CLIMB Branding Project

8/7/2019 CLIMB Branding Project

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National Council for Marketing & Public Relations Paragon Awards Entry

GOVERNMENT RELATIONS OR COMMUNITY RELATIONS PROJECT

Submitted by Portland Community College (PCC)

TITLE: Launching the PCC CLIMB Center for Advancement

OVERVIEW:

For nearly five years, Portland Community College has been trying to launch a single point of

contact for its continuing education and business services offerings. The challenges were great:

internally, bringing together a set of siloed departments, who each considered themselves to have

unique audiences, posed great internal political difficulties. Externally, PCC was competing

against long-established for-profit business training organizations with solid reputations, as well

as the nearby university.

This year, the effort was brought to the colleges Marketing Office to develop a solution. The

result was the launching of a highly unique brand, and the development of the support from the

college community for one concerted department dedicated to serving the needs of businesses and

working professionals.

OBJECTIVES:

Objectives were two-fold:

To develop a new name for a single professional and business-service entity. Formerly,the group had tried to go with names like The Center for Business and Industry and the

Business and Professional Development Center but neither one reflected the full

audience the staff was concerned about reaching, nor were they very unique or

memorable.

To launch a unique creative approach and campaign that creates awareness for thisimportant professional service. Previously, all the ads for this unit featured stale stock

images of people in business suits shaking hands and holding briefcases not reflective

of the PCC community brand in any way. Enrollment was sustained in some area;

struggling in others.

STRATEGIES:

Developing the name

We realized that to be successful in creating a single, memorable unit for the college, we had to

come up with a name that achieved several things:

1. It had to reflect the three similarbut differentaudiences this group was trying toreach: working professionals seeking continuing education, managers of teams who could

buy training for groups, and business owners who sought consultation or training

services.

2. It had to reflectrather than fight againstthe PCC brand: known as an affirming,committed college in our community.

3. It had to set our services apart from other professional training resources in the area.We developed an acronym to serve as the new name: CLIMB. CLIMB stands for Continuous

Learning for Individuals, Management and Business. Not only did it address all audiences

targeted by this unit, but it presented an inspirational title in keeping with the PCC brand. CLIMB


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is about reaching your summit whatever that may be and reflects PCCs strong commitment

to helping everyone achieve their dreams. Finally, no other entity in Portland had a name quite

like this. It was memorable because it set us apart as not just another business-person-in-suits

kind of approach.

Launching a Creative Approach and Awareness Campaign

To develop the creative, we held multiple meetings with staff and focus groups with clients andstudents. We decided to represent CLIMB with a hiking metaphor: working professionals,

dressed in traditional uniforms, were outfitted with climbing rope and boots so that the viewer

could immediately see that we were speaking to professionals but in a pretty unique way. Our

focus groups told us that businesses in particular appreciated this kind of outreach because it

conveyed not just the tangible benefits of going to school and furthering training, but the

intangible benefits of striving to reach a goal.

The awareness campaign was a huge undertaking involving an incredible array of tactics. This

included:

1. Rededicated a building as the new CLIMB Center for Advancement. First, werealized that in order to truly create the awareness of this as a major service in support of

our economic community, we needed to establish a physical location. Previously, the fourdepartments that comprised this unit were scattered throughout the district. The

Marketing Office put together a proposal for the PCC Board of Directors that we re-name

an existing building as the CLIMB Center and move personnel there. They approved the

proposal the first time something like this had ever been done in support of a re-

organization.

2. Developed an extensive ad campaign to launch the new center. Using our creativeapproach of photographing working professionals carrying mountain-climbing gear, we

advertised with full-color ads in a wide variety of business publications included Oregon

Business Magazine and the Portland Business Journal. We also developed a set of five

radio commercials which aired on news stations. A transit advertising campaign gave us

billboards on wheels: we wrapped an entire MAX train (our public light-rail) with a

CLIMB ad and purchased Michaelangelos for the ceilings of buses and mini ads forbus and train sides. We also dedicated an ENTIRE issue of the colleges quarterly

magazinewhich circulates to 300,000 homesto the new CLIMB Center.

3. Developed extensive collateral. The CLIMB Center needed all new letterhead, businesscards and other materials to support its new structure. We created these along with a

glossy set of product brochures and a large fold-out glossy overview folder which could

be used by sales people within the organization. We also redesigned all schedule covers

for the product lines within CLIMB so there would be consistent branding throughout.

We developed PowerPoint presentations and trade show materials for use by the staff.

