I first realised branding and marketing might be for me when I was 16. I just did not know what they were.
I was always asked to design posters for school plays because I could draw a bit. Alan Bleasdale’s “No More Sitting On The Old School Bench” was an interesting choice for a private school; set in a comprehensive staff room tackling issues in the education system.
I read the play and had an idea.
Use words from the script to promote it.
Seemed simple and obvious.
“All teachers to strike.”
“N.U.T. say out.”
Nothing else. No mention of the play, date or time.
Just words of action.
I pinned around forty posters to trees, windows and doors around the school at 6.00am. When I went to breakfast, a long walk across the site, I was disappointed to see they had all vanished.
But I soon realised the campaign had worked.
A teacher had taken down every poster and was annoyed by them. He escalated concerns about the messages and what they meant for the staff.
Everyone knew about the play. No one saw a poster.
I know a lot more about branding and marketing now than I did then. Creating reaction and letting others spread the message builds brands, though preferably without making teachers angry.
