Strategic Visioning Session – ESF Branding and Visibility
October 1, 2014
408 Baker – 12:45 pm – 1:45 pm
18 in attendance
Bob explained that he and Bob Malmsheimer are the Visioning Group Co-chairs for Branding, Visibility
and Reputation, and the goal of this visioning session is for the participants to offer insights,
questions and suggestions about the following two strategic questions:
1) How can ESF create a unique brand?
2) How can ESF maximize its visibility and reputation?
Part 1 - How can ESF create a unique brand?
 Branding centers on what our mission is, and it appears we are updating the mission.
Don’t know if you can identify the brand until a mission is in place.
 Updating the mission to reflect what we are
 Our brand should reflect more than just what we are good at, but what does society
want us to be good at. What do external stakeholders feel our brand should be?
 We are already unique, however it can be refined or articulated better. Our focus
should be increasing our visibility and reputation. We underestimate our relationship
with SU – a lot of alumni follow not only ESF but SU. Part of our brand needs to
recognize that relationship with SU.
 We have been working on for a number of years now the message that we are a world
class university. It is a much different institution than even 10 years ago – offering a lot
more for students now including athletics.
 The development office has changed their approach to donors – in years past we
highlighted that we were poor, needy, thrifty, and outdoorsy. Now the ask is based on
our excellence and needing the help to continue to achieve that excellence.
 The rankings we now receive have given ESF students, faculty and alumni more reason
to support and believe in our brand (it’s real).
 We need to find a way to be more attractive to the urban population – we tend to over
advertise our relationship with the Adirondacks and rural areas – need to find a
relevance for the urban kids.
 You mentioned brand = promise. Are there different promises for different audiences?
The president has asked the strategic plan to focus on two main audiences – prospective
students and foundations. We would communicate somewhat different messages to
those audiences.
 There should be different messages undergraduate vs graduate prospective students.
Graduate students are interested in what the institution is about – what can we do
through scholarship and research – a message more like what the foundations would
get. Undergraduates are here for the experience - a tool set. Their focus is on a broader
education and career, while graduate students are more narrow in their focus.
 When targeting prospective undergraduates, we have always played up the small size of
the institution, affordability, success of our alumni & relationship with SU.
 If we were located say where Paul Smiths is, it would be a very different institution. Our
location has played a large part in who we are.
 LA program was the very first urban program. The last 40 years has been predominantly
urban/suburban design work. And in the last 15 years many of our other programs have
shifted as well.
 If we did brand towards a more urban population, it would increase our ability to recruit
as far as athletics goes in urban areas such as Philadelphia. It would be good for those
students to come to campus and see students like themselves.
 More and more people seem to know about ESF.
 It would be great if we could get some ads on internet radio – NPR. I hear many ads
about our sister institutions but never anything about ESF. It would help to get our
name out there locally. Maybe students don’t listen to internet radio but parents and
supporters do.
 Most of our advertising for prospective students at this time is direct mail advertising
(130,000 high school students contacted each year!). Last year we also advertised on
some cable TV stations, targeting the shows where students most likely would see it.
 How plausible would it be to change the name of the institution?
 Play up our ties with SU.
 The name should describe how every discipline has something to do with the global
environment.
 A name that would be more obvious about what we do.
 SUNY College of the Environment
 University of the Environment
 We have a lot of graduate students at ESF (about 500 graduate and 1700
undergraduate) so our brand needs to reflect that, emphasizing research especially.
That makes ESF different from Geneseo for example.
 What do people feel about University vs College?
 Are there state guidelines on it?
 This is a university and we should market it as such.
 When applying for grants I leave off the word college – SUNY Environmental Science and
Forestry.
 The trend now is to change from college to university.
 Some places their names don’t mean anything – Kodak. We could use SUNY ESF or just
ESF. To go by the shortest name possible would help.
 Within SUNY there has been a “you can do whatever you please” attitude.
 Always see advertising/publication emphasize that we are the oldest college devoted to
the environment. It’s great to be the oldest, but would like to see we are the “best”
college or university for sustainability or the environment.
 Our motto is practicing what we teach – need some work in transforming the work we
are good at into practice.
 Just a thought…we have 104 years of brand equity in the ESF name already – is there a
limit on how wise it would be to change our name? We haven’t been the Forestry
School since 1972 but there are people still using it (even some of our own
faculty/staff).
 Our size allows our undergraduates to get exposed to graduates and research. They get
a tremendous amount of exposure to everyone up the academic ladder. In a larger
institution that’s not possible.
 University signifies big, bold; whereas College = small, personal. Both of these have
branding advantages.
 There is a positive side to our small size when it comes to marketing to undergraduates
(less for graduates).
 There is no other institution in the US (or possibly worldwide) that is a doctoral granting
institution with only 2200 students on campus.
