The Compound Effect: The Long Game of Building a School Brand
What if your school’s brand is built long before anyone in Marketing gets involved?
Over many years, Nanjing International School has made a series of deliberate choices about what it stands for and how those ideas can be seen in real school life: a memorable mission; a simple, focused strategy; distinctive approaches to teaching and learning; spaces designed around that pedagogy; and a culture where experimentation, student voice and choice are part of everyday practice.
None of those things was created as a branding exercise.
Together, though, they compound and support strong brand development. .
In this session, NIS School Director Laurie McLellan and Ewan McIntosh will explore the long game of building a school whose reputation grows from what people actually experience. We’ll unpack the relationship between mission, strategy, pedagogy, place, culture and communications, and show how consistency across them creates stories that families want to repeat and a school that talented educators want to join.
Participants will leave with a simple way to examine their own school:
- where is your brand already being built through strategic choices
- where are the gaps between promise and experience
- what could you do now that might compound into something distinctive five years from now?
Laurie McLellan
About Laurie McLellan
Laurie has enjoyed leadership positions at international schools in Colombia, Vietnam, Belgium, Sri Lanka and China. He has been Director at Nanjing International School since 2009. He has served on the Boards of ACAMIS, NESA, CIS and EARCOS. Research work at University of Bath led to a deep interest in all things related to strategy and a firm suspicion of anything called a strategic plan. At Edinburgh University studying and researching inclusive education answered the fundamental question – how do we make sure school is designed for all students?
Laurie will take on the role of Executive Director at EARCOS from August 2027.
Ewan McIntosh
About Ewan Mcintosh
Leading projects around the world for clients in education and industry, Ewan is the passionate and energising tour de force behind NoTosh. A highly-regarded keynote speaker at events around the world, he’s also the author of How To Come Up With Great Ideas and Actually Make Them Happen
He has been past advisor on the digital agenda to the Vice President of the European Commission, Mrs Neelie Kroes, and sit on the ICT Excellence Expert Group advising the Cabinet Minister for Education in Scotland.
As a French and German teacher in Scottish high schools he relentlessly put technology to work in an effort to engage students, with his high school classes being amongst the first in Europe to podcast and blog. Later, he worked as National Advisor on Learning and Technology Futures for the Scottish Government before changing career tack, and becoming Digital Commissioner for the groundbreaking British broadcaster Channel 4.
Today, he leads NoTosh which is a global consultancy with a passion for learning and a conviction that innovation and creativity can change the way people think, the way they learn and the way they work – as individuals, teams, organisations and communities.
