1. Brand Strategy & Key Messages Review Taproot Foundation Service Grant May 24, 2010

2. Contents Background Brand Strategy Challenges Discovery Findings
Why a Brand Strategy
Brand Strategy Components
The Museum’s Brand Positioning
The Museum’s Brand Personality
The Museum’s Brand Essence
Key Messages
How to Use
Elevator Pitch
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3. Background
The Museum received a Service Grant from the Taproot Foundation to have a team of 5 pro-bono consultants create a new Brand Strategy.
Our process started with Discovery Research and Stakeholder Interviews.
The findings from this process served as the foundation of the Museum’s new Brand Strategy. The strategy is the unifying concept that guides or influences the marketing, communications and programming activities of the museum.
The Key Messaging encapsulates the brand strategy and provides core language for the way the museum presents itself to audiences in various channels.
This strategy and messaging was adopted to strengthen the museum’s identity as a cultural attraction in a competitive market, cultivate the support of museum audiences and leverage their marketing and communications investments.
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4. Brand Strategy Challenges
It’s a Museum but not what you’d expect.
It’s a Jewish experience, but it’s not just for Jewish visitors
How does the Museum stand out amongst similar cultural institutions?
How does the Museum make emotional connections with audiences that goes beyond the restoration of the space?
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5. Why a Brand Strategy?
Describe the ‘mental space’ a brand should occupy in the minds of a target audience
Focus on what sets a brand apart from competition and the benefit provided to key audiences
Unique point of difference
Compelling benefit
Supported by solid reasons to believe
Serve as an internal guideline for
Marketing strategies
Program development
Operational decisions
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6. Discovery Findings
Based on 26 individual and group interviews, review of selected competitors and research, there were several important takeaways for strategy:
It’s a Jewish story
The synagogue sets the stage and is central to all activities
Stories of community and heritage electrify the space
Docents are crucial to bring stories to life
First time visitors are a key audience to address
“Museum” is misleading for visitors and donors
Some risks in emphasizing “living” aspects of synagogue
There are many organizations vying for similar position in visitors’ mind. None focus on uplifting stories of community and tradition to great extent
Few organizations can emphasize an immersive experience in an authentic space
Differentiating the Museum requires a new way of positioning the museum; a unique set of attributes described in a compelling and engaging way
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7. Brand Strategy - Components
We create emotional connections with our partners every day in the way we use language. That’s why our communications are critical to our brand’s success.
Right now we’re focusing first on what we say, and subsequently how we say it.
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8. The Museum’s Brand Positioning
The Museum at Eldridge Street is housed in a beautifully restored synagogue that celebrates the stories and honors the traditions of the Jewish immigrant experience on the Lower East Side. We help visitors of all backgrounds discover how coming to America transformed this immigrant community and continues to have impact today.
The positioning statement concisely articulates the target audience, their needs and how the museum’s offerings address those needs through a competitive advantage. It is intended for internal use and is based on Brand Pillars and Values on the previous page.
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9. Positioning Statement Components
Target
visitors of all backgrounds
Need
(History) helping them discover how coming to America transformed this immigrant community,
(Community) celebrates the stories
(Traditions)and honors the traditions of the Jewish immigrant experience on the Lower East Side.
(Heritage) and continues to impact us today
Alternatives
traditional museums with exhibits and/or recreations
Our Offering
intimate, compelling, authentic stories
Competitive Advantage
engaging experience in beautifully restored synagogue
The framework at the top is to allow you to more easily consider the elements of a good positioning statement
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10. The Museum’s Brand Personality
Key attributes of the Museum’s personality rose out of discovery process and should be leveraged in the way the museum communicates about itself.
Revelatory
Authentic
Dramatic
Welcoming
We’re passionate about the insights and discoveries our museum can reveal to visitors. It can be a transformative experience.
We’re real. Unlike recreations and simulations, we let the actual space, objects and stories take center stage and create opportunities for discussion.
Our space and stories stir the imagination and emotions deeply. We’re compelled to inspire and our energy is contagious.
We strive to communicate to visitors of all backgrounds our acceptance of all forms of worship and spirituality.
Defining brand personality as the character traits and emotions we want to elicit from visitors.
Importance of attributes in influencing experience at every touch point btwn. Museum and stakeholders.
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11. The Museum’s Brand Essence
The essence of what motivates and drives action internally.