 ESF is by far the smallest institution on the “National Universities” list in U.S. News.
 When I reviewed the qualifications for some of the rankings we appear on – I was
shocked that we made it into the top 100. We must definitely be doing something right.
 Due to the size of the College, in order to get things accomplished, many departments
need to work together in an interdisciplinary way.
 We are problem solvers and should try to build a theme around that.
 Highlight we have an applied approach vs. theoretical.
 We are very active in terms of being out in the world, and going out and finding
problems to solve. We are all over the world – undergraduates as well as graduates and
faculty.
 Branding to prospective students should include we are field based – hands-on style is
very important to students.
 Brand to students: We are out in the world.
Part 2 - How can we maximize ESF’s visibility and reputation?
 Since our brand is already unique, I feel like the focus of this session should be how do
we get what we do out there.
 We need creative ways to get media attention. There is little money for advertising.
 I know the president wants to focus on foundations, but we should focus on visibility for
philanthropy in general.
 I listen to NPR and I know everything there is to know about SUNY Oswego. Even
though students don’t listen to NPR, may be a good way to reach parents.
 Would love to hear on radio how highly ranked we are.
 Why not advertise our new programs – like Environmental Health on the radio?
 Being on the radio would get our name out there. There is a benefit to people knowing
our name.
 How can we make it easier for faculty/staff to put the things that are going on at ESF on
their social media?
 Maybe it’s awareness – maybe a signature line. We have one – Improve Your World.
Should we encourage people to be using it as a tag line?
 What about advertising our branch campuses? Would it be beneficial – ESF branch in
NYC or Costa Rica? Broaden the scope of where we fit.
 In our definition of our brand – how do we emphasize our banner projects – ways we
really improve the world? For ex: leading institution for women in STEM. Maybe under
the broader brand we highlight temporal projects we are doing at that time. Make it
more real. Use examples behind the brand to reinforce something stronger.
 A brand needs to have only 3 or 4 major points, more than that people don’t remember.
 We need to get the face of the alumni out there (newspaper, website, social media) to
potential students or donors. Celebrate their achievement and successes. “This is who
you could be.”
 The Communications Office is working on setting up a blog that will come from faculty,
staff and alumni. They will be writers of their own stories.
 The Inside ESF magazine (even though only twice a year) is moving their focus to alumni.
This next magazine will feature five or six alums.
 We should feature our alumni in multiple venues. Testimonials are an important
advertising tool. “These are the kinds of people we produce.”
 Would it be more compelling to students to hear from older or younger alumni?
 Personally I would like to hear more about what current students are doing. It might
excite prospective students to hear some of the things they could be doing. Much more
tangible to hear from peers.
 I had students talk about exciting internships they participated in (such as Disney’s
Imagineers) and the students were mesmerized, much more interested than when the
older alums visit.
 In the age of social media, can’t get away with branding ourselves as something we are
not. Thankfully our students are very positive about ESF and their experiences here, and
willing to share that.
 Emphasize the success of our graduates in their particular areas. It would help
prospective students who might have anxiety – whether it be getting a job, etc.. It
might help them make a decision to come here.
 Connecting with students who have just graduated and their success is an extremely
powerful tool for assessing who we are. Recent grads are willing to tell us where we
need to tweak things or make changes.
 Does the word Environment have baggage? No but it does narrow the market, but not
necessarily in a bad way. Specialization is a good thing – it brings in the students who
are interested in what we do best. We can state we are about this and attract those
who want that too.
 Does our size put a cap on our visibility? Is there a state school as small as we are?
When you have 10,000 – 15,000 students a lot more people are talking about you.
 When you are small and very well known, can target exclusivity. But the SUNY brand =
access and affordability rather than elite and selective.
 Recall several years ago when Geneseo decided to become very select and very elite.
Dropped their scholarships. It worked for them – their recruitment went thru the roof.
Maybe exclusivity rather than access is what students are looking for.
 20% of our students are from outside of NY. We rank 3rd in SUNY based on percentage.
 With international students – SUNY is a good thing, it means something to them. They
are thinking NY = NYC.
 We need to focus our target on neighboring states as well as urban areas.
 Is there any negative point to radio advertising if we are indeed looking for exclusivity?
Not necessarily, our message could be we are looking for the best students. Also we
could be celebrating faculty/alumni achievements as opposed to “recruiting” on the
radio.
 It is important that we seek and find urban initiatives and then advocate ESF.
 Our honors program could be an important marketing tool to attract top students. Our
UG honors program had six students in 2010 and right now we have 80. It could be used
as a draw for prospective students as well as donors.
 Market our specialty programs to elite companies who have an interest in those
programs to get support from them.
 Highlight our legacy students. LA has had at least one alum’s kid attend each year.
Right now there are four in the program. It builds endowment in the long run. We
have had multiple generation legacy students. Shows longevity/stewardship/pride.