Building an Accessible

bRand

Making Arts Education for All with Juilliard

Building a Strategy to Change Perception

I was tasked with building an audience for a new set of digital products including online courses, apps and digital music lessons from the Juilliard conservatory. Commissioning a Market Research study into the Juilliard brand, I discovered that a key barrier to entry for the conservatory would be the general public’s perspective of Juilliard as Elitist and Inaccessible institution.

WHAT WE HAD

World Renowned Brand

Unparalleled Educational Content

WHAT WE DIDN'T HAVE

An Audience

Perception of Accessibility

WHAT WE HAD

World Renowned Brand

Unparalleled Educational Content

WHAT WE NEEDED

A Digital Audience Interested in Online Education

Perception of Accessibility

Creating a New Juilliard Brand

In order to make Juilliard accessible we needed to break down the barrier between the conservatory and the community. Thus the creation of JOE (Juilliard Open Education).

This affectionate brand with a playful feel was conceived as an identity with deep roots back to the institution itself. The acronym, JOE, was an insider nod to then president Dr. Joseph Polisi while also serving to make this new division of Juilliard more approachable.

Reaching New Audiences

JOE launched as a performing arts content hub that hosted original articles and videos about theater, music, and dance and its relationship to diverse areas including technology, pop culture, activism and wellness.

Taking subjects with interests beyond just the arts, we sought to bring a broader segment of consumers into the site.

After developing the brand and website from scratch, the launch generated well over 100k initial page views and served as the primary traffic source for the first online education product launch. Juilliard’s first online course, Beginner’s Piano, enrolled 100 students with an initial price point of $600.

MORE CASE STUDIES