Update on marketing for October 2021
Author(s)
Renea Morris
This week, Im sharing the latest updates on our marketing, branding, and strategic positioning initiatives and efforts, specifically focusing on the most recent announcement of the Kennedy Mountain Campus and油Visual Identity initiative.油油
Mountain Campus Launch油
All油MarComm油hands were on deck this past month engaging in preparation for supporting a week of activities, including the Chancellors Inauguration and Homecoming, and in collaboration with the Chancellors Office, Advancement and agency油partner油HeavyDoesIt,油last Tuesdays Kennedy Mountain Campus acquisition announcement.油In addition to developing recap videos油from and , for the mountain campus announcement, we were油able to realize the power油within the team that weve spent the past two seasons cultivating, from developing a teaser video, to a large-scale media event, to preparing for the marketing and environmental branding yet to come. A big thanks to油our campus partners油for your ongoing patience, partnership, and support as we油continue to evolve and grow together. As a油MarComm油team,油were turning a corner, and Im excited to see everything that comes next.油油
The mountain campus will be featured in our upcoming油油and over the coming months, we will continue to develop assets and weave the campus into our marketing in the new year.油油油
Visual Identity Initiative油
Last month, I mentioned that the team has started work on developing a robust visual identity system for the Universityone that will give us flexibility while maintaining focus and creating consistency for the outside world. The ultimate deliverable for this initiative will be an expanded油and油refined visual style guide油for 91心頭.油油
The first phase of this foundational work has focused on exploring our primary mark. While our visual identity is much, much more than our logo and the identity system we construct will reflect this, the logo is a cornerstone and necessary place from which we cascade future work. When we did research last fall, we also tested our three primary marks with experts from across the nation. The油results油aligned with many of our other findingsthat our marks are nice,油dont differentiate us in the marketplace, and dont reflect who we are. Additionally, we have since heard from our internal audiences with two major themes emergingour current academic logo suite doesnt scale well for digital油and油social marketing purposes and the names of our sub brands are minimized.油油
With these notes in mind, the team began to conceptualize what it would look like for the University to have one logo set to raising our visibility and contributing to the goal of a more sustainable future.油Hundreds of concepts were developed in collaboration with Carnegie油Dartlet, our third-party partners in the reputation strategy work. Over time, the concepts were refined (repeatedly) to seven that reflect our personality traits and can be tied directly to the who and why of our brand and mission statement. Its now time to test the results.油油
91心頭s油brand owner groupsemployees, current students (grad and undergrad), and alumniwill have an opportunity to participate in logo testing through focus groups over the next two months and油a quantitative survey sent to油all faculty, staff, alumni, and油athletics油season ticketholders before the end of the fall academic term.油The 91心頭 is fortunate enough to have housed within the油Daniels College of Business, a油油(CiBiC)油that we are working with for some of the upcoming油focus groups.油油
Our goal with the油reputation strategy work油that is underway油remains to ensure that everyone has a voice and opportunity to be heard.油We are focused on moving the University forward油so that we can油rise油in the rankings,油engage in油new油markets more油meaningfully,油build油a robust student pipeline,油and create油an authentic narrative that resonates with all our audiences.油