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FINALIZING THE STATEMENT At its most fundamental, a positioning statement tells the world: who you are, what you are/do, the benefits provided, and to whom. Example: The Ann Daly Dance Company is a site-specific dance theatre that collaborates with rural towns to inspire community renewal. Combining storytelling and mime, ADDC provides its partners with a creative experience in which to reexamine the past and reinvent the future. Example: The Ann Daly Dance Company is a freewheeling ballet ensemble that fuses ballet with cutting edge dance forms for young, urban audiences. By commissioning new works by emerging choreographers outside of ballet, ADDC delivers to the MTV generation a fresh experience in the live theatre. As you compose your statement, consider how accurate it is. How complete, how engaging. Is it aimed directly at your audiences? Does it read as distinctive, or sound familiar? Consult your short list of adjectives to add punch and specificity to the statement. Example: The Ann Daly Dance Company presents explosive, athletic movement that stretches the boundaries of dance. Too vague. What kind of dance is this? It could be anything from ballet to breakdancing. The choreographer may care about stretching the boundaries of dance, but most spectators don't. Example: The Ann Daly Dance Company is an award-winning, 12-member troupe that tours nationally. Long on facts that you may need in a grant application, but short on meaning for audiences. And where's the personality? Example: The Ann Daly Dance Company is dedicated to the creation of human harmony through the arts. Lots of heart, too little head. How does the company create harmony? For which humans? Through which arts? Example: The Ann Daly Dance Company presents ballet-lovers with the beauty of poetry-in-motion. An actionable cliché. But at least the audience is targeted. Make your positioning statement concise enough to explain in a short elevator ride if you were lucky enough to step into an elevator car with the patron of your dreams. This 'elevator pitch' should be comprehensible to anyone who's never seen your company. So delete from the positioning statement any dance-world jargon or studio shorthand. Once you have written a branding identity, you can proceed to designing an image and campaign that will telegraph your uniqueness to your target audiences. Name, logo, color, typography–all those elements, and more, can project your core essence to the people who most matter to you. A strong brand image, if delivered consistently, will give your message high visibility and staying power. All that's left, then, is to deliver on the promise. Ann Daly is a consultant, educator, speaker and author specializing in the arts and creative professions. She is on faculty in the College of Fine Arts at The University of Texas at Austin. © 2002 Ann Daly |
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