Name: Trinity Grammar School
Solution: Marketing Communications
Audit Program, Brand Messaging Guide
Industry: Education
Number of students: approx. 2,150
Location: Sydney, Australia
Why imageseven:
- We understand independent schooling
- Proven process to reveal a school’s true value
- Consultative, professional team
About Trinity Grammar School
Trinity Grammar School is an independent Anglican day and boarding school for boys (Preschool to Year 12) in Sydney’s inner-west. Established in 1913, Trinity has a longstanding tradition of providing a holistic education that guides boys to grow in mind, body and spirit.
The challenge
Trinity Grammar School has been educating boys for a century but staff became somewhat tongue-tied when it came to articulating the School’s purpose and point of difference. Previous Trinity Grammar School Head Master, Milton Cujes, felt that while things at the School were going well in terms of enrolments, it was important to measure against industry standards and best practice, and engaged imageseven to conduct a marketing communications audit.
imageseven’s Marketing and Communications Audit Program revealed that Trinity is a hidden treasure, with the School’s true value largely unknown by prospective customers. The School was commonly perceived as the runner-up choice compared to GPS schools (Great Public Schools). As a parent summed up, “the benefits aren’t apparent until your son is attending”. The goal was clear: improve Trinity’s competitive advantage and optimise market positioning by building the Trinity brand through clear and consistent messaging that resonates with prospective customers.
The solution
The first step was to discover and define Trinity’s value proposition — why customers choose Trinity — and the School’s points of difference. imageseven facilitated a series of brand discovery sessions with a select group of key staff along with desk research and competitor comparisons. What emerged was that existing families certainly valued the education Trinity provided and believed the School was delivering a holistic education within the traditions and the mission statement of the School. But significantly, that contrasted with the opinion of people who were yet to become part of the School community, those who were ‘shopping around’ for the appropriate school for their son. These two themes determined imageseven’s recommendations.
The outcome
The Marketing and Communications Audit Program revealed the School’s true value for customers and points of difference. This knowledge became the basis for the development of an authentic voice of the Trinity brand which emulates what the School stands for while setting it apart. The voice of the brand was documented in a Messaging Guide. The Guide outlines the brand’s message architecture encompassing a hierarchy of key messages, an elevator pitch and tag line for use in communications. These tools have been key to achieving a consistency of message which is essential for building the School’s brand. “It has given us a targeted approach to improving our messaging to the outside community.” Milton Cujes, Head Master, Trinity Grammar School.
About imageseven
imageseven is an integrated marketing communications firm. You can think of us as message architects who build schools. We work with private school heads and marketing leaders to lift their communication and brand to reveal the true value they deliver to students and their families.
Our approach is about real world, down-to-earth, tested, daily marketing communications. We’re not interested in awards. We want results. That’s the heart of imageseven.
