50
(cont'd)
The name of the college should rel ect its city centre status and any name needs to leave room for a
distinction to be made between the merged college and other colleges in Glasgow that lies outwith
the use of the term 'Glasgow', ie that the inclusion of 'Glasgow' in the title should not confer special
status on the merged college. Although New College is i ne as a working title, this would lose its
signii cance as time passes. Could a competition be held to i nd a name?
51 Option one: Glasgow Metropolitan College.
Keep the name and the strapline, but change the visual identity / logo to accommodate the new
'proposition' to the market (in particular the much expanded curriculum which will play a key part in
sub branding) and to give a clear visual break from the past; ef ectively, the 'new' Glasgow Met. This
of ers the opportunity not to throw 'the baby out with the bathwater' rather to provide 'fresh bathwater'.
Supporting Notes:
Glasgow Metropolitan College is a young brand - already forged by one merger - so it does not have
extensive history or 'baggage'. Indeed, part of its ongoing development is the accommodation of
further mergers.
The brand name and strapline are very strong in a market place full of uninspiring brand names
and bland - and even worse, wholly indistinctive - straplines (i.e. if you separate many college
names from their strapline, you really would be hard pressed to match them up - they are so
interchangeable which is the complete antithesis of cohesive, dif erentiation led branding).
This option allows for a strong degree of continuity, given that circa 50% of the new college derives
from Glasgow Metropolitan College.
When the brand name 'Glasgow Metropolitan College' was researched / taken through consultation,
the one response I will always remember is: "Glasgow Metropolitan College is a name to die for" - I
have yet to hear another name for the new college which I believe would illicit such a positive level
of response. Why ditch a strong name for a weaker name (from a branding perspective) for vague
'political' reasons, it must be a branding based and led decision.
Option two: City College Glasgow
This name picks up on the urbanite feel of the new College with an undertone of its cosmopolitan and
creative nature.
Supporting Notes:
The merger of GCBP and GCFT saw the second choice name as 'Glasgow City College'. However, it
was a poor second choice because phonetically the Glasgow vernacular would i nd it hard to avoid
the word 'city' becoming 'shitty'. In addition, it sounded like a department within Glasgow City Council
- not quite the 'pitch' you'd want!
However, changing the order of the words to 'City College, Glasgow' does change the tone and
'proposition' in a much more positive direction. I feel that you could develop a very strong strapline
embedding the word 'city'.
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52 Glasgow College
53 I was informed that the Principal Designate wanted something snappier and catchy as a name and
mission statement. I was hoping to think of something that symbolised the merge as a harmonious
union - as was pointed out, no college is the front runner in the joining…. I was also keen to bring a
concept of WHO is involved in the process of 'COLLEGE' - the students having such a role in further
education, not just lecturers and staf . I wanted the idea of dif erent cultures and age groups to be
mirrored in the name, showing the idea again of uniting the community. Lastly, I wanted to i nd
something Scottish and would work with 'college' as alliteration.
The idea is "College Comhla" or "Comhla College" (accent above the 'o'). I understand this is pronounced
'cove-la' or 'comb-la', and Comhla means TOGETHER in Gaelic. It is obviously important to have
something that is easliy pronounced and understood by non gaelic speakers, and can stand alone
without the word college after it, but also for example, easily recognisable when trying to pinpoint the
location, e.g. by taxi drivers in the city….
I thought the letters of COMHLA could also be used in the mission statement, or with the meaning
TOGETHER to give something more memorable.
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Appendix 10: Consultation Results