Rebranding a Peer Education Group - One School's Journey

The decision to rebrand Western State Colorado University’s student wellness initiative was motivated by many things.  We were rebranding our institution and I guess you could say we were all experiencing a bit of an identity crisis, our student initiatives at the time were antiquated, and quite honestly not very open to embracing diverse student representatives.  Most importantly though, Western needed to address prevention more holistically and to create a single student wellness initiative that more students wanted to be a part of. 

We at the time had 3 clubs that addressed prevention education issues, Western’s Responsible Alcohol Partnership (WRAP), Sexual Assault Prevention Advocates (SAPA) and Wellness Coordinators.  The members of these clubs were few in numbers but very passionate and dedicated.  As I introduced the idea of rebranding, many felt they were going to lose their club, their purpose.  While I promised the students that I would continue to honor their passions, I also whole heartedly believed that a unified initiative was needed for our campus.  I forced the students to start working together, literally, in one room, all together, brainstorming their different goals and how we could all support each other. 

This did not go well.  The students were angry, at me and at each other.  The WRAP students did not want to talk about sexual assault, the sexual assault prevention students had very little interest in decreasing substance use rates, and the wellness students just wanted everyone to be happy and get along. Ok, it wasn’t quite that simple but you get the picture. 

I also stopped using the words “prevention education” with students.  When I use the term “prevention education” it automatically becomes “that group/person that wants to take away/prevent my fun”.  I instead use “health and wellness” and I continually discussed that our goal should be to promote healthy, happy, responsible lifestyles that understand health holistically, not as the absence of a single ailment or behavior.

This was year one.  All I accomplished in year one was kind-of bringing everyone to the table and changing the language we used when we talked about health.  I also lost all but two students either due to graduation or because I ran them off with my new initiative.  

Year two was better.  I advertised work study positions for “Wellness Coordinators”, I still had no brand or budget but I managed to recruit three amazing students. They were diverse, and passionate, and most of all they were willing to work with me through this transitional period. 

I then attended my first BACCHUS General Assembly that fall. One session in particular changed everything for me, it was put on by Columbia University and while I don’t really remember what the session was on, I do remember one thing, their brand: RC@C.  I went back to my hotel room that night and I started brainstorming names that would honor each of the three clubs that merged into our new initiative, it took me a while but I came up with The SWEET Life (SAPA and WRAP Educators Emphasizing Total wellness). When I returned I introduced the new name and the students liked it, it made them feel as though the separate initiatives were still being honored.  We then hired a local graphic design firm and began working on a logo.  The logo is a really important part of the branding process, it’s essentially your first impression.  Even if you can’t tell someone about your initiative, your logo should communicate your purpose.  Eventually we came up with this…

… And that’s a wrap on year two.  I recruited some new students and we created an identity, The SWEET Life.

Year three begins: I had a plan, I had students, I had a small budget thanks to our Student Government Association and grants I spent the summer writing, and most importantly I had a brand.  The SWEET Life was ready to focus on two things: recruitment and brand recognition.  I spoke with a faculty member in the marketing and communications department and they told me in order to truly infiltrate your brand people need to see/hear/taste/smell it at least 3 times before they would recognize it.  So, I used every opportunity I could to expose our brand.  I bought logo’d swag, we bought a logo’d tablecloth for events, we put our logo on every poster or deliverable we created, I mentioned “The SWEET Life” at every opportunity with students, and I got myself and my students in front of people as often as I could, to associate a face (a diverse face of students from all interests and walks of life) with the new brand.  I also forbid my students to say the words “WRAP” or “SAPA”, from here on out we were “The SWEET Life”.

For all intents and purposes, it worked!  Last year we certified 14 people as Peer Educators under “The SWEET Life”, versus 5 in year two.  We were able to establish 2 internship positions that students now compete for based on their involvement and dedication to “The SWEET Life”, and student groups, clubs, and departments actually approach us for collaboration. Most importantly, the students I had retained, the ones that stuck with me through the transition told me they felt like they were helping change the culture of wellness on our campus: they had their purpose back!

Ultimately when you rebrand a student group, you are in fact doing so much more than that.  You are setting a precedent for how students will relate to and contextualize wellness while on campus and throughout their lives.