I am not sure if you heard the cheering coming from the Office of College Communications this past Monday, but if you did hear it, that was the sound of the Institutional Positioning project moving from phase one to phase two! We have left the in-depth research and discovery phase behind and now we are moving into applying that research into all the various deliverables that will make up the new positioning for Bryn Mawr College.
(I see we have a few new subscribers as well. If you have missed any prior updates, you can always go to the main blog page to read in reverse chronological order about anything you may have missed.)
On Monday, our friends at SimpsonScarborough, our positioning partner, delivered round one of the Positioning Platform. This work was meant to begin the process of generating a framework for how our priority audiences will “experience” the college. Their presentation contained a few slides that I will share with you here.
In this project, we will have the best success if our positioning appeals to both the “functional” features of Bryn Mawr, and also presents the emotional connections people have, or could have, with the college. Because attending college isn’t purely a functional transaction, right? It’s not like choosing a toothpaste! “I have X need, and so Y product will solve that problem for me.” Students and employees who choose Bryn Mawr are also entering a long-term relationship with the college. Students will go on to join our strong alumnae/i community, and that is lifelong. You’re never not (oof, double negative) going to be an alum of your alma mater. Similarly, while an employee may or may not be accepting a position as a faculty or staff member for life, it will likely always reside on their resume. So we want the draw, and the sustaining connection, to be fulfilling and authentic on many different levels.
The Positioning Platform will address top research takeaways—a need to highlight our culture and values and illuminate the depth of our academic quality. We are in the process of reviewing two deliverables this week: a “Positioning Promise,” which helps to explain the emotional connection that should be seen, felt, and heard in every college experience; and also the “Positioning Pillars” that help to support the Promise by furthering the emotional connections. Thanks to the representatives from offices across campus who have engaged in this early form of the work.
Next Friday, we will receive round two of this language plus some new deliverables that will include more externally facing language used to describe Bryn Mawr. And then we’ll receive a third round to iterate even further on 2/26, when SimpsonScarborough will be on campus to present the final drafts. More on that opportunity soon!
It is also clear to me how much energy is going on behind the scenes at SimpsonScarborough. There’s a fair amount of observations and data to weigh to not only decide what to describe, but also how to describe it. (Case in point: try writing one sentence that describes Bryn Mawr College in a way that would appeal to the youngest prospective student to our oldest alumnae. Not an easy task!) But this is why you hire experts. Check out some of their virtual collaborations via Miro that they shared:
I’ll say in closing that if you were hoping to discover more specifics about the deliverables in this phase, do stay tuned. As there are larger opportunities to review deliverables, I will absolutely share those with you here. But as you can imagine, sharing all the iterations of this work in this space with no context is likely not as helpful as we might like it to be. For those on campus, we will have some feedback opportunities soon, and for any Trustees following along, our External Relations committee will be diving in with me at least once if not twice later this month and more thereafter. It’s important we get this Platform right as the rest of the project will rest on it. You’ll see how as we move forward.