Wednesday, July 2, 2014

The (Super) Power of Rebranding Instructional Content

I've learned to become a big believer in branding.
For example, during the years I've done after school activities, I've found that a strong, child friendly title ends up at least doubling the amount of students who want to enroll. Here are some examples:
Original Title Rebranding The Title
Lipdubs Making Music Videos
Scratch Programming Making Video Games
Learning iMovie Making Movie Trailers

But I didn't always believe in the branding of my content. In fact during my projects in college I deliberately did just the opposite. Probably because I used to think the content should be able to stand by itself regardless of the title, and probably because after wrestling with computer code for 39 billion hours, my mind was a bit loopy. 
That is why when I turned in a computer science project that demonstrated the four color map theorem  on a map of the United Kingdom, I named it, "Comparing and Contrasting the Regions of Braveheart With The Places My Ex-Girlfriend Had Been* With Other People." 
In my imagination they all looked like Mel Gibson in blue paint too

I got an A, which really only encouraged me to be more random and myopic with my titles. 

But becoming a teacher changed that world vision. The more I was more mindful about the titles, the better a response I received. For example, one of my class economy jobs is sharpening pencils and organizing materials in the class room. I realized that the only way to get kids to apply for the job is by some clever branding. That's how the "Room Boss" was born. And out of all the creative jobs I offer, this one job that is clearly not ends up being the more popular. The title kind of shaped the position as well. 
Want a pencil? You'll have to go through the room boss. 

But one of the best types of rebranding I've seen is in Park Slope, Brooklyn. "Fundamentals of Dance" has been rebranded as "Action Heroes Class." Its for boys only, looks amazing, and I want to be six years old again so I can take this class. 


The class is one of many offered by Spoke The Hub.

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