by Alli Inglebrigth
Leadership Lincoln launched a new brand image this fall designed by CoJMC students. The nonprofit organization partnered with Kelli Britten’s spring 2017 ad campaigns class. The class worked with Leadership Lincoln to research and design a new brand strategy for the organization.
Leadership Lincoln is a nonprofit organization that develops, sustains and supports civic engagement through diverse leadership. The goal is for members to strengthening and transform the Lincoln community. The organization started in 1986 and have had more than 3,000 individuals participate in one or more of their programs.
The ad campaigns classes function as the capstone class for advertising and public relations students. The class partners with a client each semester. Students are divided into teams, or “agencies,” and address the client’s needs. They spend the semester researching and formulating a plan or campaign for the client. At the end of the semester each team presents its plan to the client and selects a team that best addresses the its needs.
Leadership Lincoln was chosen as a client because of the good work they have done in the community.
“It just happened to be great timing; the organization was working through a strategic plan and had just assembled a taskforce to look at the identity of the organization,” Britten said.
Leadership Lincoln selected the agency Happily Ever Advertising as the winner. The team consisted of Lexie Volk, Hannah Swanson, Heather Ellis, Samantha Vandersteen, Janey Malcolm, Jordan Howard, Kendall Dickenson, Brooke Jacobi and Mardi Elwood.
“Kelli Britten's class presented three logos and supporting documentation based on their research,” said Randy Bretz, communications specialist for Leadership Lincoln. “While we were impressed with all three, the logo and recommendations we selected included some color variety we felt would be appealing, we liked their demo of an update to our website, and we were impressed with the way the team presented their recommendations.”
The team presented infront of Leadership Lincoln staff and members of its board.
“Let me just say that all of the campaigns were impressive,” said Randy Hawthorne, board member of Leadership Lincoln and CoJMC alum. “The students were so well prepared, presented professionally and did amazing work. We chose the campaign that simply embodied our brand goals most closely.”
Students are able to get hands on experience through the course and get the chance to build their portfolios.
“The experience for the students is very similar to what one would experience in the real world,” Britten said. “They were challenged with tight deadlines, expectations of print-ready work and low budgets to conduct thorough research, an identity change and a creation of plan to implement. But I think the most important aspect of this course, is it leaves each student with a high-quality output that they can use in their portfolios and applications coupled with a story to tell of how they worked together, solved challenges and dealt with issues that can arise when working with a team.”
Leadership Lincoln has received positive feedback since they launched the new brand image.
“Our board loves it, our participants love it and our alumni have complemented us on the new look,” Bretz said. “I'd say that's a win, win, win! We have taken the opportunity as we've unveiled our new logo and look to add some simple things like pull-up banners, signs that welcome participants to our classes and we're in the process of receiving orders for some items with the logo that our current classes and alumni can use.”
Students in Britten’s course this semester are working with FarmAField, a local ag-tech startup company that allows consumers to invest in agriculture. Students are working on defining the company’s audience and how to reach and engage with them. They are also looking at how to properly brand the organization.
