Our Work
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The Royal College of Organists (RCO)
Leading lines: pulling out all the stops for this professional body and music charity.
Our Client
The Royal College of Organists (RCO) is an international charity and membership organisation which has supported and represented organists and choral directors around the world for more than 150 years, promoting the best in musicianship, nurturing interest in the instrument and encouraging engagement with its history and repertoire.
Our Work
Leader provides the College with a comprehensive, integrated and fully outsourced marketing function. Director Marc Sanderson represents the College as its Head of Marketing, leading a multi-disciplinary marketing team comprising a mixture of Leader, RCO and third-party personnel. Together they support all aspects of the College’s marketing strategy, communication and engagement with members, donors, the media, key influencers and other stakeholders.
Following an initial marketing and reputation audit we created and launched the College’s now-familiar brand identity, featuring a bold square logo designed to be equally at home on digital platforms as printed alongside the College’s traditional coat of arms. Emphasising legacy and brand evolution over sudden reinvention, the logo was supported by carefully chosen colours and fonts which balance tradition and modernity.
The RCO website has been redesigned, relaunched and considerably expanded over a number of years to support a wide range of marketing and operational objectives. In 2016 we project managed the launch of iRCO, a sophisticated online learning environment which delivers a wide range of online services and resources for College members, and in 2021 we led a complete overhaul of the College’s bespoke CRM system.
The findings of our major market research project have been used to inform a string of membership projects. A series of innovative new membership propositions have been created, with affiliate membership categories launched to strengthen the College’s accredited teaching programme, grow the vital student category, and leverage a growing digital offering to open up international markets.
Partnerships have been built to further extend the scope and scale of the College’s offer, such as the recent launch of an important new joint membership offer with Musicians’ Union – the bedrock of a slew of new professional support services and activities.
Social media and other digital activities have helped the College establish an influential online presence, and the College’s own publications have been revised and modernised in response to changing technologies and tastes. Media relations has achieved excellent levels of coverage in newspapers and major music titles, as well as broadcasts on national radio.
A number of high-profile campaigns have helped the College extend its reach and influence, and advocate on behalf of organists and organ music. These have included the College’s 150th anniversary celebrations, an acclaimed response to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on organists around the world, and the launch of International Organ Day as a significant annual event in the musical calendar.
It would be hard to overstate the value we place on our enduring partnership with Leader. Marc and his colleagues have become an integral part of the College team, providing exceptional strategic, creative and technical marketing support for everything that we do. I have no hesitation in recommending Leader.
Sir Andrew Parmley – RCO, Director
Results
With a consistently strong focus on membership and marketing, today’s Royal College of Organists enjoys a global reputation as an innovative and dynamic organisation.
Through its investment in digital communication and online service provision, the College has in recent years been able to extend its scope and reach around the world, engage with younger audiences, and meet the unique challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic.
This, together with the introduction of new member benefits and more targeted membership propositions, has helped reverse a long-term decline in membership numbers.
This success has in turn fed into more effective fundraising, a growing number of community and engagement projects, and stronger advocacy and impact on behalf of organists and choral directors.
