How we enhanced the public perception of a group of educational institutions through creative and consistent brand storytelling
The client
The Indian Education Trust (IET) was formed in 1972 when educational institutions were not as common as today.
Over the years, IET has created educational institutions and facilities and today is actively governing three schools - Sri Sankara Adyar (CBSE), Sankara Vidyashramam in Thiruvanmiyur (Matriculation) and KSN in Thiruvanmiyur (CBSE).
However, IET is the quietest student in the class; the people in its community are not aware of its presence and its unique contributions to child education.
Their biggest worry
The concerns of the institutions lie in their name. They can be confused with multiple schools with the same name in the city. The public image of the school was also in many ways boxed into categories such as 'orthodox' and 'traditional' because of its origin, so much so that the parents sought admission for their wards expecting rigorous discipline and religious training. This was starkly different from what the school believed in and practiced.
All three schools are progressive and far ahead of other schools in the neighbourhood. For example, their facilities such as the teacher's gym and robotics labs were on par with international amenities, and they encouraged all students and teachers to take part in workshops, extra-curriculars and competitions which would widen their horizons.
IET did not know how to bridge the gap between the public's perception and the reality of the schools.
How Tellable helped them develop
a unique voice and presence
The client
The Indian Education Trust (IET) was formed in 1972 when educational institutions were not as common as today.
Over the years, IET has created educational institutions and facilities and today is actively governing three schools - Sri Sankara Adyar (CBSE), Sankara Vidyashramam in Thiruvanmiyur (Matriculation) and KSN in Thiruvanmiyur (CBSE).
However, IET is the quietest student in the class; the people in its community are not aware of its presence and its unique contributions to child education.
Their biggest worry
The concerns of the institutions lie in their name. They can be confused with multiple schools with the same name in the city. The public image of the school was also in many ways boxed into categories such as 'orthodox' and 'traditional' because of its origin, so much so that the parents sought admission for their wards expecting rigorous discipline and religious training. This was starkly different from what the school believed in and practiced.
All three schools are progressive and far ahead of other schools in the neighbourhood. For example, their facilities such as the teacher's gym and robotics labs were on par with international amenities, and they encouraged all students and teachers to take part in workshops, extra-curriculars and competitions which would widen their horizons.
IET did not know how to bridge the gap between the public's perception and the reality of the schools.
How Tellable helped them develop a unique voice and presence
Enter Tellable
Before proposing a solution rightaway, we wished to have a detailed meeting with the stakeholders. During this brand discovery meeting, we posed a set of thought-provoking questions to the senior management and teachers to understand their concerns and positives. The inputs that everyone wrote down fell under two categories:
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Concerned about the rigid perception of the schools in the eyes of the public
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Wanted the schools to be differentiated from other schools not based on where they were located or a punchy tagline but based on the culture followed in the schools.
Also, the stakeholders had more expectations from our branding exercise. They wanted to showcase the awards and recognitions of their students and staff to the parents' community.
Plan of action
In order to let the public differentiate between these schools and understand them better, we decided to frame a brand story, complete with brand typography and colour palette.
For Sri Sankara Adyar and KSN:
From the meeting with the teachers and management, we understood that they gave as much importance to their progressive and futuristic thinking as to instilling positive values in their students. Therefore we came up with the brand story 'Humans for tomorrow'.
For Sankara Vidyashramam:
Sankara Vidyashramam is slightly different from its sister schools in the fact that it provides affordable education to people from various social and economic backgrounds. In order to highlight the inclusivity and accessibilty that Sankara Vidyashramam offers, we came up with the story 'Democratizing high quality education.'
Results
By consistently publishing content with the heartbeat of the brand story, people have started seeing the schools for who they are.
We were also able to satisfy the other stakeholders.
Parents are happy that their children are recognized for their talents and excellence.
The teachers are happy that their hard-work towards their continuous development are being showcased.
The alumni feel happy and proud to see their teachers and school winning awards and recount their days of association with their school fondly.
The schools have started gaining recognition for who they are and what they teach bypassing any rigid perceptions around their name.
Client recognition
The management compliments us often about the creativity we demonstrate in the social media posts. They showed their biggest display of appreciation when they chose us to revamp their website(s) over four other vendors, including the one who they have been working with for a long time, because of their trust that we will be able to bring out their story well.