Executive Education

Custom Programs

Publicizing Your Program

Before publicizing your program via press releases or other channels, you must contact your Program Director to ensure that any implied association with the School is accurate.

Vocabulary & Language: Describing Your Program

1. "Partnership" should not be used.

2. Avoid language such as "sponsored by," "in partnership with" (e.g., do not use "Harvard Business School in partnership with ABC Institute"). Instead, use "XYZ: A Harvard Business School Executive Education Program developed for ABC."

3. Say "participants," not "students."

4. "Harvard Business School" should be spelled out in the first usage. After that, "HBS" may be used as an abbreviation (e.g., "HBS Executive Education," "HBS alumni").

5. Executive Education should be referenced in the copy.

6. Never abbreviate "Executive Education."

7. When referring to "HBS Executive Education," capitalize both words (e.g., "This Executive Education program is designed for general managers."). When referring to "executive education" in general, lowercase both words (e.g., "Investing in executive education is important in grooming future leaders.").

(A more complete copy style guide is located at the bottom of this page.)

Relating the School to the Program Name in a Graphic Context

When including any reference to the School in connection with the program name in a graphic context, use "Harvard Business School Executive Education" before the specific program name (e.g., "Harvard Business School Executive Education XYZ Leadership Program"). "Executive Education" must be included if "Harvard Business School" is used.

Acceptable fonts to use when depicting names as text:
1. Any face from the TradeGothic family
2. Akzidenz Grotesk Black, Bold, or Regular (use all capital letters when using Akzidenz Grotesk faces)

Logos

The following graphics illustrate how the School's official logos may appear. There are five acceptable relative sizes and positions if all 3 elements (shield logo, name logo, "Executive Education" identification) are used. There are two acceptable treatments when the shield logo is omitted.

Size
In print, the horizontal treatment should never appear smaller than 3 inches in width. In electronic mediums (such as the Web), the horizontal treatment should never appear smaller than 260 pixels in width.

In print, the stacked treatment should never appear smaller than 1.75 inches in width. In electronic mediums (such as the Web and email), the stacked treatment should never appear smaller than 160 pixels in width.

Color
The 1-color version may appear in all black (depicted above) or all crimson. The two-color version should only appear in crimson and black. (See color for specific crimson values).

On a Light Background
When the shield appears on a light background field, it is equally acceptable for the light areas to be white or to have the background color show through (shown below).

Reversing Out of a Dark Color
When the shield reverses out of a dark color, the field around the books and the cross containing the shells should remain dark. This is the only acceptable reversed format and this relationship should not be inverted.

When the shield reverses out of black, it should be outlined in white as shown below. This is only true when the background field is black; the white outline does not need to be used on other dark colors.

Using the Harvard Business School Name & Shield Logos in Print & Digital Materials

All materials must be approved before production by your program director, who will need to get approval from Marketing & Communications.

Contact your program director to obtain the School's official logos forprint or digital materials. When making your request, explain in detail how you plan to use the logos.

When using the School's logos, always follow these standards:

1. The name logo should always include the words "Executive Education."

2. When using both the name and shield logos, adhere to the relative position standards depicted above. (Please note that the shield logo should never be used by itself.)

3. All materials carrying the School's logos should adhere to the rest of the School's brand guidelines (available in the primary navigation of this site). If your materials will not follow these guidelines, a business reason why they will not must be provided to your program director for evaluation.

4. Any company or organization logo appearing on materials containing the School's logos must be at least 1.5 inches away in print and 200 pixels away in digital formats.

5. Do not attempt to recreate the School's logos or alter them in any way. Use the official logos provided by your program director.

6. Do not include rules within the name of School unless you are using the official horizontal name logo.

Include the following Trademark Notice on print and digital materials that include one (or both) of the logos (this should generally be positioned as you would a copyright notice):
"The Harvard Business School name and shield logos are trademarks of the President and Fellows of Harvard College and are used by permission of Harvard University."

Using the Harvard Business School Name & Shield Logos on Products (shirts, bags, etc.)

1. All products carrying the School's name or shield logo must be approved before production by your program director, who will need to get approval from Marketing & Communications and the Harvard Trademark Program.

2. When using the School's logos on products, you must follow the following standards:

3. All products that include the name of the School and the name of your program, should also include the words "Executive Education" after "Harvard Business School."

4. Any company or organization logo appearing on a product containing the name of the School (or its logos) must appear on a different part of the product.

When space dictates, it is acceptable for the shield logo to appear on a product without one of the name logos appearing, provided "Harvard Business School Executive Education" appears as text.

Acceptable fonts to use when depicting names as text:
1. Any face from the TradeGothic family.
2. Akzidenz Grotesk Black, Bold, or Regular (use all capital letters when using Akzidenz Grotesk faces)

The Harvard Trademark Program requires that all products (t-shirts, etc.) depicting the official logos be produced by licensed vendors. You may choose to use our MBA Student Association, a licensee of the University who is authorized to produce such items. If another vendor is chosen, prior written approval must be obtained from the Harvard Trademark Program.

Trademark

When used on products or by external parties, the stacked name logo and the shield logo should carry the "R" registered trademark designation, while the horizontal name logo and the secondary abbreviation treatments should carry the "TM" trademark designation.

Videotaping, Photographing, & Recording Your Program

1. No videotaping or voice recording of sessions during custom or open-enrollment programs held on- or off-campus is allowed.

2. Special sessions conducted by members of your organization may be videotaped or recorded with prior permission of both the individual(s) conducting the session and Harvard Business School.

3. Any recordings made on campus are the property of Harvard Business School.

4. No still photography is allowed inside School buildings or classroom sessions without prior permission from Harvard Business School.

Online Photo Library

All library photo usages must be approved before production by your program director.

To find photos you can use without a fee:

1. find the "Online Photo Library" section on this page ,

2. log in as described,

3. and choose "Own" from the Select Usage Rights menu.

If you would like to use other photos from the library, you will need to negotiate usage fees directly with the photographers. Contact information can be obtained from Marketing & Communications. When making your request, please supply as much detail as possible on how you plan to use the photographs.

Copy Style Guide

The copy should promote the value of a given program.

Tone/Voice/Point-of-View

1. Remove any statements that appear as "filler" and make the copy more direct (e.g., "Smart organizations know that by investing in emerging leaders, they will be better prepared to weather the current economic downturn.") This is obvious to senior executives, so is considered filler.

2. Engage the reader quickly and entice them to read through the copy

3. See through their eyes: Think from the point of view of potential participants. Feel free to use the second person, "you." Speak to participant concerns; frame issues/challenges/ideas from their perspective.
   
   NO: "Harvard Business School believes in the importance of leadership as manifested in new global management strategies..."
   
   YES: "As you assume greater leadership responsibilities, the challenges you face become increasingly global in nature. In the XYZ program, you'll discover..."
   

4. Be collegial, articulate, precise, and direct.
   
   1. Avoid contractions such as "don't," "you'll," "it's" whenever possible.
   
   2. Use short sentences and paragraphs.
   
   3. Limit sentence fragments (e.g., "And the program is innovative," "But you may find it beneficial") for more impact.
   

5. Enthusiastic, energetic: The copy should reflect the energy and excitement of the HBS EE experience. Look for opportunities to apply active verbs - lead, create, manage, discover, collaborate - instead of "to be" constructions.

6. Focused on practical results: Our programs are not an exercise in theory, but a pathway to practical results for both the participant and the organization. Always look for opportunities to articulate program benefits.

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Questions?

If you have any concerns or questions, please contact your program director.