Smarthinking, Inc. Executes New Brand Strategy

New Agility Stance on Competition

In the competitive marketplace, it's not just new players or growing challengers that need to remain flexible and embrace change. Market leaders must be even more agile than their competitors to maintain their position and stay ahead. Smarthinking is the recognized worldwide leader in online tutoring for higher education. Having created the online tutoring space when it was founded in 1999, Smarthinking virtually defined the industry – creating numerous best practices, achieving success on hundreds of campuses, and bringing proven support to more students than any other provider. Smarthinking's online tutors have completed more than 3 million tutoring sessions. Quality and innovation have always been Smarthinking's cornerstones. Still, in a rapidly evolving marketplace flooding with competition, Smarthinking needed to re-affirm that it is the leading provider with the most effective solution.

Expanding and Building Brand Strategy

Working directly with Smarthinking's President & CEO and her executive team, Wendt Partners facilitated a comprehensive BrandPlanning engagement. Smarthinking's market position and competitive opportunities were explored through this highly disciplined and detailed process. In addition, input and ideas were sought across the organization – including executives, employees, tutors, customers, and partners. After the BrandPlanning report was issued, Wendt Partners coordinated its integration into the company's business plan and embarked upon the BrandBuilding phase. The new brand strategy focused on the three key stakeholders who do Smarthinking work: students, tutors, and the college and university administrators who select Smarthinking. Tutors were invited to create dynamic profiles that directly connected their experience to proven student outcomes and testimonials from administrators.

New Brand Strategy Brings New Light

By focusing the Smarthinking strategy on these stories of success and the proven research that supported them, Wendt Partners allowed the company to present its strengths compellingly while also embracing the best of its market position – all within the context of a new brand identity. Deliverables included a sophisticated new website with student and tutor profiles, e-commerce connectivity, a customized student self-service portal, print collateral, campus posters, and full social media integration. Fresh content was further supported by commissioned photography and a new icon system to guide users through the Smarthinking experience. "As a result," said Smarthinking President & CEO Kathy Clark, "the execution of our new brand strategy flowed naturally and allowed us to position Smarthinking in the strongest possible light."