Change is scary, and colleges and universities are often deeply rooted in tradition: so much so that even a small change to a logo could meet significant resistance. But post-secondary brands developed decades ago need to progress to meet new student, alumni, and community expectations – and the needs of new platforms through which schools are connecting these with audiences. As the digital world continues to evolve, higher ed. brands need to keep up. 

A complete brand overhaul may not be required to make your brand more suitable for digital environments. But even a deceptively simple update requires time and consultation to be embraced and adopted. 

What they said: We need to improve how Queen’s is represented in a digital-first environment. 

Queen’s is an established, well-recognized brand, but because its visual identity has remained relatively unchanged for decades, visual elements became outdated and were no longer suitable for digital applications. 

At the same time, as Queen’s is a decentralized institution, the brand was being interpreted and communicated differently across faculties, schools, departments, and units.  

Queen’s recognized the need to update their visual identity for online environments, and this set us in motion. Our solution needed to reflect what Queen’s stands for today – while respecting the strong brand equity they have built.   

Not only did the framework need to be suitable for digital applications, but it had to lend itself to consistency and accessibility in sharing the Queen’s story – including their commitment to equity, diversity, inclusion, and Indigenization. To achieve this, users of the Queen’s brand would need tangible tools to share with their university-community to encourage and ease adoption of the new brand architecture.   

What we saw: The Queen’s story needs to be authentic for key stakeholders to buy-in.  

When it comes to visual identity and design work, there’s a tendency to approach the work purely through a creative lens, but at ED we refuse to skip the strategic groundwork. Even understanding that this was a visual exercise, a comprehensive brand platform was necessary to provide a rationale for any suggested changes – however minor.   

Because our work would serve as a foundation for other Queen’s initiatives, we knew the brand platform – including narrative devices – needed to be authentic, as this was essential for the university-community to buy-in.  

Approach.  

Our process began with discovery, including research and consultation to dive deep into the ethos of Queen’s. We reviewed an environmental scan and learned about Queen’s initial vision for the consultation. We closely referenced the President’s Strategic Vision, to ensure our expression of Queen’s aligned with leadership’s vision. We designed a research process to engage stakeholders which included one-on-one interviews and group sessions, and developed the surveys, discussion guides and other tools needed. To keep us on the right track, we collaborated with the Queen’s team throughout the entire process. 

ED made recommendations on the composition of the groups and led and moderated all interviews and group sessions. We talked to people from various stakeholder groups, the very people that make Queen’s “Queen’s”, and we got a sense of their perceptions, feedback and insights. As new topics emerged from these conversations, we proposed additional consultations including a dedicated session with BIPOC members to ensure full community participation.  

After the discovery phase, we crafted the Queen’s brand platform and presented it to a number of key stakeholder groups, refining the platform along the way based on feedback received. We worked with each group to ensure the brand narrative genuinely reflected the unique perspective of key stakeholders, while also representing the university as a whole. Nothing creates a sense of joined purpose within a higher ed. community like a powerful brand platform that truly feels authentic to all, and resonant on an individual level.  

As part of the brand platform work, we crafted a guiding brand idea to distill what exactly sets Queen’s apart and this served as inspiration for our design team’s creative exploration. This brand idea, captured by the notion of individual success as a result of collective effort, would serve as a touchstone for our creative exploration.  

Design process. 

ED’s design team started by conducting an exhaustive audit of existing Queen’s brand assets across faculties, departments, units, and programs. Our team analyzed hundreds of assets they compiled onto a Miro board to get a big-picture view of Queen’s visual brand. We looked for inconsistencies and worked closely with the brand team to uncover which elements or Queen’s sub-brands were to remain untouched and the pain points we were to address – with a specific focus on digital applications of the Queen’s brand. 

We leveraged the existing brand equity by retaining the tricolours as Queen’s primary colour palette. The palette was foundational and had served as Queen’s core brand colours for decades but was applied inconsistently, so we suggested simplifying the use of colour. We collaborated with the Queen’s brand team to ideate secondary and tertiary colour palettes to provide more flexibility for brand users. And certain colours were intentionally chosen to reflect Queen’s historical architecture, such as the limestone on their buildings. We anchored these complementing colours with the tricolour – melding tradition and modernity.

We made recommendations on photography approach to ensure images representing the university reflected diversity. We recommended simplifying the Queen’s crest – the main symbol in its logo, and further suggested evolving the logo by reserving the Palatino font for Queen’s wordmark alone. We proposed complementary typography options to give brand users more range and the ability to express a variety of tones in type within the brand standards. And collaboratively with the Queen’s brand team, we determined the ideal suite of fonts that would ensure accessibility and legibility in a digital environment.

ED presented these and other recommendations to the Queen’s brand team and like the rest of the engagement, it was entirely a collaborative process. We made refinements based on the brand team’s feedback, as they had insight on how their stakeholders may respond and what in-house design capabilities they had. