Five years ago, we started working with Middlebury College, helping to brand and promote their world-famous Language Schools. Back then, our charge was to help develop a new concept for the schools and then bring it to life with collateral and other executions. (Much of the Language Schools’ marketing is hands-on and makes use of influencers to get students to apply, so collateral is a big part of the equation.) We came up with a concept we called “Life Doesn’t Come with Subtitles.” Basically, the idea is that the world is a big place, filled with incredible experiences and fascinating people, and if you only speak English, you’re never going to get the most out of life. To really know people (and yourself) you’ve got to truly understand other languages and cultures. That’s where Middlebury comes in, with almost 100 years of immersion teaching experience. Fast forward to 2012. We took a fresh look at the concept, and realized that Life Doesn’t Come with Subtitles had become a central part of the schools’ messaging; rather than cook up something completely new, it was time to figure out a fresh way to present the concept. We settled on a design and production solution that allowed us to tell a deeper story; collateral uses a unique die cut to show new layers of meaning, while posters use different weights of ink to create a similar effect. The effort seems to be working, with scholarships up 20% and applications up nearly 10%. Anyway, we’re gearing up for 2013 right now, so it seemed like a good time to look back, see where we’ve been and think about interesting ways to move forward. Stay tuned...
An Old Concept Lives On
