Strategic Communications & Marketing
Welcome
Our Mission
The Office of Strategic Communications & Marketing helps Loomis Chaffee meet its strategic goals by telling the stories of the school, managing the school’s brand, and connecting the school community through meaningful and timely communications.
Our Team
Rebecca Purdy
Associate Director of Communications; Girls Varsity Cross Country Head Coach, Loomis Chaffee Magazine Managing Editor
For the Media & the Public
News Media Inquiries
All news media inquiries and requests for interviews should be directed to Lynn Petrillo, director of strategic communications & marketing, at 860.687.6140 or lynn_petrillo@loomis.org.
If you are seeking information about our alumni, please contact Lisa Ross, director of alumni and parent relations, at 860.687.6277 or lisa_ross@loomis.org.
News Media Resources
Commercial Media Inquries
Any photographer or videographer who wishes to film on campus grounds must receive permission from the Office of Strategic Communications & Marketing. Please contact the office at 860.687.6140 or lynn_petrillo@loomis.org..
"Loomis Chaffee," "The Loomis Chaffee School," and "The Loomis Institute" and all associated trademarks, seals, and logos are protected by copyright. The Loomis Chaffee wordmark, seal, and/or logo may be reproduced only with express prior written permission from the Office of Strategic Communications & Marketing. Please contact the office at 860.687.6140 or lynn_petrillo@loomis.org.
Campus Access
Loomis Chaffee is a private institution, and our facilities and grounds are not generally open to members of the public unless they are visiting the school in an official capacity, e.g. admissions tours, special events open to the public, guests of community members, etc. This policy is in place for the safety of our students.
Journalists seeking access to the campus must email the director of strategic communications & marketing or call 860.687.6140 to secure credentials before coming to campus.
Commercial photographers and videographers are not permitted on campus without permission. Please email the director of strategic communications & marketing or call 860.687.6140 for more information.
For Our Community
The mission of the Office of Strategic Communications & Marketing is to help Loomis Chaffee meet its strategic goals by telling the stories of the school; managing the school’s brand; and connecting the school community through meaningful and timely communications. Our consulting and creative projects are prioritized to meet these goals. Requests for services that fall outside the scope of our mission will be considered as time and resources permit.
- Communications & Marketing Services
- News & Event Promotion and Reporting
- Plan Your Project
- Visual Style Guide
- Editorial Style Guide
Communications & Marketing Services
Our team is excited to partner with you to help you meet your communications and marketing goals. We offer many consulting and creative services, but our first task when working with you will be to understand what you want to achieve and why. What audiences are you trying to engage? What action do you want them to take? How will you measure success? And how does your project align with the school’s strategic priorities?
With the information gathered during an initial consulting phase, we can create a communications or marketing plan that best serves your needs.
Website
The digital communications team manages the school’s website and associated portals at www.loomischaffee.org. The team oversees all issues of design and function in coordination with our website vendor. All proposed website projects — edits, redesigns, and new pages — are prioritized based on their alignment with the school’s communications and marketing priorities. Do you have a website project in mind? Please start the process by contacting Mary Forrester at mary_forrester@loomis.org or 860.687.6108 or Jessica Ravenelle at jessica_ravenelle@loomis.org or 860.687.6818.
Social Media
The digital communications team manages Loomis Chaffee’s social media strategy and the school’s official channels on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. Please refer to the Loomis Chaffee Social Media Directory for a list of registered school accounts. All Loomis Chaffee departments and groups interested in launching their own social media channel must register their accounts with the Office of Strategic Communications & Marketing. For more information about branding, content, and best practices for social media, please refer to our social media guidelines. We are also available for individual consultation with all social media managers; please contact Makhala Huggins at makhala_huggins@loomis.org or 860.687.6225.
Design
Our design team specializes in meeting communications and marketing goals through the use of creative, engaging, and informative visuals and graphic content for print and digital media. The team also manages the brand identity of the school and its various departments and programs, including athletics and the Loomis Chaffee Summer Program. Do you have a design project you’d like to discuss with us? Please contact Cassandra Hamer at cassandra_hamer@loomis.org or 860.687.6379.
Print Materials
The Office of Strategic Communications & Marketing produces a wide variety of print materials, primarily for external audiences, as part of marketing plans for admissions, alumni/development, and the Loomis Chaffee Summer Program. Print materials include viewbooks, brochures, postcards, notecards, stationery, and posters. As time and resources permit, the office can consider other projects. The office also publishes the Loomis Chaffee Magazine three times a year: August, January, and April. The magazine's audience is the extended school community on and off the Island. If you have a print project in mind, please contact Lynn Petrillo at lynn_petrillo@loomis.org or 860.687.6140.
Photography
Our design team oversees photography for projects led by the Office of Strategic Communications & Marketing and maintains a digital asset management system with several years of photos on file. Our team oversees photography at all major school events, including Family Weekend, awards ceremonies, Commencement, and Reunion Weekend and arranges photography that represents the Loomis Chaffee experience in the classroom, athletics, student life, and the arts. Because we do not have a full-time in-house photographer, our ability to accommodate all requests for photography is limited. Please contact Lynn Petrillo at lynn_petrillo@loomis.org or 860.687.6140 with any questions or requests.
Videography
Our in-house video team produces video content primarily for external audiences as part of integrated marketing plans for admissions, athletics, development, and the Loomis Chaffee Summer Program. The team also produces video for news coverage and major school events, oversees the work of external vendors, and manages the school’s YouTube channel. Please direct any questions about video to Mary Forrester at mary_forrester@loomis.org or 860.687.6108 or Mike Howard at michael_howard@loomis.org or 860.687.6804.
Podcasts
Our digital media team produces The Pelican Scoop Podcast — a podcast about life at Loomis Chaffee, the many interesting and exciting things that happen here, and the people who live and learn on the Island. While prospective students and their families are the podcast's primary audience, the podcast is also a great way to inform the current school community about all that is happening at Loomis. The team also produces the Genuine Admissions podcast with Dean of Enrollment Amy Thompson. This podcast and Amy’s blog are produced specifically for prospective students and their families. Have an idea for a podcast episode? Please contact Lynn Petrillo at lynn_petrillo@loomis.org or 860.687.6140 or Mike Howard at michael_howard@loomis.org or 860.687.6804.
News & Event Promotion and Reporting
All members of the Office of Strategic Communications & Marketing have assigned beats. They check in regularly with departments and groups across campus to gather school news. As a team we determine if and how we will cover various news and events across campus. News may be written about or filmed for the website and/or one of our e-newsletters, written for stories and features in Loomis Chaffee Magazine, and/or posted on social media. Do you have a news to share? Please contact Matt Ruffle at matt_ruffle@loomis.org or 860.687.6261, Becky Purdy at becky_purdy@loomis.org or 860.687.6811, or John Cunningham at john_cunningham@loomis.org or 860.687.6070. Please note that time and resources limit our ability to cover all news and events.
Newsletters
Promoting an event or need to get the word out about a deadline or new program? One of our e-newsletters may be the best communication channel for you. Need some advice about which newsletter to use? Please contact Lynn Petrillo at lynn_petrillo@loomis.org.
Daily Bulletin
The Daily Bulletin is the primary communications channel for the campus community and is emailed to students, faculty, and staff every evening before a class day as well as Friday evenings. The bulletin contains announcements about events, activities, special schedules, deadlines, etc. Parents can subscribe if they like, and links to the most recent bulletins are posted on the faculty/staff, student, and parent portals. Please use the news submission form and submit announcements by 12 noon on the day of the publication. (For Sunday’s Daily Bulletin please send submissions by noon on Friday.)
Community eNews
Community eNews contains news and announcements specifically for employees and is emailed to faculty and staff every Monday afternoon. Links to past issues are available on the faculty/staff portal. Please use the news submission form and send your announcement by 12 noon on Mondays.
Parent eNews
Parent eNews contains news and announcements specifically for parents. The newsletter is emailed to all parents every Thursday afternoon while school is in session. Faculty and staff may submit announcements directly to Makhala Huggins at makhala_huggins@loomis.org by 12 noon on Thursdays.
Pelican Pride
Pelican Pride celebrates the accomplishments of our students, faculty, staff, and alumni and is emailed to all students, parents, faculty, and staff on Fridays while school is in session. Please use the news submission form to submit announcements by 12 noon on Fridays.
Alumni eNews
Alumni eNews is a digest of news about Loomis Chaffee alumni and the school and is emailed to all alumni approximately 8-10 times a year.
Plan Your Project
Do you have a project that you believe aligns well with our mission? We want to talk with you. Please follow the steps outlined below. Keep in mind that most projects take more time than you might think. The times presented in the chart below are meant to inform your planning.
|
Project |
In-House Time* |
Production Time (printing off-site) |
|
Web Update |
1-2 weeks |
|
|
Web Page Design (new) or Full Redesign |
5-10 weeks |
|
|
Brochure (tri-fold) |
4-5 weeks |
2-3 weeks |
|
Brochure (16 pages) |
6-10 weeks |
2-3 weeks |
|
Poster |
1-2 weeks |
1 week |
|
Video |
4-6 weeks |
|
|
Press Release |
1 week |
|
|
Stationery (letterhead) |
2-3 weeks |
2-3 weeks |
|
Stationery (custom notecards/postcards) |
2-4 weeks |
2-3 weeks |
|
Podcast Episode |
1-2 weeks |
|
|
Photography |
2 weeks |
|
|
Business Cards |
1-2 weeks |
2 weeks |
*This time includes initial consulting sessions with the Communications & Marketing team, concept development, copy writing, design creation, proofing, revisions, and final approvals.
Step 1 – Talk with our office
- If your department or group wants to create a marketing plan (with multiple deliverables), please contact Lynn Petrillo first.
