectus or web site? Who is it for, and who are we aiming at? Who are we competing against? What makes our school distinctive? Do we implement a different culture to other schools that appeals to a particular group? The benefits of a school designed for single sex education, compared with co-education. Consideration should be given to the school’s environment as well as its demographics, which both have a bearing on the choice between boarding and day. Can a creative use of photography enable the school to convey these benefits?

For a school marketing initiative to be effective, parents need to be able to have an insight that reveals the school’s individual character.  Each school must aim to convey why it is different; the quality, the breadth, the unique benefits, the ethos. Inspired photography and clean design can play a pivotal role in enabling parents and their children to make more enlightened decisions about a school. Aim for high quality, no gimmicks, no tricks. Saying “cheese” will not convey the right message! Transparency and clear thinking are the essential ingredients for an effective marketing strategy.

Getting your strategy right will put a smile on your face!

For more information please visit our website www.jwaltd.com

Vive la difference!!!

I recently attended the BSA Head’s Conference where a provocative, but thought provoking Kevin Roberts CEO of Worldwide Saatchi & Saatchi said he found school marketing consistently boring and uninspiring. He went on to say as we were facing a serious financial crisis what steps were schools taking to succeed in the downturn?

Similarly at an AMDIS Marketing conference last year I spoke to two heads that complained that all prospectuses looked the same, (I resisted saying that they are the people responsible for approving them!) Many are beginning to question their whole approach to schools marketing. This is a wake up call! For too long it has been possible to swap the name on the cover of one school’s prospectus and exchange it for another. The real problem is that you probably would not have spotted the difference! These solutions are driven by unthinking suppliers with a “that’ll do” policy. Sadly, this is no joke, but a fact!

There are a number of excellent creative companies, but still too many, that are happy to churn out cost cutting, bland, conveyor belt, design solutions for schools. They will send in a photographer for a couple of days to get a few standard classroom and sports shots. It is not surprising it is difficult to distinguish one school from another. The strategy is well rehearsed; a shiny navy blue cover with the mandatory crest, the serif titling and a picture of children outside the main building. Inside the theme continues each spread is festooned with static shots of smiling children all taken from two meters away! One prep school prospectus I saw recently had three, patronising pictures of the head in it but hardly any of its staff! This approach will do the school no favours.

The other extreme are companies who subject the schools to irrelevant graphic solutions that are different, but for totally the wrong reasons. For example, a very good school in Surrey was pursuaded to adopt ‘EasyJet’ orange in the name of difference. I’m relieved to say they’ve given up on that wild excursion now and have reinstated navy blue! Then more recently, I came across a marketing package for a school, all built around the DVD packaging, where the designers had hidden the prospectus inside the DVD cover, it took me four days to find it, ridiculous!! The “design” should not be the captivating feature of the prospectus, but the “school.” Years ago someone at the Royal College of Art said to me “Good design never gets noticed.” Put another way the design is subservient to its task of effective communication, not a self-indulgent whim. It is only by familiarisation of the life and spirit of a school that an informed design can take shape. Informed design solutions can help parents/pupils make informed decisions about the appropriateness of one school as opposed to another.

Schools are unique. They are all very different from each other. They serve different markets and aim at different clientele. A child will find one school will be more appropriate to his/her needs than another. Prospectus design difference needs to be driven by the school’s ethos, spirit and character, not by bland or esoteric design solutions. The prospectus will be different if it is an honest portrayal.




Front cover for Radley College (also known as "The Pink Cover") created by JWA Ltd., 2008

For more information please visit our website www.jwaltd.com

Contesting The Clones

We were one of the exhibitors at the ISC Marketing 2008. It was an early start. I think I arrived at the Russell Hotel at 6.45 am! 

But in the frenzied excitement of the day, meeting friends, colleagues, attending the stimulating seminars, our effectiveness in reaching those who were interested in knowing more about JWA might have become eclipsed!

JWA is a small, but well-established, successful design company, that likes to see itself as a mirror! Why, you may ask, should we identify ourselves with a mirror?

Quite simply, we at JWA see our primary task is to design prospectuses that not only inspire the reader, but also accurately reflect the life and spirit of each school, and in doing so, aim to make the difference.

There is a well-tried exercise to test the accuracy of any prospectus and that is to exchange the name on the cover for another school. If the prospectus still works, (and there’s a very good chance it will!) then the prospectus designer has failed to understand his brief.

We frequently discover that many design companies have a stronger sales team than they do design team, and their products can suffer from being clones, failing to differentiate one school from another! The implication of a prospectus that does not effectively expose the true benefits of a particular school has profound repercussions. It is both misleading for the parents; a disservice to the school and not cost-effective.

Many believe that today the real marketing for a school is achieved by the web site. We of course believe this to be too simplistic. The web site needs to work in conjunction with and be complimentary to the prospectus. The prospectus provides a quality, tactile insight to the school, whereas the website provides detailed and up to the minute information. A good web site can complement a good prospectus, especially if their design is well coordinated. 

Every school is different. It serves distinct target groups, and inevitably every school has its own character and profile. We see it as a major part of our brief to find what makes each school distinctive. The objective of many schools could be shared, empowering the child to discover his potential and the value of community. But it is the different ways schools choose to undertake the educational process, which distinguishes one from another. Yet, too many prospectuses look the same, a criticism levelled to me only last month when a friend of mine had worked his way through a pile of prospectuses, looking for a suitable school for his son. Parents and children need to be able to make informed choices.

