By Gary Brown
The NCAA News
Division III this week will begin providing member institutions and conferences the tools they need to activate the division's new strategic-positioning platform and accompanying identity campaign.
Those resources include:
- A "purchasing website" to order or download materials that allow schools to co-brand under the Division III umbrella and visually communicate to their publics that they are proud members of Division III. Each Division III institution and conference will be allocated a $1,000 credit in the 2010-11 academic year to purchase materials on the site, which also includes a number of materials that may be downloaded free of charge. Institutions also may apply funds from tier three of the conference grant program dollars they receive this September, or their own funds to the site. The universal password for the website is ncaadiii (all lowercase).
- A new, public-facing website designed to extol the values of being a Division III member. The site targets prospective student-athletes, their parents and other constituents with Division III-specific information and resources, as well as stories capturing the extraordinary accomplishments of Division III student-athletes.
- A communications tool kit with materials that allow various stakeholders in Division III athletics to tell their constituents what Division III is all about. The tool kit provides talking points that target multiple audiences from the perspective of various institutional personnel (FAR, president, AD, SID). The tool kit will be available online beginning September 7. Additionally, in mid-September, each member institution will receive three complete editions of the tool kit (sent to the president, athletics director and campus communications director). Conference offices also will receive one complete copy. Additional copies of the complete tool kit will be available and can be purchased via the Division III purchasing website.
"The purpose all along of the identity campaign and the accompanying strategic positioning is to better communicate the essence of the Division III philosophy," said Division III Presidents Council chair Jim Harris of Widener University. "These materials both visually and in words explain what we stand for as Division III members and what the student-athlete experience looks like in our division."
Harris, who presided over the Division III Presidents Council and Division III Presidents and Chancellors Advisory Group meetings August 11-12, heard about three dozen of his colleagues say during those sessions that their institutions and conferences stand ready to activate.
"Presidents understand that they need to take the lead on making sure these resources are activated at the local level," Harris said. "But we'll also be looking to partner with other athletics constituents and other campus groups to communicate these messages."
To help in that regard, the hundreds of Division III members of the College Sports Information Directors of America are poised to activate the platform, too. As CoSIDA rebrands itself as an association of strategic communicators, more than 200 Division III members participated in meetings and conference calls this summer to prepare to relay Division III's strategic initiatives to their own audiences.
"This campaign means a great deal to our membership," said DePauw Sports Information Director Bill Wagner, the current president of Division III CoSIDA. "Not only will they be great ambassadors in broadcasting the Division III message to external audiences, but I suspect they will be leaders on their campuses for doing the same internally."
Among those resources is a 30-second version of a longer identity video rolled out earlier this year that is now available for free download on the purchasing website and is featured on the Division III public website. It contains messages from a number of Division III student-athletes who reiterate how their participation in Division III athletics has allowed them to more fully experience all that the Division III campus has to offer.
Other materials on the purchasing website include posters, media backdrops and banners, which institutions can customize to co-brand their schools and conferences. A number of free items include the Division III logo pack, a full-page logo ad for publications, the Division III style guide and powerpoint templates.
Division III Vice President Dan Dutcher said he senses a "starting line" mentality developing among Division III members who have backed the creation of the division's identity campaign and are now eager to implement the visual elements.
"That is a good thing, because for this national campaign to be successful, it has to first succeed at the local level through activation and buy-in at each institution and conference," Dutcher said.
He urged all member schools to link to the new Division III website from their own school sites, and for communications directors – particularly sports information directors – to audit their communication materials to make sure they reflect the Division III campaign.
Division III also will begin seeing the visual effects of the campaign at the division's national championships this year, Dutcher said.
"I expect there to be significant energy behind this campaign," he said. "The Division III membership is ready to hit the start button on all of this, and we're ready to provide them with the resources to do so."
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