Where Minnesota School Boards Learn to Lead™
A Rebrand Positions MSBA as the “Go-to” Organization for School Districts Statewide
“Mary Pat and her team are great listeners, they’ve taken a wide variety of input and done a really good job of focusing in and helping us re-position our organization for the future. They pushed us outside of our comfort zone and helped us to get to a place that is enlightened and sustainable. They’ve done quality work and we’re excited to launch the new MSBA Brand.”
Kirk Schneidawind | Executive Director | MINNESOTA SCHOOL BOARDS ASSOCIATION
So Much More than just a Cute New Logo
The Branding Back Story: With a new Executive director at the lead, and a newly refined business strategy and mission statement, MSBA determined it was time to refresh their brand. Not just their logo mark – but to realign the whole organization to more closely mirror who they are now and reflect where they are headed well into the future. In short, they wanted to position MSBA as the “go-to” organization for school board members.
Brand success story:
Building a Resilient Brand:
We developed a brand strategy that will serve as a filter and lens for organizational decision-making and help define what and how MSBA communicates.
STRATEGIES + TACTICS:
MP+G guided MSBA staff through the brand discovery process: we conducted a brand discovery workshop to determine brand attributes and bring brand personality traits to light.
Redefined the brand:
MP+G developed a brand positioning statement, brand promise, brand personality traits, key messages, tagline options and new identity system.
The process:
We provided guidance to the executive directors and team leaders through the three key steps for operationalizing the brand.
Get Ready: MSBA familiarizes their staff with the new brand position, brand promise, and key messages.
Get Set: MSBA utilizes media relations, communications, and promotion to introduce its new brand including updated social media templates, a powerful PowerPoint template, user-friendly website home page and animated launch video.
Go: MSBA trains staff and operationalizes the brand - using the brand strategy as a lens and filter for decision-making across the organization. Operationalizing will create efficiencies in services offered and daily workload. It impacts the sharing of information and utilizes communications tools to work harder. It includes updates to all communications graphics and implementing effectiveness measures to track results and fine tune the process.
Launch Date:
The new brand was unveiled at the Summer Seminar to an audience of over 160 superintendents and board members with a dynamic animated video and branded marketing and promotional materials.
National Recognition:
MSBA received national recognition as the winner of the National School Boards Association Innovation Award for pursuit of innovation to affect student outcomes. "Its strategic plan and new brand strategy significantly enhance its position as the go-to public education organization in the state," according to NSBA's press announcement.
The Deliverables:
Brand strategy: position, brand promise, + brand personality
Key messages + tagline
Identity design + brand style guide
Communications strategy + implementation plan
Marketing materials: print + digital
Social media
Videos
Website home page redesign
Before
The launch video was designed to introduce school board membership to the new brand and provide insight into the foundation behind the new logo mark and tagline.
A user-friendly, on-brand website invites school board members to engage and learn more with a visually exciting and informative website redesign.
MSBA's social media presence shows a strong brand continuity: on Facebook and all of its platforms.
MSBA's social media presence continues to reinforce the brand continuity on Twitter.
MSBA's strong new identity ties in its video presence on YouTube.
MSBA swag was given away when the new brand was launched at the Summer Seminar.
Related Work