Finally, we overhauled the website combining the previous four departments into one

major section of the PCC website, a HUGE endeavor that took many hours of meetings

and creative work.

4. Staged two grand opening events. We chose to hold two grand openings: the first was aprivate reception targeting a smaller set of business leaders who represented currentclients and nearby associations, namely the Central Eastside Industrial Council. The

second was a large public event inviting all current students and clients, as well as

potential clients, business and civic leaders to attend. The large grand opening was a

major undertaking involving product demonstrations on every floor, tours, speeches, a

ribbon cutting, food and drink, and an incredible aerial dance performance featuring

dancers climbing off the side of the building. We created videos to promote both of the

events and to showcase the great results.


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EVALUATION METHODS & RESULTS:

Because our objectives were based on perception, measurement of our goals relied on subjective

measures. But we chose to evaluate this campaign based on indicators like exposure,participation, internal embracing of the new center, and profit as a result of the campaign. We

faired extremely well on all counts:

Exposure:

Through our advertising efforts, train wrap, new website, magazine, and media coverage,we have reached literally thousands of people with the new CLIMB Center forAdvancement brand.

Participation:

Our grand opening event hosted more than 200 people. The Portland Business Allianceexecutive leadership attended and presided over our ribbon-cutting ceremony, and many

potential clients dropped off business cards and met with sales people. We earned mediacoverage from five outlets as a result of the grand opening, including a television news

story (a rare success in our market).

Internally, what was once a contentious struggle for unity became one department, with asingle Executive Director, working as a team. The name CLIMB has become fully

embraced by the staff.

Profit:

Projected income generation this year is $555,000with $333,000 going back to thegeneral fund to support other activities at the college. Prior to this year, this unit has not

been able to demonstrate a consistent profit, and all profits have been closer to the break-

even point.

CLIMB just landed a contract to train TSA officers in homeland security at PDXairportabout 450 employersin a multi-year contract. Several other big contracts

about to close as well.

CLIMB was awarded a $4.8 million dollar grant to train individuals in healthcare thisyear.

Next year, based on sales so far, the center is projecting an income generation of $1million.


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Advertising

We advertised in a variety of ways

to generate brand awareness in the

external community as well as the

internal PCC community.

Transit advertising, including a full-side MAX (light

rail) mural, Mini-MAX ads and Michelangelos

Print advertising in publications such as the

Portland Business Journal, The Oregonian and

Oregon Business Magazine

Lightpole banners in the CLIMB Center parking lot

Testimonial posters for the inside of the

CLIMB Center


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TransitAdvertisin

g

MAX

(lightrail)trainfull-sidead


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Transit Advertising

Michelangelo ad (on the ceiling of the MAX train)

Mini-MAX ad


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Lightpole Banners in Parking Lot


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BUILDING BETTER LEADERS

The Northwest Evaluation Association (NWEA) partnered with CLIMB to

implement a multi-year management development program. CLIMBs

programs offer us the opportunity to be strong and vibrant as an organization,

said Director of Human Resources Toni Jaffe. The program resulted in increased

confidence of managers, improved consistency of processes and heightened

employee satisfaction and engagement.


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Grand Opening Event

The grand opening introduced thenew brand to the public and featured

activities that brought the brand to life.

Performance by the A-WOL aerial dance troupe

on the front of the CLIMB Center building

different CLIMB programs and classes)

A re-dedication of the building as the PCC

CLIMB Center and ribbon cutting ceremony withthe Portland Business Alliance

A CLIMB stainless-steel water bottle with


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Invitation


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Event Displays& Signage


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PCC and CLIMB-branded

stainless steel water bottleswere used as giveaways/favors

for the event. The carabiner on

the water bottle cap perfectly

Giveaways


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The Program


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The program concluded with a performance by the A-WOL aerial dance troupe across the

ground as the dancers rappelled down.

Gravity-DefyingEntertainment


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Party Time!


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Website

The website was completely

re-designed and the URL was changed to

www.pcc.edu/climb.

Main Page that features all four product

lines, links to testimonials, and CLIMB-

the PCC District President, Dean of Workforce

testimonials from CLIMB clients and alums

Product Line Pages for each of the four areas


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WebsiteMainPag

e


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Learn More/Location PagePage


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ofile/TestimonialP

age


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ofile/TestimonialP

age


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ealthProfessiona

lsPage


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mallBusinessDe

velopmentCenter

Page


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Professional Development Page


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Contract Training Page


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dividualProductPage


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/TestimonialP

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CLIMB Branding Project

Documents

Transcript of CLIMB Branding Project