Challenge

The School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration (TLA), is one of the largest landowners in Utah while also being one of the largest contributors to public education. Throughout the State, this agency is not a household name, in fact, many don’t even know its function or that it exists. RUMOR was approached by the agency to help them move into a new phase of branding and public awareness. To accomplish this new prioritization of public engagement, RUMOR was asked to redefine and solidify the branding for TLA, redesign and rebuild their website, and to create a public engagement strategy and campaign that would start helping Utahn’s understand who they are and what they do.

Our Approach

Understanding was at the heart of this brand and public engagement campaign. The RUMOR team began by gathering research- 1st party, 2nd party, and 3rd party research were all gathered to help determine the important key messages, key definitions, and key perceptions of who TLA is. Armed with this information, RUMOR began the process of defining core brand messaging, organizational vision, naming conventions, and brand visuals. After extensive design processes, RUMOR conducted additional research and surveys to determine brand effectiveness and perception. With a new branding strategy developed, RUMOR then redesigned and built the agency website to best serve industry partners- who conducted business on the site- and to inform and educate the public about the mission of the agency. RUMOR team then strategized and began a public outreach campaign that included traditional and digital media buying, organic social media campaigns, and PR efforts to begin to inform the public about TLA and its impact on their children’s education.

Results

TLA’s new brand has been well received by all stakeholder, parties, and industry professionals. The anecdotal feedback is that it now is clearly defined and has brought the agency to the new century. The new website has also proven to be an effective tool in educating the public about trust lands and the agency who owns them. Across all measurable website analytics, the new site is overperforming in every category. Public outreach campaigns are also proving a success, as they are leading more and more Utahn’s to website and community resources that show them how to become engaged and involved with the Trust Land Administration’s work.