University Times

The Katz Graduate School of Business unveiled the school’s new “Katz Ready” brand during a launch event yesterday in Mervis Hall.

Dean John T. Delaney told the University Times the quest for a new brand represented an effort to find a way to represent the school most effectively going forward. “We’ve got a business school that’s really strong — and for whatever reason, external audiences haven’t perceived it to be as strong as it is,” he said.

The new brand is being rolled out — in time for the recruiting cycle for next year’s MBA class — in conjunction with some recently approved MBA program changes. The new curriculum reduces the core curriculum and expands flexibility through certificates in a range of areas that will enable students to design their education to better fit with their career target.

“The MBA per se has become a commodity degree,” Delaney said. “Students are looking for ways to specialize their version of the MBA, and the use of the certificates and the flexibility of the program will allow them to do that in the market,” he said.

“Having the brand to launch at the same time really helps because the ‘Ready’ theme gives us something to talk with students about. And the fact that we can help them prepare for almost anything — that it can be flexible — is going to reinforce the potential value of coming here,” he said.

“We wanted a campaign that’s going to allow us to demonstrate our strengths, that’s consistent with the attributes of our program, because the approach we’re taking emphasizes that we do a lot of  experience-based learning. We want students to learn through doing as much as by listening.

“We expose students to areas like entrepreneurship, supply chain management and a lot of opportunities to collaborate, including across Pitt schools,” he said. “All those pieces are pretty attractive and they fit in the campaign because the notion of ‘Ready’ asks an individual to assess ‘Where am I now relative to that aspiration that I have? In my business degree program, am I getting everything that I need so that I can be ready?’”

The brand will be seen locally and in initial target markets in Cleveland and Dallas-Fort Worth  — locations selected for their Katz alumni bases as well as hoped-for connections with recruiters. It will feature a variety of images reflecting the many kinds of ready Katz students will be, including “big pitch ready,” “tough room ready,” “promotion ready,” “market growth ready” and “C-suite ready.”

Katz school spokesperson Kate Ledger said the associated imagery evokes the feeling connected with a particular moment in time “when an individual is on the brink of doing something really big in a business setting.”

The Katz name will be featured prominently in the brand, which was developed with input from faculty and administrators in conjunction with Chicago-based marketing firm Lipman Hearne.

Delaney said, “Students associate quality with a named school, so we felt that it’s important to use the name,” he said. “We do have a strong brand name, so why not use it?”

He said the “Pitt Business” brand would continue in connection with undergraduate business programs, but at the graduate level the focus will be on the Katz brand.

Delaney said he believes the Katz Ready theme will be well received by students and alumni alike and that it has the potential to evolve over the long term.

“If you can hit on an approach that really reflects the underlying attributes and qualities of your program, it will be a longer timeline and a longer lifespan than if you’re not really on those targets. We think this approach fits pretty well with us and should last for a while. … We’re hopeful that will be something people really enjoy and that’s going to be valuable to us.”

—Kimberly K. Barlow