Communication Strategies for
Pushing the Boundaries of
Collaboration
John McDonald
Chief Information Officer
Claremont University Consortium
A bit about us…
Blaisdell’s Vision
“My own very deep hope is that instead of one great,
undifferentiated university, we might have a group of
institutions divided into small colleges - somewhat on
the Oxford type - around a library and other utilities
which they would use in common. In this way I should
hope to preserve the inestimable personal values of the
small college while securing the facilities of a great
university.”
- James A. Blaisdell, 1923
CUC Strategic Planning
 Development of Key Result Areas
 National Reputation & Brand
• The Claremont Colleges
• Claremont University Consortium
The Five KRAs
Building the Market Competiveness of Services
Building the Financial Value of Services
Neutral Center for Entrepreneurship
and Experimentation
National Reputation and Branding
Our People and Our Culture
John Beckman
Bonnie
Clemens
Shahram
Ariane
John
McDonald
Alissa Vagelatos
Fr. Joe Fenton
Additional Team Members
Barbara Jefferson
Joel Cinnamon
Naddia Palacios
National Reputation
and Branding
Major Achievements to Date
 Assessment of current positioning and branding of TCC and CUC
 Inventory of potential tactics for optimizing positioning and brand
Coming Up
 Optimize the TCC brand along three major dimensions:
1. Building internal clarity and unity about the brand
2. Communicating brand to key audiences
3. Enhancing the embodiment of the brand
Why?
What good does it do?
Define the value proposition
 What is the “value proposition” of the
consortium?
• Universal understanding of the attributes of the brand
• How these attributes are expressed and symbolized
• Balance collective marketing with individual marketing:
• When is it valuable to each to be known as, or associated with,
The Claremont Colleges?
• When does TCC affiliation complement their individual brand?
• When and how can CUC promote TCC in partnership with each
College or service?
Build a “Brand Toolkit”
 Resources to support the promotion
and marketing of TCC:
• Tools that members can use to provide key
information that is concise and systematic.
• Clearinghouse that includes: media clips,
print graphic elements, common press copy,
aggregate statistics, etc.
Lead collaborative initiatives
 Improve our ability to enhance &
improve the TCC model.
• Promote our ‘local consultant’ and specialized
role in unique collaborations.
• Promote our members and their expertise
Raise the awareness of CUC
 Leverage participation in local,
regional, national, and international
events.
• Host conferences & meetings
• Encourage staff participate in associations,
especially in leadership roles
• Incentivize writing, presenting, and other
professional development activities
Embody the CUC brand
• Define our brand as a TCC service provider by
leveraging the information and results of
strategic planning on other KRAs.
• CUC as a high quality, customer intimate, service
provider (KRA 1).
• CUC as an efficient, high value service provider
(KRA 2).
• CUC as a partner for innovation and collaboration
(KRA 3).
Strategies
 Register trademarks, wordmarks, etc.
 Establish CUC Design Center
 Build & enhance ‘Style’ Guide
 Templates & guidelines
 Standardize unit names, uniforms, etc.
 Additional self-service branding options
 Opportunistic partnering with members
Collaboration
Evolution of a logo