We are convinced that it takes quite a degree of understanding before you can design a prospectus that honestly reflects a particular school. A charming marketing lady told me she thought she would like to see page layouts/style sheets of a school prospectus before she would appoint a design company. This is a little premature. It is unrealistic, in my opinion, to hypothetically work up a design until you are familiar with the life and spirit of a school. We don’t do it. Informed design solutions can only be arrived at through relevant knowledge of the school. Therefore I find it counterproductive that so many prospectuses are marketed by style rather than content! We suggest that it is preferable to inspect the design company’s portfolio and then check with the school, to confirm how successful the publication has been.

For marketing to be effective, it is essential to convey the real benefits, distinct purpose and vision of each school in the prospectus, if it is going to have any impact on an informed decision making process. In fact, in this economic downturn, to avoid miss-understandings, it is important to communicate the ethos and objectives of a school as accurately as possible.

In the bustle of manning our stand at ISC 2008 this is difficult material to discuss, but it may help you understand why we are here again!

Schools are as exciting, dynamic and individual as the people in them and the objective to convey that will remain the challenge.

For more information please visit our website www.jwaltd.com

On Schools Web Design

Excellence will be continually under scrutiny.

We are given to believe the quality of academic education at the majority of independent school today is as good as it ever has been. There seems to a growing confidence that their own staff can not only teach but tackle the most ambitious projects beyond the classroom. Schools can draw on a wealth of in-house talent. Staff can now be responsible for raising 3 million for a new teaching block, designing the new website and prospectus, to taking a group to explore the Chinese Wall!

This “can do” philosophy is something worth applauding, admirable, if the school can save by utilising “in house” talent. Enthusiasm, confidence and convenience are words which came to mind when schools appoint their own staff to undertake projects beyond their prescribed remit. But a word of caution needs to be shared when that commission ventures into the school’s marketing strategy. There appears to be a number of reasons why a school may choose to use their own staff; we can do it better, we can save money, we will have better control, but in reality, there have been a few pitfalls!

There are examples where the initial enthusiasm of the staff to take on projects has subsequently faltered because staff have been overwhelmed by the demands of their core activity. There is an increasing number of schools whose IT staff have volunteered their expertise to construct and maintain the school’s website, only to discover that they took on a project which demanded a larger share of their time than they had anticipated.

Many teaching staff own high resolution digital cameras and their images are appearing in school publicity. This can be helpful particularly when an event occurs off site or overseas. But when these pictures are published there are frequently problems.

A number of schools continue to use ‘well meaning’ staff with limited knowledge of design or typography or the ability to buy good printing.

The real issue here is that schools prefer to be perceived as centres of excellence. Not only in the possession of academic results, but in all that they do. The dilemma is that we have an increasingly visually articulate public who are scrutinising all that a school does. This includes anything that enters the public domain.

It is difficult to dampen the enthusiasm of staff eager to get involved. But there are still too many websites which are out of date, under construction or fail to work, merely because the in house staff are too busy. There are too many school publications which fail to conform to the school’s branding ethos, or suffer from poor repro.

The solution is to be well informed in the first place. Involve your design company in advising on how the talents of the school’s staff can be constructively used. In terms of web site management, use an efficient content management system. This will enable the schools to easily update the site. Whilst its design remains consistent to the school's corporate identity.

Consistent use of the corporate branding is vital if a school is going to convey an impressive public profile. To achieve this use a standard set of corporate guidelines. These need to be issued by the design company. This would cover the correct use of colours, typeface specification and logo and the use of (recycled) paper.

There are still too many excellent schools that have misunderstood the importance of effective branding. The visual links between the school’s website to the prospectus, the stationery and school livery should consistently reinforcing marketing strategy. It’s worth checking your school’s public profile to see how well co-ordinated the Corporate identity is being implemented. If it is managed well, then the public have a good clue that the school is being well managed.

Good schools need to be seen as excellent in all areas that impact on the public.

If you would like to explore cost effective ways of co-ordinate school branding, the Prospectus, the website, the fund raising programme JWA would be pleased to hear from you.

For more information please visit our website www.jwaltd.com

Design Consultants

JWA LTD 

DESIGN CONSULTANTS

We are an established design consultancy who relishes the challenge of finding creative solutions for their clients. We have over the last 20 years built good relationships with commercial property clients and independent schools. A clear understanding of the brief has provided fresh solutions for our clients.

Property

We have produced creative design solutions for the marketing of commercial property for over 20 years. The use of imaginative photography has helped to keep our solutions memorable and competitive.

Pre-Prep, Preparatory, and Senior Schools/Colleges

Our approach to promoting independent education is professional, personal and enthusiastic. We aim to reflect the character and spirit of each school. We do not have a standard design format that is imposed on each school. On the contrary, we evolve individual solutions that tease out the distinct character of each school; its own, unique benefits.

There is no doubt that in visiting a school a number of times, our own photography gives us an insight and understanding which enables us to shape our ideas, and develop meaningful design solutions, built by first hand experience of the school.

We are aware that today's school stakeholders are visually articulate and highly critical of a school's corporate identity. We are advocates of coherence in the implementation of a school's branding and design corporate guidelines to ensure consistent implementation.

We will always fight for cost effective, creative excellence, from the initial concept right through to the final production. We promote the use of recycled stock in our productions and find ways of reducing a client's carbon footprint. The scope of our work embraces fund raising material, signage, website design, school promotional material, associated marketing material, photography and prospectuses.

Our client list is testimony to what we advocate.

For more information please visit our website www.jwaltd.com