Strategy

What is Brand Strategy?

The brand strategy defines our strengths, prioritizes what’s most important, captures our personality, and helps us articulate what the world can expect from GW. It’s the blueprint for building a clear and distinct brand that works across all schools, colleges, departments and initiatives at GW.

Strategy is...

• A flexible foundation for building the GW brand expression and story.

• A set of frameworks and tools for marketers, communicators and fundraisers.

• A useful resource for anyone who communicates on behalf of GW.

Strategy is not...

• An outward expression of the brand (a tagline, a slogan or the like).

• A complete and comprehensive list of everything the university must say.

• Fixed, final or static — it needs room to grow and evolve as GW evolves and the market changes.

Download our Brand Strategy Roadmap (PDF) 

Positioning

The positioning statement is the essential core of our brand: It underpins everything we say and do. Through these ideas, we have the potential to build all of our marketing efforts from a true and enduring foundation. 

Our positioning statement is a clear and succinct description that defines how we want to be known by the diverse audiences we engage. 

This statement is not meant to be used externally, like a headline or tagline. Rather, it’s an internal statement that we can use as a mental prompt when we’re starting a communications or marketing project. It serves as a gut-check for the decisions we make and the spirit of everything we create. 
 

Brand Promise

The Brand Promise articulates what we offer to our audience and why it matters. GW’s Proximity is not only one of our defining characteristics, but is also the springboard for driving Progress, both within ourselves and throughout the world.

Proximity and Progress is the lens of how you should start thinking about your communications and marketing products—i.e., “Does what I am trying to communicate about GW demonstrate the idea of Proximity and Progress?”—to ensure that your communications are ultimately aligned with GW’s Brand Promise.

NOTE
The phrase “Proximity and Progress” is not a tagline. It's not meant to be external facing copy. Think of it more as your North Star, guiding you as you write and design about GW.

Our location in the heart of Washington, D.C., is a powerful part of our story, and we have a variety of ways to communicate the literal and figurative access it affords with our community.

This proximity can be applied in both a literal and a metaphorical way, communicating how the work we’re doing here places our students closer than ever to their futures, their careers and the lives they’re working so hard for. Similarly, our researchers and faculty members are getting closer to the breakthroughs and solutions the world needs.

It’s our proximity that drives our progress. And the progress we make that pushes the world ever closer to monumental change. In telling our story, ensure that both of these powerful themes are coming through.

Brand Pillars 

As the name indicates, Brand Pillars are intended to support the Brand Promise (i.e., what we offer and why it matters) with themes and ideas that reinforce the big idea of Proximity and Progress and keep our story consistent across all of GW.

Ultimately, the four research-informed Brand Pillars create a distinct point of view that helps differentiate GW in the market.

PILLARS

Audiences

GW engages a range of diverse audiences. Though our engagement goals vary significantly across these groups, our brand story should remain consistent.

By understanding the objective we’re trying to achieve with each audience segment, we can bring greater focus and intent to our communications.

Personality 

Personality is what humanizes our brand and gives our messages emotional resonance. These characteristics shape the look, tone and feel of our brand.

Each of these traits was chosen deliberately, informed by a deep understanding of what it means to be a member of the GW community.

HELPFUL HINT

Don’t try to use all the traits every time. Choose the ones that are most relevant for your target audience. For an undergraduate piece, you might emphasize vibrant and purposeful; an alumni engagement piece might need to feel more incisive and quick-witted. Consider the emotions that you’re trying to elicit in your audience.