BRANDING THE NEW CDC

REALIZING THE REPUTATION

THE CDC DESERVES

WHAT IS A BRAND?

A “BRAND” IS…

• More than a logo• More than an aesthetic• A REPUTATION: it’s the perception

the audience has of the organization

• Like all brands, the “CDC Brand” is (and will be) defined by its audience

UNDERSTANDING THE CDC AUDIENCE

WHO ARE STANFORD STUDENTS?

• What do they study? • What do they do in their free time? • Where do they get their information? • How certain are they about their

future careers?

WHAT DO THEY STUDY?

SURVEY PARTICIPANTS VS. UNDERGRADUATE POPULATION

Declared Undergraduates 2012-13

Earth Sciences

Humanities & Sciences

School of En-gineering

Survey Participants

Earth Sciences

Humanities & Sciences

Engineering

SURVEY PARTICIPANTS BY ACADEMIC DISCIPLINE

EngineeringEarth ScienceHumanitiesArtsSocial ScienceNatural Science

WHAT DO THEY DO IN THEIR FREE TIME?

WHEN NOT IN CLASS/STUDYING, HOW DO STUDENTS SPEND

THEIR TIME?

0 1 2 3 4 502468

101214161820

Average Amount of Free Time Spent (Scale of 1-5)

With Student Groups/On-Campus Extracurricular ActivitiesAt a student job/in-ternship

WHERE DO STUDENTS GET THEIR INFORMATION?

WHERE DO STUDENTS MOST FREQUENTLY GET THEIR INFORMATION ABOUT

CAMPUS EVENTS?

Email

Word

-of-Mouth

Physica

l Flye

rs/Poste

rs

Official W

ebsite

Face

book/Socia

l Media

05

1015202530354045

HOW CERTAIN ARE THEY ABOUT THEIR FUTURE CAREERS?

HOW OFTEN DO YOU THINK ABOUT YOUR CAREER MOVES AFTER

STANFORD?

Rarely Sometimes Often Very Often0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Students

HOW SURE ARE STUDENTS ABOUT THEIR CAREER PATH AFTER STANFORD?

010203040

Students

WHAT IS THE CDC’S CURRENT

“BRAND?”

WHAT IS THE CDC’S CURRENT “BRAND?”

• How do students interact with the CDC?• What does their interaction say about how

our audience thinks and feels about the CDC?

In other words, how have they branded us?

STUDENT INTERACTION WITH THE CDC

• How often do they read CDC emails? • How often do they visit the CDC website? • How often do they attend CDC events or

visit the CDC office?

HOW OFTEN DO THEY READ CDC EMAILS?

HOW OFTEN STUDENTS THINK ABOUT THEIR CAREER MOVES VS.

HOW OFTEN THEY READ CDC EMAILS

Rarely Sometimes Often Very Often0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

How often do you think about your career moves after Stanford?How often do you read emails you receive from the CDC?

HOW OFTEN DO STUDENTS VISIT THE CDC WEBSITE?

Note: all survey participants had “Cardinal Career” accounts.

HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU VISITED THE CDC WEBSITE?

1-2 3-5 6-10 More than 100

5

10

15

20

25

Students

HOW OFTEN DO STUDENTS ATTEND CDC EVENTS OR VISIT THE

CDC OFFICE?

DURING YOUR TIME AT STANFORD, HOW MANY TIMES DID YOU ATTEND A CDC EVENT OR

INDIVIDUAL CONSULTATION?

0-Two Three-Five More than Five0

5

10

15

20

25

30

Students

WHAT DO STUDENTS THINK ABOUT THE CDC?

How have they branded the CDC through its communication?

How would you describe the CDC emails you receive?

Welco

ming

Easy to

Read

Regular

Relevant t

o me

Professi

onal

Not Releva

nt to m

e

Too Text-heav

y

Difficu

lt to Read

Unwelcoming

Too Frequent

Visuall

y Unatt

ractive

02468

10121416

Series 1

THE FUTURE BRAND OF THE

CDC

• We understand our audience• We understand how they’ve branded

us

WHAT ABOUT THE FUTURE?

• What would we like our brand to be? • How do we change our brand?

REDFINE THE CDC BRAND

ASK:HOW DO WE WANT TO

APPEAR?

FOCUSEDVALUABLE

ACCESSIBLE RELEVANT

WE’VE REDEFINED. NOW HOW DO WE

REBRAND?

• APPEAR FOCUSED – CONSISTENCY!

• APPEAR VALUABLE –ORGANIZE!

• APPEAR ACCESSIBLE– GET PERSONAL!

• RELEVANT– ENGAGE AND LISTEN!

THE CDC IS FOCUSED

Consistency! A clean, modern, identifiable logo and aesthetic on all distributed electronic and physical materials, including social media platforms. The CDC is always on the same page.

THE CDC IS VALUABLE

Organize! The CDC has invaluable resources and relationships, as well as a talented and skilled staff. People need to know this – and ideally within the first few seconds of visiting the CDC website or reading a CDC email!

• Our generation is used to 30-second YouTube videos and On-Demand television. We want what we’re looking for quickly and without hassle, or we lose patience!

• Students, faculty, alumni, and employers require user-friendly, easy to understand vehicles of communication.

• This means a thoughtful reorganization of: – The CDC website– CDC communications (newsletters,

flyers, emails)– CDC event calendars – Social media platforms

EXAMPLE WEBSITE SKETCH

CDC TEXT EMAIL (APRIL 2013) SAME CONTENT, NEW FORM

EXAMPLE EMAIL TEMPLATE

CURRENT EVENTSCALENDAR (DAY VIEW)

EXAMPLE EVENTSCALENDAR

THE CDC IS ACCESSIBLE

Get Personal! Build comfortable, regular relationships between counselors and students that begin early and last beyond graduation.

WHERE DO STUDENTS RECEIVETHEIR CAREER ADVICE?

Peers Faculty Alumni/Older Mentors

CDC0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

Series 1

• Generate dynamic web profiles of individual career counselors. Who are they? What struggles have they faced? What do they do in their free time?

• Demonstrate that counselors are people too, and can be a valuable part of your inner circle when it comes to navigating vocations and careers

THE CDC IS RELEVANT

• Engage! Find out student interests by getting in touch:– Where they spend their time: in groups

linked by interest– And Where they get their information:

from peers and social media

• Listen! Seek regular feedback from students

• ENGAGE student group officers and SAL (Student Activities & Leadership) staff– Student groups are valuable, pre-

arranged communities who share interests and their free time. Could they potentially contribute to programming?

– At TAPS, over 90% of our student ticket sales are a direct result of audience/cast or crew member relationships. Students are the best at reaching out to students.

–Make students a part of the CDC brand, and they’ll make the CDC an integral part of their Stanford experience

• LISTEN and seek feedback from students. – The CDC website should feature a

permanent system for collecting anonymous feedback

– Students can be asked for feedback immediately following events in person or via social media