Learn and Live
The Makings of History
Continuing Education is a hot category and a crowded field. Ryerson University's early successes in CE had made it the major player on the local scene – but competitors were taking notice and action. What’s more, distance learning technology opened the door to competition from across the globe.
This made it imperative that Ryerson CE consolidate its reputation and fence off its brand space before others poached its turf. A significant gift from G. Raymond Chang gave added impetus to the rebranding project.
Gaining Currency
Most CE programs make similar claims, making differentiation hard to achieve. So brand becomes paramount. To capitalize on Ryerson’s category leadership, we built the word “lead” in the positioning: Where learning leads. A positioning that captures the school’s paramount commitment to learning as well as the promise that going to Ryerson CE will lead somewhere.
Our strategy was to foster differentiation, not just describe it. The more the school lived and communicated the promise, the greater its difference and the greater attraction to students, faculty, donors and others.
We linked the positioning to the school’s business case and set the foundation for brand implementation, including defining the “brand contribution” of each stakeholder group and recommending use of brand scorecards to assess performance on brand.
Adding the rather lengthy name of G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education to Ryerson University’s already meaty identity was the last challenge. By building in “The Chang School” into the identity, we both solved the space problem and fixed the "nick name" of the school.
Building Future
The Chang School has leveraged the positioning in a high-impact, highly visible and long running series of ads taking the tagline one step farther: “You Know Where Learning Leads.” This visibility reinforces the need for faculty and staff to deliver one the promise too.
Team
Brand Strategy, Brand Architecture & Slogan: Harry Cornelius, Sideren Inc.
Design Partner: Ove Design & Communications
