Make it personal…

Working with a local infant school we were really keen to raise the visibility of the school both literally and figuratively.  I used to work for the Walt Disney Company, and what they do in theme parks is tell a story, and they also have very good visibility and image.
Everybody knows about Disney even if they haven’t been there, and that needs to be the same with our school. In 2006 we did this exercise where teachers, governors and parents had to physically walk around to say what the school is telling them. We stood on the main road and Angela Champness, our Head, said, “You know, nothing tells us that children are inside this building.’”
With perfect symbolism, we made wooden outlines by drawing around the figures of several children and then painted them in bright colours.  This year they are being revamped with new designs that the children have done.  It is great to think that the project has evolved even further. . In one creative act, we were able to advertise the school and send a visual message of welcome.  We are now described as the school with “the figures on the fence”.

Corporates are also playing the same game – looking at marketing campaign of Coke  this summer “Share a coke with…”

Caroline Cater, operational marketing director for Coca-Cola Enterprises, said: “This is the first time in our long history that we’ve ever replaced the iconic “Coca-Cola” script on pack and who better to celebrate with than the people who love our brands the most – our consumers. It’s fantastic that we can really personalise the product for them.

“We’re issuing the invite for people to connect and as part of that we want the public to have fun finding the names of their friends and loved ones on our products, and taking the time to Share a Coke with them.

My favourite example of a corporate getting the personal bug is Lanson champagne celebrated 25 years as the official champagne of the Wimbledon tennis championships where up to 20,000 bottles approximately were consumed.

To mark the event the company designed jackets for their bottles using the actual fabric worn at Wimbledon and obviously the other practical reason the jackets keep your bottle perfectly cool for consumption.

For ideas on how to make your business personal please contact bev@nuggetsoflearning.co.uk