North Carolina: Where Goodness Grows
Three teams comprised of NC State Jenkins MBA students and alumni are among ten finalist teams in the Brand NC Project. Commissioned by the North Carolina Department of Commerce and the Office of the Governor, the Brand NC case competition aims to create a new brand identity for the state of North Carolina, crafted by North Carolinians.
The author of this post is Leah Haile, Jenkins MBA student, Class of 2015. Her teammate, Scott Barnes, also wrote a post about his experience on the team.
I couldn’t have been more thrilled when my classmate, Chad Clapp, e-mailed me about joining Scott Barnes, Kurleen John, Janelle Tracy, Jared Whitehead, and him as a designer for the Brand NC Project competition. I came to the MBA program with a background in graphic design, so pretty much any opportunity to open the Adobe Creative Suite brightens my day. My experience in branding has traditionally been in the role of visual designer; I was excited to have the opportunity to dive deep into brand research and to work alongside a talented team of marketing mavens.
After a tactical meeting with professors from NC State’s Consumer Innovation Consortium (and marketing experts) Dr. Colbey Reid and Dr. Stacy Wood, Team CMYK hit the ground running. We conjured up slogans ranging from illustrative concepts like “Bountiful Beauty,” to more playful approaches like “The Whole Hog”and “Dang Y’all!” before finding satisfaction with the slogan “Where Goodness Grows.” We combed through research papers to guide our decision making. We looked to the past to preserve tradition and we looked to the future to inspire innovation. We recorded our video, created animations, prototyped brand elements, and submitted our final design and strategy.
This week, we learned that we—along with another team from the NC State Jenkins MBA program—have been chosen as finalists for the competition. On Saturday we’ll join nine teams at the Museum of Life Sciences to compete. My teammates and I are honored to have the opportunity to present our recommendations for re-branding the state. No matter the outcome this weekend, I think I can speak for us all when I say we’re proud to live where goodness grows.
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