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Education
Branding
Yew Chung Yew Wah - Harnessing a new future for a heritage brand.
Yew Chung Yew Wah - Harnessing a new future for a heritage brand.
Challenge
Evoking the ambitions for the future of a historic legacy
A prominent educational organization pioneering international schools throughout Hong Kong and beyond, Yew Chung has been serving the city’s students for nearly a century. With a network of kindergartens, schools, and colleges, the foundation provides education to over 10,000 students in locations worldwide.
We were entrusted to take Yew Chung’s historic legacy and create a complete rebranding strategy that spoke to its ambitions for the future. The project also included a brand new visual identity for five of the foundation’s schools.
When it comes to lower and higher education branding, the process is a little more complex than with regular profit-making businesses. This is because schools must appeal to two sets of stakeholders – the students and their parents – with an emphasis on reputation, transparency, and unique value proposition. In short, it was crucially important that we created a vision for Yew Chung that demonstrated the impact it can make on society as a whole, as well as the benefits for both parents and their children.
Solution
Highlighting the key areas for differentiation
Using Yew Chung’s websites and supporting materials we took note of the brand’s legacy thus far. The first step in building a future vision was based firmly on brand strategy. We completed a full workshop for the foundation, offering in-depth insight into the current market positioning, competitor benchmarking, and a re-evaluation of the target audience.
We discovered that while Yew Chung had plenty of strong competitors, there were a few key areas that differentiated them from the rest. Not only this, but there were some areas where Yew Chung was the sole player, from the exciting East meets West curriculum to immersive travel experiences offered to students. During this workshop, we also took a close look at the target audience and their criteria for education evaluation, as well as the concerns they might have about choosing an international school.
This detailed analysis allowed us to work on a new positioning for Yew Chung on which we could begin building both internal and external branding. Mapping Yew Chung against the competitors in this way helped us conclude that Chinese cultural education could be a key emphasis, with a carefully balanced East meets West approach and a focus on strong character development.
Outcome
Developing a vibrant and future-forward visual identity
Armed with a clearer understanding of the organization’s USPs, we built a comprehensive vision, mission, focus, and values around them. During our initial workshops, we generated key terms for the wording from multiple stakeholders, using them as the building blocks for comprehensive new brand architecture.
Meanwhile, we dug through the brand’s archives to craft an evolution of its visual identity, diversifying the logo to work across multiple platforms, while maintaining consistency across the color palette and typography. The brand’s online presence was also updated to reflect the East meets West focus – without compromising on contemporary clean lines. Again, consistency across all campus websites was key in creating a cohesive school vision.
Ultimately, the rebranding strategy and design blended the value of historic heritage with the energy of future dynamism. The result was a vibrant, future-forward visual identity that demonstrated the positive impact of multicultural education.
