Science Center: A Brand Case Study
The University City Science Center helps commercialize technology, deploys capital to address health inequities, cultivates STEM talent, and convenes people to generate new ideas. When Philadelphia was recently ranked as a Top 30 Global Startup Ecosystem, the Philadelphia Story toolkit enabled the Science Center to easily—and quickly—infuse the City’s ranking page with our personality and message. It’s also helping them reframe their messaging for future materials to more clearly convey the City to global audiences.
“One of our goals is to attract companies from other parts of the world to Philadelphia and forge partnerships. A lot of our existing marketing materials take for granted that people ‘get’ what Philadelphia is and understand where University City is located. We can’t do that when we’re talking to a global audience who doesn’t have that kind of familiarity with Philadelphia,” says Kristen Fitch, the Science Center’s Senior Director of Marketing.
Right Resource at the Right Time
Earlier this year, Philadelphia was ranked No. 28—the City’s highest position ever—on Startup Genome’s 2021 Startup Ecosystem Global Report. Philadelphia jumped 15 positions from last year, which according to their data, makes the City one of the fastest-growing startup ecosystems in the world along with Tokyo.
Philadelphia’s rise in the ranks and emerging global recognition means more people will be curious about the City, and more specifically will be looking at the Philadelphia page as part of Startup Genome’s report.
“The Top 30 is what everyone gets excited about, so we know there will be more eyes on our ecosystem page and there will be press around the Top 30,” says the Science Center’s Senior Director of Marketing Kristen Fitch. “This kind of third-party recognition validates what we already know is happening here. It lends credibility.”
Startup Genome was able to reference the Philadelphia Story toolkit to develop the narrative for the Philadelphia page, and Kristen as well as her collaborators from Drexel University and Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania infused the copy with brand language. Also, copy limits were strict, which adds an additional challenge of being impactful with few words.
“We pulled from the homepage, brand pillars, and descriptor words to make it clear that we’re a passionate city full of people who can make things happen. We also pulled stats related to the startup ecosystem,” says Kristen.
The “Work Here” section of the Philadelphia Story website was particularly helpful for the Science Center because they work to ensure talent pipelines are filled with local people, and that section of the site provided valuable information about the City’s vast talent pool.
Helpful Advice
Kristen urges other people in positions like hers to make the effort to understand the importance of this work and how impactful it can be for Philadelphia-based institutions to be in alignment with how we communicate about the City.
“The Philadelphia Story is a toolbox for the marketers of Philadelphia for their respective businesses. This is super helpful for somebody in my position and enables us all to speak cohesively about the assets we have here,” says Kristen.
Future Messaging Support
The Science Center has already identified a need to adapt how they’re talking about the City to global audiences in marketing materials, and language from the Philadelphia Story toolkit will be used in upcoming Global Soft Landing collateral. Also, as the information and resources listed on the site continues to grow, it will become more and more valuable to anyone telling the Philadelphia Story.