In the spring of 2018 we were approached by the educational organisation Teach First – a charity that works with thousands of schools, partners with FTSE 100 companies and is one of the UK’s top graduate recruiters. For over 15 years they have been fighting educational inequality by recruiting great people – and training them to teach in the schools facing the toughest challenges.
Following the appointment of a new CEO and the development of a revised strategy, they wanted to look at their rather ‘corporate’ brand style, which had also become confused by multiple sub-brands. Their once innovative approach to recruitment had started to be widely copied by other sectors – such as social work and the police force – and with the rise of other teacher training providers, recruiting high quality graduates had become progressively tougher.
Add to this the desire to broaden their offer from solely teacher training to a wide range of programmes and support for schools and school leaders, and the time had come to take a hard look at their brand.
Initial research confirmed our first observations, and also revealed that many of their staff wanted them to take a bolder stance. There was a clear desire to further tackle the ongoing issue of inequality, help every child reach their potential and develop a grittier, more direct tone of voice. This was reflected in the new brand narrative that we developed together.
Our challenge is to unlock the potential in all our children, not just some. We seek, develop and support teachers and leaders who are determined to make a difference where it’s needed the most. If we fail at this, we fail the next generation. If we succeed? We build a better future together.
Then the project moved into the design stage, which we knew would be challenging. The name ‘Teach First’ originally stemmed from their origins within ‘London First’ and reflected their original stance – to teach first, then explore related careers in consultancy, management and government. After over a decade this had created a powerful network of alumni and supporters, but had left a slightly mixed reputation within the teaching profession. Yet a name change was decided against due to the established strength of the name with graduates.
So the task was to find a bold and differentiating new brand approach which used the new narrative as a springboard, tackled preconceptions and would be digitally led. It needed to reflect their evolution from a charity known just for teacher training, to one offering a range of school leadership programmes, supporting schools and helping teachers to thrive. And finally it had to be adaptable across a bewildering array of target audiences: graduates; teachers; professionals considering ‘switching’ to teaching; headmasters; government departments; philanthropists; corporate sponsors, and so on.
After extensive design stages and multiple rounds of audience testing, a clear winner emerged that is simple and bold, yet enables Teach First to move in a new direction. The idea begins with a simple T/F monogram that echoes ‘building a fair education for all’ and allows them to clearly identify themselves, from the smallest space on a social post to the largest billboard site.
The design approach continues with a new typographic language, punchy colour palette, bold graphic style and a revised art direction approach. We also introduced a snappier and bolder new tone of voice. Together with a newly developed messaging framework, this encourages Teach First to say less, not more, using straightforward communication in an increasingly jargon-heavy sector.
In parallel we oversaw photoshoots across the UK featuring school children who were encouraged to be themselves – real, sometimes cheeky, always human – rather than fall back on the clichéd classroom shots that have become the industry standard. We also shot a whole tranche of teachers in a similar style.
Here’s a glimpse of just a few of the hundreds of applications that are being rolled out this autumn.
Key to this relaunch, their ongoing teacher recruitment and the growth of their schools network is a multi-faceted, multi-channel advertising campaign. We have developed this based upon the idea of the choices that their many target audiences face – and that by joining or supporting Teach First, you can ‘alter the outcome’. Here are some examples.
The campaign is being applied and adapted across over a dozen market segments, each with carefully nuanced messaging and content. This is one of the most extensive campaigns that we’ve ever carried out – a welcome opportunity to both ‘write the rules’ for a new brand, then test them in real life.
Rebranding Teach First has been a long and challenging project, but one which we hope will unlock the potential of thousands of children – and also unlock the potential of a great organisation.
Awards
- 2020 Brand Impact Awards | Craft in branding: copywriting | Shortlisted
The team
- Strategy, narrative and design: Johnson Banks
- Implementation: Johnson Banks and the Teach First design team
- Photography: Peter Mason
- Additional copywriting and messaging: Nick Asbury and Reed Words
- Additional research and consultancy: Jill Hogan