- If you have just one deliverable in mind — a postcard, social media campaign, video, webpage — please contact the appropriate team member listed under the Consulting & Creative Services listing.
Following your conversation with our office, we will let you know if we are able to add your project to our production schedule. Priority will be given to projects that align with our mission. As time and resources allow, we will consider taking on additional projects. If we are unable to help you with your specific request, we will do our best to present some alternative options for you.
Step 2 – Complete a creative brief
As a second step for almost all projects, you will be asked to complete a creative brief. This document will help us better understand your project goals, audiences, messages, calls to actions, etc., and will serve as a reference for all decisions we make with you regarding the project.
Step 3 – Review and approve the project timeline
Our office will present you with a project timeline outlining milestone dates and deliverables. Before proceeding with the project, both our office and yours must agree to a timeline that will work for both of us.
Visual Style Guide
Brand Marks
Loomis Chaffee Coat of Arms and Wordmark
Loomis Chaffee Wordmark
Loomis Chaffee Coat of Arms
Color
Primary Colors
LC Red
- Pantone 7622c
- C=26 M=96 Y=86 K=24
- R=152 G=37 B=43
- HEX #98252b
For professional printing on uncoated paper stock, please use Pantone 1807u.
LC Gray
- Pantone 432c
- C=65 M=43 Y=26 K=78
- R=51 G=62 B=72
- HEX #323E48
Secondary Colors
Cupola
- Pantone 2232c
- C=61 M=7 Y=31 K=0
- R=95 G=184 B=182
- HEX #5CB8B7
Pelican
- Pantone 7535c
- C=10 M=11 Y=23 K=19
- R=190 G=183 B=166
- HEX #B6B09C
Meadow
- Pantone 134c
- C=0 M=12 Y=60 K=0
- R=255 G=221 B=127
- HEX #FED16D
Accent Colors
Brick
- Pantone 7580c
- C=18 M=80 Y=91 K=7
- R=193 G=82 B=49
- HEX #C25131
River
- Pantone 5405c
- C=65 M=35 Y=17 K=40
- R=64 G=97 B=122
- HEX #4E738A
Fonts
Print Use
The primary fonts for Loomis Chaffee print collateral and communications are Adobe Caslon Pro and Gotham Narrow. Generally, the following styles should be followed:
- Headlines: Adobe Caslon Pro Regular
- Subheads: Gotham Narrow Bold
- Body copy: Adobe Caslon Pro Regular
- Secondary copy: Gotham Narrow Book
Adobe Creative Cloud users can find Adobe Caslon Pro in Adobe Fonts. Gotham Narrow is available for purchase on Typography.com.
Web Use
Our primary fonts may not be available for emails and digital presentations. When Adobe Caslon Pro (a serif font) and Gotham Narrow (a sans-serif font) are not available, acceptable fallbacks include Georgia, or Times for serif fonts, and Helvetica, or Arial for sans-serif fonts.
Editorial Style Guide
Generally, we follow AP Style in our print and digital publications. Items particular to Loomis Chaffee, exceptions to our use of AP Style, and guidelines warranting extra clarification are detailed in the following editorial style guide.
Editorial Style Guide (PDF)
Social Media
Social Media Community Participation Guidelines
Loomis Chaffee maintains several social media accounts, including accounts on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. A directory of school-managed accounts is available on our website.
Many teams, dormitories, student organizations and clubs, and other groups also maintain Loomis-affiliated accounts on social media. The owners of those accounts are asked to follow these guidelines as well.
Social media provides a forum for sharing news and information about our school as well as a way for the school to connect and engage in dialogue and discussion with our larger community and with the public.
We believe in the open exchange of ideas. We invite open, frank, challenging, productive, and civil dialogue. We seek to make our social media channels a safe and inviting place for all those who participate in our channels.
To that end, we ask all those who post, respond, comment, or otherwise interact with our social media accounts to follow the set of guidelines below.
Those participating in Loomis Chaffee social media accounts:
- Will seek to engage in civil dialogue. Differing opinions are welcome and those who disagree are invited to do so respectfully.
- Will stay on topic and keep the discussion relevant to the post.
- Will not post or share copyrighted materials or other intellectual property that are not your own.
- Will not post anonymously.
- Will not post or share content that contains malware, spyware, viruses or any content intended to damage or infect others’ electronic devices.
- Will not post or share language or images that could be considered racist, sexist, homophobic, obscene, knowingly false, intentionally misleading, libelous, unlawful, or that are meant to incite or glorify violence.
- Will not engage in what could be considered ad hominem attacks.
- Will not engage in what could be considered unproductive calling out or singling out of individuals.
- Will not share personally identifying information about others without their express permission.
- Will not post content that violates any of the major school rules outlined in the Student Handbook.
The moderators of Loomis Chaffee-owned accounts reserve the right to hide or delete posts or comments who do not follow these guidelines. The moderators of Loomis Chaffee-owned accounts may occasionally block users who consistently violate these guidelines.
(updated July 2020)