Wharton launches new marketing campaign stressing flexibility in education

After nearly two years of discussion, the Wharton School is launching a new branding campaign.

According to Wharton administrators, “Knowledge for Action,” the campaign’s name, encompasses the flexibility that a Wharton education provides.

“Knowledge for Action is really a theme that serves as a flexible foundation allowing the various divisions, departments and groups of Wharton to select words that describe their strengths — Knowledge for Life, Knowledge for Global Impact, Knowledge for Consequence and so on,” Wharton Dean Thomas Robertson wrote in an email.

Wharton’s branding campaign coincides with other business schools that have recently launched their own rebranding plans, such as Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management’s “Think Bravely” slogan, which debuted last August.

The campaign will be gradually implemented beginning on April 20 with a lead story in Wharton Magazine. Five Wharton-affiliated websites will also feature new designs and visual changes accompanying the campaign.

Wharton Executive Director of Marketing and Communications Ira Rubien highlighted the unifying aspect of the new brand.

“We wanted to bring a strong and succinct message to the world. That’s what great brands do,” he said. “You have to keep looking forward and pushing it forward. We’ve done this to bring people together and energize them and hone in on that message.”

A faculty branding committee that was chaired by marketing professor George Day sought input from more than 4,000 alumni, staff and current and prospective students. In addition, a group of Marketing Undergraduate Student Establishment members worked with the committee to find ways to measure how successful and effective their efforts were in shaping impressions of the Wharton brand.

“All together, we were working with seven different stakeholder groups,” Day said, adding that the new brand was a culmination of feedback from these groups.

Wharton’s previous brands lacked a certain level of cohesion and consistency, Day added, which provided the impetus for the rebranding efforts.

“Every research center did their own thing,” Day said. “We didn’t really have a cumulative impact. We’ve always had a powerful reputation, but we felt there were deeper insights to be communicated.”

Marketing professor Patti Williams, who also served on the faculty branding committee, shared a similar view.

“The different programs and places at Wharton had their own branding initiatives, but there wasn’t a common platform that was meant to allow the subcomponents of the brand to come together in a holistic way,” she said.

According to Robertson, Wharton’s new brand not only addresses the issues Williams and Day pointed out, but also applies to students both during and after their time at Wharton.

“The Wharton brand is yours — as current students you are our ambassadors and advocates while you are here,” he wrote.

Robertson added that the campaign equips students with ways to “communicate the Wharton brand and use the knowledge that [they] have gained to become successful leaders of the future.”

At the end of the day, knowledge is the central element of the campaign.

“The essence is this idea that Wharton is all about knowledge,” Williams said. “We want knowledge to stand for something that really has consequence in the world.”

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