Defining a new brand and positioning

Brand Positioning / Research / Strategy

Background

The Institute of Applied Technology (IAT) is a tertiary education offering from the NSW Government. The IAT partners with leading institutions and industry to fully integrate theoretical and practical learning.​

Oportunity

Approaching the pilot launch, IAT looked to GHO for brand and positioning strategic direction – we needed to forge a profile that is unique and distinct from existing tertiary offerings, and clearly identify and demonstrate distinct value of the IAT through internal and external propositions.

Approach

Our 2 phased approach was to conduct extensive stakeholder consultation and market research (qual and quant) to enable the development of a research backed and evidenced-based brand blueprint including purpose, positioning, proposition, and personality. ​​ The process was designed to be collaborative and included presentations of the research and outputs to senior stakeholders across TAFE and NSW Department of Education.​

Phase 1 included:
Stakeholder consultation: In-depth, 1:1 interviews with Senior NSW EDU stakeholders, IAT program managers, IAT project teams and partner organisations. Interviews aimed to undercover student and industry needs and perspectives, IAT key attributes and the future of IAT.

Customer qualitative research: Student focus groups with students in grades 11/12, their parents, school leaders 18-24 and career progressors 25-44. We also chatted with partners – industry and employers.

Customer quantitative research: Spanning our key student segments, the objective was to gather a validated point of view on the IAT key brand associations, to underpin our profile, positioning and key messages.

Phase 2 involved the detailed development of IATs profile and positioning blueprint – both internal and external facing. The internally-facing expression involved deep exploration into the Employee Value Proposition – assessing the brand challenges against our core belief and purpose to determine our operating principles – collaboration, inclusion and agility. Cementing these internal principles created a strong foundation to assess the externally-facing expression.

Ensuring the new proposition supported multiple audiences – prospective students, university and industry partners, and government and other stakeholders, and deeply understood their unique needs from the IAT was key. The output was a strong, unique and research-backed positioning for the IAT, ”Stand out with the IAT”.

This encapsulated how the IAT allows our core audiences – students, employers and supporters – to stand out amongst their peers. The positioning was further developed into a new personality for the IAT, leading into segmented key messages, allowing a strong start for any future communications and collateral for future campaigns.

Results

A research-backed, strong and independent positioning the IAT, considering all internal and external touch points.