Beyond Branding

Keynote presentation by Chris Klaehn in Nashville at the 2010 UCDA Design Summit

What is the value of social media to your organization and to your brand? There are many types of brands–personal brands, commercial brands, experiential brands. Every brand makes a promise and sometimes a brand is severely damaged when the promise is an over promise (insert Tiger Woods). And sometimes, with much advice and diligence and patience, a brand, over time, rebounds and regains trust and admiration from its audiences (insert Martha Stewart). These brands, however, are made of one voice. An educational institution is made up of a chorus of voices.

We challenge the timidity that exists around social media and explore the nature of an educational brand — its strengths, challenges, and opportunities. The goal will be to create new ideas and approaches to create something much richer than communication: engagement.