In January, our team accepted the Paper Anvil Award from the Public Relations Society of America’s (PRSA) Nebraska Chapter for a branding campaign we developed to assist Omaha’s Gross Catholic High School, in advance of its 50th Anniversary.
School officials challenged us to create a brand that was authentically reflective of the school’s mission, vision and values – a brand that would serve the school for many years to come.
Extensive research helped us capture the true essence of Gross Catholic’s brand. We started our discovery phase with focus groups composed of current students, alumni, faculty, parents and prospective families. Our team used the information gathered from these groups along with extensive research and developed a SWOT analysis to arrive at the most accurate depiction of Gross Catholic’s brand essence.
Using the research, we were able to identify common attributes related to the Gross Catholic brand. Some of the most common themes included: faith, community, leadership, hardworking and down to earth. These commonalities, paired with the Gross Catholic’s existing overarching theme – Dux Esto (Be a Leader), helped us create a new brand platform that reflects the school’s Marianist values.
After evaluating all of the information gathered during the research phase, we determined three most important values. That’s how we arrived with the three main aspects of the brand platform: Authentically Faithful, Purposefully Compassionate and Academically Driven. Our team created a brand platform that included new school logos, an athletic logo, a brand guide that defined their new messaging, and a visual brand system, as well as a brand new recruiting brochure.
We’re thrilled with how the new brand platform came together and with the positive feedback from students, staff and the community. Check out the reaction from the student body when we revealed the new brand during a surprise assembly: