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This article was first published 06.09.2021 on schmidtideas blog

After many years of branding work for the Deutsche Schule Jakarta, I want to share some insights on the strategic thinking behind the positioning and DSJ brand story.

If you have a general interest in marketing and branding and are curious to know more about what steps DSJ is taking to grow into a successful, well-known school brand, you will hopefully enjoy this article. I further wish that this article might help our students to get a better understanding of why branding is so crucial in today's omni-channel world.

I am very much looking forward to hear your feedback. Enjoy your read.

BACKGROUND - proud history

From the humble beginnings in the mid 1950’s in the West-Java town of Bandung, to the state-of-the-art campus in the centre of BSD City - DSJ looks back on a proud history in Indonesia.

For most of its existence Deutsche Schule Jakarta used to be a rather exclusive school catering to German speaking children from expatriate families living and working in Indonesia. But things started to change during the Asian crisis of 1998 as foreign and German speaking expatriate numbers in Indonesia began to decrease. This trend has continued ever since.

Understanding the change in target audience, DSJ set up a Trilingual branch in the early years of the new century, opening the German curriculum and its worldwide accepted Abitur graduation to Indonesian students without prior German language skills.

The transition from a mainly German-language-institution to a truly international and intercultural school has been highly successful and guaranteed the continuation and development of DSJ into one of Indonesia’s finest international schools.

In 2019 approximately 300 children from over 10 nationalities studied at DSJ, with nearly 80% of them being Indonesian or from mixed marriage families.

Since the introduction of the Trilingual branch, many Indonesian students have successfully graduated the Abitur, often achieving top marks.

[ 01 ]  MARKETING - understanding the market challenge

The shift from catering to exclusively German-speaking-expatriates to a mostly local target audience obviously represents a big marketing challenge.

While there was very little to explain to German-speaking-parents about the Deutsche Schule and why to enroll their children, this is obviously very different for local parents; very few of whom have ever heard of, let alone considered DSJ and the German curriculum as the education path for their children.

Different from the IB or Cambridge curricula, which are educational ‘household names’ in Indonesia, the German International Abitur (or ‘DIA’) has rarely been promoted abroad, so it comes at no surprise, that very few locals would even know that non-German-speaking students are welcome to join.

Because this lack of awareness among its largest target audience and the increasing competition of international-style-schools in the greater West/South Jakarta area, a thorough re-positioning was inevitable, which led to the involvement of the Jakarta brand consultancy firm schmidtideas in 2019.

What started as a positioning & brand story assignment, extended into other brand / communication & search-engine-marketing (SEM) efforts.

And there is still much to be done.

[ 02 ] BRAND POSITIONING - defining the brand building blocks

The task is to establish DSJ among the 'TOP OF MIND' international schools in Jakarta, including premium local institutions that teach international curricula.

How to create awareness about the German school and its ‘unknown’ curriculum in this saturated market dominated by English language curricula and transform it into a recognized and inspirational brand?

For starters - the right brand positioning is paramount. Without it any communication will be like driving blindfolded.

A good positioning must answer these three questions; what, how and why?

What ? - Every organisation on the planet knows what they do -

the products or services they sell

How ? - some know how they do it. Theses are the things that make them special,

set them apart, their competitive edge (unique selling points)

Why ? - well, now this is where it gets complicated.

Very few organisations truly know why they do what they do.

And don’t get this wrong - the why is NOT about making money.

Why is a strong value proposition: a purpose, cause or belief.

The very reason the organisation exists.

Now let’s answer these 3 questions for Deutsche Schule Jakarta

01 WHAT are we offering?

Educational excellence from kindergarten up to the university-entrance-qualification, taught in our 3 national tongues (German, English and Indonesian)

02 HOW are we doing it?

One of the world’s most esteemed pedagogic cultures, the ‘Deutsches Internationales Abitur’ (DIA) - taught by highly qualified teachers -

guarantees the best possible upbringing of our students and access to ANY study- and career-path anywhere worldwide.

Because of our non-profit nature and the German government support, we can focus on the child instead of the profit margin.

03 WHY are we doing what we do?

We nurture confident, well-mannered students with high values, strong life skills and the cultural preparedness to successfully adapt to and compete in our increasingly complex world. Because every child deserves the best education possible.

New [ 03 ]  BRAND MESSAGE -

How to clearly communicate our message?

Now as we have identified the basic building blocks of the DSJ-brand, how do we communicate our message, one that is easily understood and relevant to our target customers?

Why do people would want the DSJ school in their lives?

There’s a great book that very much helps to get a crack on this -

Donald Miller’s “How to build a story brand”

I can only encourage any marketeer and brand enthusiast to read it. This book puts brand-building into an easy-to-understand context.

Let me summarize a long and well told story:

The key to being seen, heard and understood is to clarify your message!

And the most powerful tool to do just that - to structure information - is a good story. It’s a sense-making devise.

Alfred Hitchcock once said a good story is “life with the dull parts taken out.”

Humans have told each other stories since the early days of mankind. Nothing keeps our attention longer than a good story. 

This is a crucial insight - especially given our waning attention-span in today’s fast and omni-channel world.

And the best part to it - there’s even a FORMULA to great scripting.

Donald Miller calls this his “7 plot points to success”.

[ 1 - 2 ]  Every story has a hero who wants something, but has a problem to achieve it. In almost all stories a villain (metaphorical, does not have to be a person) challenges our hero’s success.

[ 3 - 4 - 5 ]  In his time of need the hero turns to a trusted guide, who offers him a plan and calls him to action.

[ 6 ] The hero gets what he wants (happy ending) or [ 7 ] fails, ending tragically.

Almost all stories live and die on a simple question: will the hero succeed or fail?

The only two motivations are to escape something bad or experience something good.

Such is life.

Brands that help avoid some kind of negativity in life engage customers for the same reason good stories captivate the audience: they define what is at stake.

If nothing can be gained or lost, nobody cares.

To make the above points a little less abstract, here are two absolute classic story examples:

We went to great lengths applying these 7 plot points to the Deutsche Schule Jakarta Story - if you like to understand the in-depths scripting that led to our brand story, please continue to read this article here on schmidtideas Blog.

If you are happy to skip that part and jump straight to the brand story please keep reading.

The Deutsche Schule Jakarta Brand Story

[ 01 ]  Who are we talking to, want do they want

What is the most important gift parents can offer their child? Many would likely answer: “The best education we can afford.”

[ 02 ]  What is at stake - the challenge our hero is facing

As a parent, your decision on schooling will greatly impact your child’s future.

Will your choice support his or her potential and life prospects ...

or limit them?

[ 03 ]  Empathy - customers can trust us

Quality education is a major investment, and we understand how challenging the search for the right school can be. Therefore we ensure the best possible guidance for you to arrive at a well-informed result.

[ 04 ]  Authority - customers can respect

DSJ is part of a prestigious global network of 140 German-government-supported schools abroad, with over 60 years of experience in Indonesia.

[ 05 ]  What we offer - our competitive edge

We teach the highly elaborate German ‘DIA’ curriculum - or Deutsches Internationales Abitur - one of the world’s most esteemed teaching cultures, and the only one ‘Made in Germany’.

Our teaching philosophy focuses on each child individually, identifying unique needs and skills.

[ 06 ]  Unique selling points - part of the plan ( story plot points )

To ensure academic and personal growth, our highly qualified teachers embark with your child on a learning journey, which engages MIND, BODY and all the SENSES.

This way, we nurture curious and independent personalities and the development of strong life skills.

[ 07 ]  Unique selling points - part of the plan ( story plot points )

Continuous curriculum development and consistent monitoring and quality control by the German authorities, guarantee educational excellence from Kindergarten up to the University entrance qualification.

Due to our non-profit nature and the financial assistance of the German Government, we are able to offer reasonable school fees and maximal education value.

[ 08 ]  Unique selling points - part of the plan ( story plot points )

As ‘Begegnungsschule’ - a school of encounter - we provide a friendly, multi-cultural environment, promoting respect for everyone’s roots, values, and traditions.

The result: confident, well-mannered students with excellent language skills and the cultural preparedness to take their place in tomorrow’s global communities.

[ 09 ]  Why we do what we do

Rest assured - at DSJ, your children will learn the necessary skills, values and capabilities to successfully adapt to and compete in our increasingly complex world.

[ 10 ]  Our brand promise & tagline

The ‘Deutsches Internationales Abitur’ is your child’s ticket to any study - and career path, including anywhere abroad.

DSJ - Zukunft made in Germany

This brand story is our basic message-outline from which almost all of the communication tools and content are developed. Keep in mind that brands are ‘living things’, so our story will evolve over time.

If you are a marketeer or own a brand yourself - as long as you do your homework, understand the market, the target audience as well as your own brand and competitive edge; the above actions will help you to be on your way to advancing your product or services into a relevant and engaging brand.

Last not least I want to express my thanks to the Deutsche Schule Jakarta  for being such a great and appreciative client. Here’s to the next 65 years!

Well, this pretty much wraps up this blog. I appreciate your interest and hope that you learned something new. Please do let me know your thoughts below or contact me directly here.

Axel Schmidt, Jakarta