Celebrating Community, Honoring Tradition, Evolving Stories
Celebrating Community: The Museum is a place to learn about an immigrant community’s traditions, societal impact and transformation into Americans. The space celebrates the role of worship in building and sustaining one American community.
Honoring Tradition: The Museum’s tours, programs and space honor the traditions, religious expressions and heritage that were created by its congregation. It provides a welcoming view into one culture’s belief systems and spiritual expression through universally relatable stories.
Evolving Stories: America has a cultural inheritance of acceptance, adaptation and innovation demonstrated in our ongoing history of immigration. The stories of the Museum’s congregation’s challenges and achievements through generations, reinforce the roles of community and tradition in our society. The Museum is the next chapter in that story.
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12. Key Messages
We create emotional connections with our audiences in the way we use language. That’s why communications are critical to the brand’s success. It’s not only what we say but how we say it that counts.
Key messages were developed with specific points of content and language for use in some of the most common marketing collateral.
Messages Developed:
Elevator speech for concisely and effectively describing the organization
Short, medium and long organization descriptions
Boilerplate for news releases
Contributors/Funders message
Educator message
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13. Key Messages Guidelines:
Consistent, relevant messaging builds awareness with audiences.
Messages should always consider positioning and brand personality no matter what channel is in use. (print, digital, signage, voic , etc.)
The synagogue restoration remains important but it should not be your leading story or the central story of your messaging moving forward.
The brand voice (tone and style) of the key messages helps bring brand personality attributes to life.
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14. How To Use Remember that you’re the Museum’s best PR. Talk about:
How the Museum celebrates community and honors traditions through the unique stories of its congregation.
Highlight how these stories continue to have impact and relevance in our world today.
Demonstrate the Museum’s role in carrying these stories and their significance into the next century through its programming, exhibits and restoration efforts.
Develop your Elevator Speech.
Explore how your words reflect the brand voice of the museum.
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15. The Elevator Pitch
A concise, well-practiced description about your organization that is easy to understand in the time it would take to ride up an elevator and leaves your audiences wanting more. Three variations follow:
We’re housed in a gorgeous landmark synagogue, where we tell the stories of how the Eastern European immigrants who founded it were transformed by the promise of America.
We’re housed in a gorgeous restored synagogue on the Lower East Side, where we tell the stories of the hopes, struggles and achievements of the families who founded it.
We’re housed in a gorgeous landmark synagogue, where we present the culture, practices and traditions of the great wave of Jewish immigrants who founded it.
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16. Elevator Pitch Key Messages What it Means for Audiences
Sample Proof Points
Celebrating Community
We are passionate about relating the authentic stories of the synagogue community and building new understanding of the importance of community in every American’s journey.
Historic landmark synagogue built by Eastern European immigrant community in 1887.
Stories of congregation’s collective struggles and achievements are compellingly retold in tours and programming.
Archives and artifacts document the generations of congregants who formed the community.
Honoring Tradition
We honor the traditions of the original synagogue congregation and explore how it relates to society today.
Focused programming and exhibits.
Stories of congregation’s traditions and religious expression.
Evolving Stories
We offer visitors of all backgrounds an authentic space for discussion and discovery of how traditions and community adapt, innovate and evolve.
Programs that connects the past to the future.
Stories of how congregation’s traditions evolved.
Transformation of synagogue into a museum and place of education.
Generational history continues to be explored through today’s descendents.
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17. Elevator Pitch
When you’ve made your pitch, your audience will have questions. Do you have a story that answers their How, Why or What?
The Taproot Foundation Brand Team found in conducting stakeholder interviews that everyone had evocative stories of the Synagogue before and after its renovation. Not all had stories of the community and its traditions.
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18. Key Messages – Medium Length
Following is an example of one of several key messages developed for the museum. All messages included in Appendix.
A visit to the Museum at Eldridge Street captures the imaginations of people of all faiths, nationalities, ages and experiences.
We celebrate the stories and honor the traditions of the Eastern European Jewish immigrants who settled on the Lower East Side starting in the 1800s. Visitors discover how the families who built our beautifully restored landmark synagogue lived, worked and prayed. They also find out how these immigrants, alongside those of many other nationalities and religions, were transformed by the promise of America, while transforming their new country in the process.
Visitors walk in the footsteps of the immigrants who built the synagogue as a manifestation of their newly-acquired and hard-won religious freedom. Unlike traditional museums, this “hidden jewel” uniquely carries in its walls an authenticity that reflects the hopes, struggles and achievements of the families who founded it.
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19. Thank you!
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