In the midst of a $65 million capital campaign and its transition from College to University, Saint Peter’s sought to reinforce its relationship with alumni by elevating the quality of its flagship alumni communication vehicles.
A New Look
ECG completely re-engineered the alumni magazine, from design through editorial tone and depth, ensuring that the magazine captured the vibrant life of the University, while still connecting with the thousands of alumni who attended the venerable Saint Peter’s College.
ECG was also responsible for the capital campaign case statement. Most recently, ECG was tapped to produce videos in support of the University’s strategic plan and community investment report.
A Trusted Partner
ECG has been a trusted partner of Saint Peter’s for more than 10 years, including one $65 million capital campaign, two strategic plans and a decade of growth, innovation, and meeting some of the most pressing challenges in higher education today.
“If you want a cookie-cutter approach, DON’T hire Erbach Communications! In my experience, it’s rare to find a partner that truly understands an institution’s culture and voice. Erbach does. When you partner with Erbach, you aren’t just assigned an account rep. You’re assigned a TEAM. Together, they work with you to make it look right, make it sound right, and make you stand out. But more than anything else, the one thing I get patted on the back for the most is our magazine. Erbach transformed that publication.”
Sarah Malinowski Ferrary
Director of University Communications, Saint Peter’s University
The Willow School is an extraordinary school for children. Admissions, however, had declined due to misperceptions about the school or prospective families weren’t aware of Willow. New branding separated Willow from the pack, reinvigorated admissions, and produced a 180° turnaround that got retention and enrollment results.
Update Branding and Identity.
A new logo elevated the Willow brand with a modern and dynamic look; other visual elements were also created to showcase the school’s many distinctions.
Too often, independent school websites are cluttered with information not pertinent to prospective families. By presenting information in ways most relevant to its target audience, and integrating lead generation tools, the Willow website produced immediate results for admissions. Prospective parents, who applied to other independent schools, also commended the Willow website for its clarity and ease of use.
Positioning.
Willow had a lot of strengths to showcase. When juxtaposed with traditional school experiences, it made a powerful statement about the school’s value promise. These brand differentiators supported admissions and also instilled a great deal of pride in the Willow community.
The Results.
Double Digit Increase in Admissions
130+ Leads Generated through Inbound Marketing Tools
Altered perception from “tree hugging” school to serious place of learning
Xavier High School needed to marry its advancement publications and communications with the vision of its president and long-term institutional goals.
Update Branding and Identity.
ECG rebranded Xavier’s flagship publication for a diverse audience of alumni, parents, alumni parents and benefactors and for more than five years, consistently paired dynamic design with engaging content and stories. Creative work has accomplished a myriad of objectives, from enlightening alumni and supporters on the deeply Jesuit nature of the school to unpacking school finances for all constituencies in an informative and compelling way. ECG is also a key communications partner on Xavier’s annual reports, admissions view books, fundraising videos and other collateral needed to advance admissions and development.
“Thank you. The magazine is an important contribution to our work of advancing the Xavier mission, and has extra importance this time in advancing consideration of vocation. The copy is terrific—well-written, thoughtful, clear, the photos, the layout, the overall presentation and feel are outstanding, too. It is a gift to have ECG as part of the Xavier team. You make our work better and stronger and I am grateful.”
St. Baldrick’s Foundation (SBF) was struggling to bring complex pediatric cancer research to the human level. Previous efforts simply weren’t connecting with donors. ECG created IMPACT, a bi-annual publication that framed the groundbreaking research funded by SBF from the perspective of the children who benefit from this important work. IMPACT incorporates compelling storytelling, dynamic design and graphics and a voice that brings emotion and understanding to this complicated scientific information.
A major focus for this newsletter is illustrating the important role benefactors play in advancing pediatric cancer research. Each issue is intentionally designed to link research outcomes with the generosity of donors. As a result, IMPACT has become an essential cultivation tool for the SBF advancement team.
Inspired By Hope
The big story in pediatric cancer research is hope. That emotion drives SBF researchers in their groundbreaking work and buoys families battling childhood cancer. Through IMPACT, ECG communicates complicated scientific advances in very simple and human terms to build hope and inspire donors to give.
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“If your profession is raising money for an important cause, it’s frustrating not to have the tools you need. ECG delivered exactly what I needed because it tells our story in such a human way. It also fostered stronger relationships and connected the dots for people who only know our head shave events to the greater work and mission of the St. Baldrick’s Foundation.”
New leadership at Holyoke Medical Center set out to transform the community hospital with expanded services, highly-credentialed doctors and a new Emergency Department. The brand image needed to transform as well.
Branding and Identity.
ECG created a distinctive visual identity to animate HMC’s core values and aspirations, and visually set the hospital apart from other competitors. Lively and positive, the logo works seamlessly across every medium: print, digital, video, and outdoor.
Growing Market Share
New services like the Weight Management Program were key to HMC’s plan to grow market share and profitability. ECG developed more than a dozen campaigns for new and/or expanded service lines that generated inquiries and increased patient volume.
The Results.
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Enhanced brand recognition and reputation
Increased patient volume
“Erbach took the time to really understand us and created a campaign that has really captured the imagination of our community, our employees—and even our competitors.”
