From The Norwich Guidon:
www.norwich.edu/guidonAmidst misunderstanding, controversy:
NU launches new marketing logo on admissions materialsBy Shandra Plourde
& Tom Holmes
Norwich Guidon Staff Writers
It was perhaps the quickest rumor ever spread at Norwich University. Word was out that the university was abandoning the traditional Norwich logo, which features the "I Will Try" motto, and substituting it with a new more hip image.
In short order alumni from across the country were e-mailing each other, upset at the presumed administration's decision to dispose of one of the school's most cherished symbols. And then the phone calls and e-mail started pouring into administration offices.
But all of the rumors couldn't have been further from the truth. According to the director of recruitment for the university, the Norwich admissions office has adopted a new campaign to grab prospective students' attention when they are sifting through the mounds of college viewbooks and pamphlets they receive. And the new logo is merely a part of the marketing campaign, which university officials hope will attract more students to the school.
Two years ago, the admissions office hired STAMATS, a firm which specializes in higher education marketing and consulting.
The company worked over a year, researching approaches toward the new Norwich viewbook. Their primary research consisted of focus groups, which included high school students, Norwich alumni, and members of the Norwich community.
One of the ideas centers around the new emboldened capital "N" attached to the symbol for infinity.
"We are selling the university -- it is a product -- to customers out there on the street," said Norwich Director of Recruitment Skip Davison. "Our customers are 15 and 16-year-old high school students, not current students or alumni or faculty or staff."
Davison has been working to bring quality students to Norwich for the past seven years, and during that time the admission's office had not made such a bold statement as its new "marketing application" in the name of recruitment, he said.
"When we saw this, we knew immediately that this was it," Davison said. "Nobody is doing anything like this: trying to use a symbol of some type to attract people's attention to their product. Bottom line, that is what we are doing."
"We wanted to do something different, something bold," said David Whaley, Vice President of Institutional Advancement at Norwich University. "We knew it would be different, but it tested well with the students."
Davison explained that the move was necessary because high school students "are inundated by materials from colleges. We had to make ours stand out, get them to open the cover of the viewbook."
"People reacted to what they thought it was meant to do," Whaley said. "Somehow, word got out on the grapevine and spread very quickly, not only on campus but via the Internet." According to Whaley, who isn't sure how the rumor was initially started, a few cadets were confused about the purpose of the logo and relayed the message to recent graduates of 2000-03 in hopes that protests from alumni would prevent the school motto from being thrown out.
"The power of the Internet can be very helpful, and can be abused, and in this case," Whaley said, "it spread a bad message or misconception very quickly.
"It would have been better if they had taken a little time to get the story straight," Whaley said.
In the spring of 2003, STAMATS presented three possible new looks for the Norwich viewbook.
"If we took the first choice, we would look just like every other federal academy, military college, military high school that was out there," Davison explained. "It really would not have changed anything."
The second choice was "the up-close and personal approach, a brochure that was large in size and had big smiling faces on it," Davison said, adding that concept was nothing new and is being used at several colleges. After much deliberation, admissions officials chose the third choice: "N to the Power of Infinity."
Davison admits that it caused quite a stir. "A lot of people have gotten upset over, it was the most daring of the three choices. There were many cabinet members who didn't like it, but the bottom line was I don't think they [understood] it. I don't think a lot of people have taken the time to [understand] it."
"It's only a marketing strategy that we're using," said Tony Venti, Director of Public Affairs at Norwich. "It really does have a shelf life of maybe a minimum of three years and a maximum of five years. It was never, ever meant to replace what we have now."
"We are trying to increase the academic quality of the average student coming to Norwich University. Any young person who is doing well academically in high school is going to [understand] it," Davison explained. "Adults who haven't been in a pre-algebra class for the past 30 or 40 years are probably not going to get it right away."
The concept of "N to the Power of Infinity" stems from the university song Norwich Forever. The American Heritage Dictionary defines infinity as "unbound space, time, or quantity" and forever as "for all time, always."
Davison pointed out that even the colors chosen are symbolic. "The colors were chosen during the focus groups and through marketing research. They liked this color combination, because it said to them New England, private college.
"Fall: that was the message that they were getting from the colors," Davison explained. "The color scheme, the layout, everything has been done to complement around those colors. We have received compliments from advertisers and people in marketing who have just been blown away by this."
Davison pointed out that this daring approach "puts us out in front of the pack because nobody is doing this. Nobody would dare to do something like this, and that is what leadership is all about.
"This is used for a certain targeted age group, and that is someone from their [high school] sophomore year and up," Venti said. "It was done sort of in an ambiguous way to get us better footing with prospects, students and families."
"You have to be willing to stand out from the crowd," he explained. "This makes us stand out from the crowd. This makes us unique. I see a lot of promise in it."
The new campaign will not be a permanent fixture on admissions publications. Admissions plans to use the new brand for three to five years at the most or until the brand becomes ineffective.
Norwich President Richard Schneider held a meeting with the cadets shortly after the incident to find out who had been spreading the rumor and to put to rest any misunderstanding about the purpose of the new marketing campaign.
"'I Will Try' is the university motto," Whaley explained. "We have the symbol, the seal which is on your diplomas. [Norwich to Infinity] doesn't replace any of it."
"A couple of years ago, we realized that we had to update all of our materials that we had," Davison said, explaining that the "viewbook that we have right now, the cover, is over 10 years old. Many of the pictures are extremely old."
The older view book, which included pictures of cheerful cadets in outdated uniforms holding room inspections and walking around campus, will be replaced with the new design. The campaign is an attempt to "raise the awareness of Norwich and to increase a student's interest, to catch a student's eye," Waley said.
"It could mean that they could come here and the sky's the limit," Venti added.
"Content and verbiage-wise it has been changed, but a lot of the pictures, the design and all that, are just old and not keeping up with the times," Whaley said.
The university has not always relied on outside assistance to boost its recruiting numbers. This year's freshman class was the largest in recent memory and was brought in without implementation of STAMATS' applications.
Whaley clarified the meaning further with a bold suggestion for any college to make to its possible future students. "Norwich to the power of infinity," he said, "means maybe that all things are possible."
"That had nothing to do what we are currently doing with this brand identity, brand marketing as we call it," Davison said. "It had to do with a group of very dedicated, very knowledgeable professionals who know what they are doing."
Apparently the plan is working well, because "the numbers already indicate that we will again, this year, bring in another record class," Davison said, admonishing that doubters should "look at our record and look at what we have done and trust in our judgment. This is what we do for a living. We are not going to do anything to hinder enrollment."
