The idea of analogy branding — applying knowledge about an audience base to a seemingly disparate product or service offering — isn’t new. The team at 160over90 has employed the concept hundreds of times, so much so that we’ve become accustomed to asking the question, “What do they have in common?”
It’s an approach that’s helped us understand the similarities in selling espresso machines and luxury automobiles, neighborhoods and dorm rooms, even tennis shoes and beer.
Analogy branding: applying knowledge about an audience base to a seemingly disparate product or service offering.
The Nun’s Request
As folklore has it, she was sitting in the lobby when they came back from lunch. A nun. Sister Carol Jean Vale, as she would later announce herself.
It made the guys, Darryl and Shannon, a little nervous. With raised eyebrows, they texted their significant others, reflected on their last confessions and then took an impromptu meeting with her.
They’d done nothing wrong, as it turned out. Quite the opposite.
Sister Carol had seen 160over90’s work for American Eagle — namely, their denim-driven national ad campaigns that captured the imagination of a highly coveted population of 15- to 25-year-olds. And, as the president of Chestnut Hill College, she wanted to speak to those very same teens wearing American Eagle jeans.
You see, after 80 years of drawing the nation’s top female students, the all-women’s college was at a crossroads — ready to transition to a co-educational institution but wanting to maintain its heralded tradition. 160over90 didn’t know the higher-ed space, but what they knew (and what she needed) was how to sell to 17-year-olds.
So, they embarked on a rebranding journey, launching a new website, viewbook, offline and online recruitment marketing materials, consumer ads and an integrated PR campaign — you know, the “nuts and bolts” rebranding exercises. And wouldn’t you know, Chestnut Hill College saw the largest recruiting class in the school’s history.
“Out of the Detergent Box” Branding
But, the brand story doesn’t stop there. Some 10 years later, Chestnut Hill College is still a 160over90 client, and Sister Carol has given the agency lots of room to experiment and play around the edges of a “traditional” branding engagement to help the school stand out in the crowded higher-ed marketplace.
In admissions, we took creative liberties with a prospective student mailing, delivering it in the form of a laundry detergent box filled with actual, usable detergent — because a real part of the college experience is being equipped to do your own laundry.
In athletics, we helped the Griffins pioneer a quidditch tournament that catapulted Chestnut Hill College into the company of Ivy League schools and since has spawned an annual, weekend-long Harry Potter Festival that the whole town of Chestnut Hill gets behind.
We have a saying around our office: “Branding isn’t brain surgery.” It doesn’t need to be tricky, or clever. It just needs to be relatable. You know, like buying a pair of jeans.
BIO: Greg is the creative director responsible for the 160over90 south office. He began his career designing apparel for a local surfing company, where he uncovered a passion for the outdoors and the art of branding. Over a decade later, he has seen the inside of global advertising firms and small design boutiques. His work has been featured in The One Show, Communication Arts and published in four books. Greg has had the privilege of developing brand campaigns for a dozen universities as well as consumer clients including Ferrari of North America, Google, the Miami Dolphins, AAA, Godiva Liqueurs, Johnson & Johnson and American Eagle.