Baker University has a new tagline, “own confidence,” and it is part of the university’s plan to change the image it presents through its marketing and branding campaign.
Joanne Tolkoff, multimedia designer and special projects coordinator, said the marketing department is trying to figure out different ways to present the four Baker schools.
“We’re no longer just one campus. We’re many campuses, many schools,” Tolkoff said.
“We have to make sure we communicate about ourselves in a cohesive way.”
The 18-month process began when the university discovered through testing that Johnson County students thought of a business program when they thought of Baker, Tolkoff said. A series of focus groups were formed to begin changing the face Baker presents to the media.
Two concerns of Baker’s previous branding were that the university had two different brands associated with the school: convenience and affordability and a demanding liberal arts experience. Tolkoff said another problem was with the internal perception of dropping standards.
The new branding campaign is trying to replace those images with a single image of one Baker with several campuses, increasing the number of high academic achievers that attend the school and increasing awareness of people in the Kansas City area, as well as garnering more alumni support.
The campaign is changing everything from recruitment materials to the university Web site, which will be launched Sept. 29.
Webmaster Neil Kulbiski said he thinks users will notice an improvement in the Web site.
“It’s structured a little more logically,” he said. “It’s easier to navigate.”
Besides featuring an improved search feature, it will include an alumni online community with a tie-in to Facebook.
“It’s really slick,” Kulbiski said.
While the current Baker Web site shuttles users onto a separate Web site for each campus, the new one will be more integrated, furthering the one Baker goal.
Along with the Web site, university view books and admissions materials have also changed.
Director of Publications Arlena McLaren said the types of photos being used are changing, steering away from the empty, cold buildings used previously.
“The buildings are not shot alone – they’re still in the pictures but with students in front of them,” McLaren said. “They’re still there, conveying a sense of prestige.”
The sense of prestige, reputation and tradition are aspects of the university’s persona the campaign is trying to capture. Tolkoff said another important concept is that Baker is a safe place where students can belong.
In the view book, junior Nikki Armbruster represents this. Tolkoff called the photograph of Armbruster “the confidence shot.”
Armbruster hasn’t seen all the publications with her photo yet, but she said several other people have.
“One weird thing happened when I went home and I was in a restaurant,” Armbruster said. “Someone kept saying ‘I know you from somewhere,’ and I told them I go to Baker, and they’d seen my picture.”