University of Sheffield, TERC: brand proposition and messaging

The Translational Energy Research Centre (TERC) is part of the Energy Institute at the University of Sheffield and is part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund. 

In Spring 2022, we were commissioned to develop a brand proposition and messaging framework to give some consistency and relevance to the way that The Translational Energy Research Centre, part of the Energy Institute at the University of Sheffield, communicates.

The centre was keen to ensure its messages were appealing and relevant to key audiences such as industrial partners and policy makers, as well as academics working in energy research, decarbonisation and sustainability. 

We carried out some light touch discovery work including a review of their existing brand messaging, as well as looking at messaging and positioning of other Institutes and Research Centres in the field.

We also carried out consultations with key internal stakeholders to better understand their offer and purpose, their key audiences, and their messages and proposition.

By speaking to a small sample of industrial partners, we were also able to test the effectiveness of TERC messaging alongside that of competitors. We were keen to understand the impact of the language being used, the relevance of the messaging, and the strengths of TERC and competitors' brand messaging.

From here, we came up with three potential routes or brand propositions to shape TERC messaging. For each proposition, we provided a summary statement, teaser and longer description, positive and negatives of the proposition and implementation considerations.

In discussion with TERC, this was refined to one clear proposition, which was expanded to include key messages, supporting statements, and content ideas to communicate the proposition effectively. This was delivered in a designed PDF document to be shared with internal colleagues and partners.

Rhianne Spurden, Marketing and Communications Officer, said about working with us: "Pickle Jar really helped us to bring together our existing messaging, and reshape it for our very wide range of audiences. Their expertise in the market and ability to ask our stakeholders the right questions about our messaging has given us significant clarity on how we're performing and our future strategic communication plans. We're grateful for their support and input, which has resulted in useful documentation and a new lease of life for our key messages." 

Photo Credit: The University of Sheffield