Kate Winter, ABE's Marketing Director, explains the rationale behind ABE's new branding
In my long marketing career, I have initiated re-branding
projects and I’ve also been a team member who has had re-branding ‘forced’ on
them. The latter is not a nice place to
be. When you don’t understand why a brand is being changed, and you don’t like
the new identity, it is impossible to support the project. I once had a new
marketing director who breezed in to the company, changed all the branding, and
breezed out again, leaving a lot of devastation in her wake.
I wanted to share this with you now that we have unveiled
ABE’s new branding. The timing of the
re-brand comes after ABE has made some significant changes internally. I am one member of a new senior management
team appointed by Gareth Robinson, ABE’s CEO, who has been in situ since
December 2014. Gareth has assembled his new team with the objective of
introducing great energy and results in to the business. He wants to ensure
that ABE provides worthwhile qualifications and great customer service, and he
is passionate about delivering quality qualifications to our learners.
The new management team is overseeing the transformation of
ABE. We have already seen a host of new qualifications being accepted onto the
Ofqual framework. These qualifications have been created to reflect current
thinking and best practice in business management. We are currently inviting our centres to
pilot the new schemes and reaction so far has been extremely positive.
We have also invested in a new Learner Management System
which will make it easier for our learners to interact with us and have clear
visibility of their progress through our schemes. In tandem, we are developing new web sites
which will use responsive technology, so that users will have a better experience
on their mobile phones when accessing the site and members’ area.
As a backdrop to all of this, we have been undertaking
extensive student surveys to find out what our learners think we do well, and
what needs to be improved. It is
heartening to hear from thousands of learners that ABE qualifications helped
them get their first job or gain the promotion they wanted. Indeed, many of our
learners go on to run their own successful enterprises or get responsible
positions in government departments and large corporations.
When I came to ABE in March, my first impression with
regards to the branding was that it was doing a good job. There was nothing really wrong at all, but I
felt it lacked an element of inspiration. It was when I started reading the
testimonials of students that I began to really understand their achievements
and how ABE connects them to a world of opportunity. It just seemed right that
we should somehow reflect this in our branding. Additionally we felt that ABE
is a journey for our learners. They start out on a road with a vision of what
they want to achieve. They study with dedication and they achieve their
qualifications; many of them stay with us to keep on achieving and pushing
themselves. This is now demonstrated in our logo with a pathway – we like to
call it the road to success.
The new brand is being applied to exciting campaigns we are
running to support our centres. We are currently sending out printed posters as
well as digital banners to help prospective students gain awareness of
ABE. We will be rolling out the branding
on certificates in due course, but I would like to mention that the branding
itself does not affect the certificate validity in any way. In fact it is the
Ofqual recognition that is the real currency for our learners. This remains the same on all our
certificates.
By and large, reaction so far has been hugely positive. I
know all too well that change isn’t always easy, but together with the rest of
the team here at ABE, I am very confident that all the change we are
introducing will result in a better experience for our learners and our
accredited centres. It is because of them that we exist, and they are at the
heart of everything we do.
Kate Winter, July 2015
