1. Engineering a ‘Classroom Brand’
in Eight Steps
Develop the Student Culture & Climate You Want
Andrew Steinman
@steinman

2. Full Disclosure:
I have no background/training in
marketing, business, nor advertising.
I also seek nothing to gain
proprietarily from any ideas
regarding branding
The claims I make are based on
observations of culture, media, and
human behavior; my ideas are
informed by a background in
psychology, philosophy, and
learning theory
I may not be the first person to
describe the ideas presented here,
but I do not have any sources to cite
for my claims on ‘classroom brand’

3. Aim of Presentation
This presentation is about branding, both as a concept and as
it relates to classroom culture; it has three main objectives:
1. To illustrate the power and pervasiveness of brands/branding
2. To define a ‘classroom brand’
3. To enumerate the steps required to create and implement a
classroom brand

4. Order of Operations
1) Background, Motivation, &
Inspiration For ‘Classroom
Brand’
2) Define ‘Classroom Brand’
3) The Eight Steps to Engineer
Your Own ‘Classroom
Brand’
4) The Story of #TeamPhysics

5. Background
Brands are an ubiquitous element of culture
Brands pervade nearly every aspect of life
Commerce
Entertainment
Ideology
Location
Experience
Behavior
Brands are relevant to every demographic, by design
Branding relies on cognitive science - brain’s ability to form
associations

6. What is a brand?
Dictionary.com defines a ‘brand’ as a noun, meaning:
A word, name, symbol, etc., used by a manufacturer or
merchant to identify its products distinctively from others
of the same type and usually prominently displayed on its
goods, in advertising, etc.

7. Background:
Brands & Branding Power

8. Branding is Ubiquitous
Everyone, especially youth, are exposed to branding

9. Branding and Learning
Cognitive science tells us that
learning happens through
associations our brains form
Associations can have
temporal, spatial, physical, or
even emotional components
Brand recognition begins early
in life and can be easily
connected to learning
Are we hard-wired to learn
brands?
Do they capitalize on how
our brains make associations?
Kids learn brands readily
Test yourself on these ----->

10. Branding with Young Kids
Children’s toys
Candy
The grocery store checkout
impulse rack
Do they deliberately take
advantage of colors and other
sensory/experiential
attractions?
Does brand success rely on
the brain’s ability to form
associations?

11. Branding to Adolescents
Fashion
Style
Music
Movies
Magazines
Economic Class
Behaviors
Social Stereotypes
Pretty Girl
Jock
Nerd
The Challenge Day organization
calls this: “fit in the box”
Miss Representation

12. The Logos
Quiz
An app-based game where you
try to guess as many logos from
popular brands as possible
Very popular game among
adolescents

13. Brand Recognition Survey
Survey of 13-17 y/o asked to rate
how well they know brands and
brand quality:
1. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups
2. iPod
3. Google
4. M&Ms
5. Oreo’s
6. Subway
7. Hershey’s Milk Chocolate
8. Target
9. Sprite
10. Microsoft

14. College Branding
Universities, colleges, and their sports teams
Academic majors, fraternities/sororities
The type of college: “good” school, ivy league, or “party” schools

15. Political Branding
In the U.S., we use these labels:
Republican
Democrat
Liberal
Conservative
Green Party
Tea Party

16. Other Types of Brands
Personal brand
Event brand
Location brand

17. Sports Branding
Possibly most well-known
Very popular
Appeals to wide audience
Brings people together

18. Experiential Brand:
Olympics
“World togetherness, in sport.”

19. Social Media & Branding
Product is the experience of
connecting & sharing
Anyone can start a brand
Different nature of audience
with different perception
avenues
Hashtags as brands
#EdChat

20. Motivation:
Branding seems to be everywhere BUT the classroom

21. Inspiration:
How #TeamPhysics Was Born

22. Classroom Brand Defined
Classroom Brand is that which represents all that
your classroom stands for:
Ideas, experiences, norms, values, interactions,
structure, and connectedness
A classroom brand simply embodies what I want my
classroom culture to be

23. 1. Write your classroom experience
sentence
2. Design a logo for your classroom brand
3. Come up with a hashtag for your
classroom brand
4. You need a mantra for your classroom
brand
5. Your classroom brand should embody
student-developed norms and values
6. Classroom brand paraphernalia
7. Make your classroom brand ubiquitous
to students
8. Obtain survey-based feedback on your
classroom brand from students from
time to time
8 Steps to Create Your Brand

24. 'What's Your Sentence?' ~ Dan Pink
•What you want brand (class) to be remembered for
•Single sentence
•Focuses the branding
•Brand built around sentence
Nike | Just Do It
Classroom Experience Sentence

25. Design a Brand Logo
✴Every good brand needs a logo
✴Visual recognition is imperative to branding
✴Two choices:
✴Icon
✴Word
✴TeamPhysics logo is word made of physics symbols

26. Create a Hashtag
! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! @steinman
First answer this question several times:
What acronym, phrase or word/
number(s) could represent your brand
in as few characters as possible?
Should be unique (on Twitter)
Research best ideas, then make it official
Hashtags can:
Have subversive/double
meanings
Stand for something in another
language

27. Establish a Mantra
✤Like the sentences/phrases companies have beneath their logo
✤Short
✤Memorable
✤Can be easily recited to others
✤Builds the abstract element of what the brand stands for
✤TeamPhysics mantra is "Challenge accepted."
✤Tumblr is a good example
Follow the World’s Creators.

28. Student-Developed
Norms & Values
✦Not same as classroom rules
★Like tipping a server at a restaurant
✦Norms and values are ideals
✦Students desire to have these
✦Develop together with students
✦Create and promulgate early in year
--Example norm from TeamPhysics:
After a group finishes a whiteboard
presentation, everyone claps, and it's a
golf clap.Rules sound like this...

29. Paraphernalia
Start planning early in the year
Determine best place to get shirts made
Athletic department is a good resource
Have students participate in design
Choose colors and style
Get them made early as possible
Encourage everyone to get one
if possible, make it so that everyone gets one
parent club, booster club, grant $$
Have special days where everyone wears the shirts
Test day = game day (support the team!)
Field trips
Promotes classroom brand
Unifies the group

30. Make the Brand Ubiquitous
Brand logo goes on every document
students receive in the class
Hard copy or electronically
Assignments, handouts, assessments
Make posters, put the logo on your
classroom door, website, etc.
Pronoun test for how you or students
talk about the class
Language should be in statements of
“we” or “us”

31. Obtain Feedback About the Brand
Corporate brands obtain feedback from
their consumers/clients
See how your brand is doing
Feedback is student-centered and risk free
Anonymous surveys
Safe class discussions
Small group discussions and
whiteboard sharing

32. Final Thought
You already have a
classroom brand
Who do you want to define
that brand?

33. Engineering a ‘Classroom Brand’
in Eight Steps
Develop the Student Culture & Climate You Want
Andrew Steinman
@steinman