Putting the Conversation Before the Credit Card
How Varsity Tutors went from sales-first to human-first, and became the #1 live online tutoring platform in the U.S.
The Problem
We didn't have a brand.
We had a sales pitch.
Varsity Tutors had a brand awareness problem. Less than 19% of people knew who we were. But the bigger issue was how we talked to the people who did know us. Everything sounded like a sales pitch. "Sign up now." "Limited time offer."
And because we didn’t have a defined brand voice, every team and channel had its own way of describing who we were. It was rudderless chaos.
Brand Attributes
Manifesto
The Approach
Listen first.
Then build something true.
Before I wrote a single word of brand copy, our researcher and I ran brand perception surveys and customer interviews to understand what people actually wanted. The insights were clear: parents were looking for real help from someone who gets their kid. Deals are great, but a quality tutor matters more.
Next, I facilitated internal workshops to align all stakeholders on what VT should feel like, not what it should say. That distinction mattered. I defined the core brand attributes and wrote a manifesto that reframed the narrative around the learner instead of the service.
These initial pieces drove the rebrand. I made sure everyone (not just stakeholders) had printouts to put by their desk.
The Work
Same goal.
New voice.
After getting leadership buy-in, I collaborated with designers to build brand guidelines. We then worked with internal teams and agency partners to apply the new voice and brand to every touchpoint.
While the old voice was transactional, the new voice and messaging spoke to parents like people and with empathy. We still drove conversion, but we also built brand loyalty by starting with connection and trust.
Brand Guidelines Excerpts (full site)
Web copy went from hard-sell to benefit-driven. During the pandemic, our model and our messaging changed to focus on helping parents navigate learning from home.
With the new brand in place, we developed a series of 30-sec spots to promote online camps and classes.
The Result
Varsity Tutors went from less than 19% brand awareness to becoming the #1 live online tutoring platform in the U.S.
Content consistency improved across every channel. Teams that used to wing it now had a shared language and a shared standard.
But the result I’m most proud of is the cultural shift. The company moved from a mindset of sales-first to customer-first. People started asking, “How does this help a student learn?” before they asked, “Will this convert?” That’s not a metric you can put on a dashboard, but it changed everything about how VT communicated.