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Writer's pictureAyyappan Ramachandran

Enhancing the public perception of a group of schools through 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).


Sri Sankara School (CBSE) in Adyar

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.


An obsolete web design contributed to the incorrect brand perception

Though the focus on discipline exists, all three schools are progressive and far ahead of other schools in the neighbourhood. For example, their facilities such as a gym for teachers 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.


How Tellable helped them develop a unique voice and presence

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:


  • Concerned about the rigid perception of the schools in the eyes of the public

  • 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.


We suggested coming up with a brand story that would be the essence of the values and progressive attitude of the respective schools. The brand story would be embedded in every digital communication of the schools to correct and reinforce the public perception.

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.


  • The teachers are happy that their hard-work towards their continuous development are being showcased.

  • Parents are happy that their children are recognized for their talents and excellence.

  • The alumni feel happy and proud to see their teachers and school winning awards and recount their days of association with their school fondly.


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.



Interested in re-branding your institution?


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