Project Description
SAMSAT Museum
Brand positioning, identity/design, copywriting and PR
VISIT: SAMSAT.ORG
Testimonial:
“The team at Taylor West helped us think through what it was we wanted to communicate about ourselves, who we wanted to tell our story to, what platforms to use, the strategy to be effective….and to execute! Their skill, professionalism and commitment have been amazing. We are thrilled to have them be an integral part of our projects!” – Doug King, President and CEO
Overview:
Since the San Antonio Science of Museum and Technology (SAMSAT) moved into the Port of San Antonio in 2018, they have served over 30,000 people (predominately K-12 kids) with their STEM education. However to the other 1.5 million San Antonio residents, SAMSAT is virtually unknown or only perceived as a topic of interest for a niche group. Taylor West was charged with opening the eyes of students, parents, educators, donors and city leaders to the importance of SAMSAT in transforming lives through an inviting and compelling brand story that shows how STEM can, and is, a part of the past, present and future.
Strategy:
We started by understanding SAMSAT’s priorities, challenges and
opportunities through a holistic deep dive and collaboration with their
team. We contributed agency service time for onboarding which
allowed for expedited support on time-sensitive projects that needed to
be addressed prior to the official branding campaign launch. Our team
was quickly embraced as a partner and seen as a member of SAMSAT
rather than a vendor
Deliverables:
We conducted discovery sessions and interviews with key stakeholders and used them as a springboard for ideation.
We identified SAMSAT as a place where patrons are presented hands-on opportunities to understand technologies that in the past seemed impossible or far-fetched and by doing so, challenges them to rethink what is possible in the future. This approach allows SAMSAT to move beyond just STEM skills learned while in the museum and to take ownership of the “inspiration” that leads to innovation.
We created the tagline “Inspiring What’s Next” to summarize this positioning of the museum and broaden its appeal past the niche STEM crowd. This tagline was unanimously embraced by the board.
We then created a positioning playbook to guide SAMSAT in communicating this new vision to students, parents, donors and city leaders. This allowed them to move forward in their messaging while the visuals for the upcoming campaign are developed.
Lastly, we provided PR support to raise awareness for the appointment of Doug King as the new CEO and of the Mayor’s K-12 Smart City Challenge co-developed by SAMSAT and the office of Mayor Ron Nirenberg.
A full rebranding campaign is currently in development.