New logo seen to help boost interest in view books

Editor's Note: This is the second of a two-part series examining the new Norwich marketing logo called "Norwich to the Power of Infinity."

By Tommy Holmes
Norwich Guidon Staff Writer

The current Norwich view book, which is sent to hundreds of potential incoming freshman each year, is finally being replaced. Soon, a new view book featuring the Norwich to Infinity logo will be sent out, and the people in admissions are quite hopeful of its impact and expecting big results.

"As everyone is probably aware, enrollment at the university has for some time hit a rut in the road," said Skip Davison, NU Director of Recruitment for admissions. "We never seem to be able to get the numbers up to where we wanted them to be." Though enrollment has climbed some in recent years, admissions is looking to fill the Norwich campus to the brim with new students.

According to Davison, this hasn't been possible, yet, because of a general lack of interest in Norwich in many of the high school students who may consider it for their college choice.

"Some of that has to do with how we market the university and the image we portray," Davison said.

The image Norwich portrays is of an old military school with a lot of history and many traditions. The school is well known in the military for commissioning officers. This is an accurate image; however, according to Davison, it is the same image portrayed by most military schools in America. He wants Norwich to stand out.

Under Davison's leadership and with the help of STAMATS, the professional firm hired by the university, Norwich has been trying to rediscover and redefine its image to sell itself to students for several years. The place to start was the old view book.

"A lot of our publications were outdated," Davison said. "Pictures were old, some of them were as old as 10 years."

Generally, marketing designs have a shelf life of about three years. According to Davison, Norwich has been using the same marketing design for over a decade, and this has had an effect on the university's ability to attract new students.

STAMATS conducted extensive research before coming up with "N to the power of Infinity." They held dozens of focus groups with alumni, current students, and, most importantly, high school students in the 15 to 18-year-old age group.

"As they went through the different designs with the students, some things became very evident," Davison said. "One of them was the very powerful message that we have here in our school song."

When STAMATS was finished conducting their research, they had three possible marketing designs. One choice was safe and without risk. It looked like the typical military school view book with all the memorabilia. The second had, in their opinion, a medium-risk level. It featured many pictures of smiling students and cadets with the bold question, "Are You Norwich?" Finally, there was "N to the Power of Infinity," the boldest of the three possibilities.

According to Davison, it was bold because it was different than anything the other academies were doing. It was new.

"I knew immediately that this was going to say something to kids, to young people, our market," Davison said. At one point during the development of the design, he showed the logo to his 12-year-old son. Davison asked his son what he thought the logo meant.

"He said, ‘That's easy -- Norwich forever.' And I didn't even notice it at the time," Davison said.

According to Davison, many adults don't see this message, at first, but the students in the focus groups did. This setup isn't like any view books Norwich students have received, before, from this university or from any other.

"All the research that was done and all the focus groups say that this is going to work big for us," Davison said. "There's no doubt in my mind that this will increase enrollment."

The question arises of whether the school will even be able to provide for a significant increase in enrollment, considering the fact that the Corps of Cadets will be 1,100 strong in the coming fall, and extra beds are scarce.

According to Davison, this is the result admissions wants. There may not be enough room for everyone who will want to attend the university. "Then we can justify building other dormitories," he said.

The new logo is hoped to have a wide range of effects on life at Norwich, spanning from the possible building of new facilities to the average quality of students who apply each year.

"It's being published as we speak," Davison said. "I don't think anyone's going to be disappointed."

The first shipment will be sent out in March of this year.

The Norwich Guidon is a twice-monthly student newspaper distributed at Norwich University. It provides laboratory experience for students in the Communications program. Claims asserted by letter writers, editorials and other articles do not represent the positions of Norwich University. The Norwich Guidon welcomes signed letters to the editor. They should be no longer than 300 words. Unsigned letters will not be printed, but names may be withheld upon worthy request. All letters are subject to editing for length and good taste. Mailing address: The Norwich Guidon, Communications Center, Norwich University, Northfield, VT 056632. www.norwich.edu/guidon. If you have any questions or comments about the paper, please contact Professor Ken Bush at kbush@norwich.edu.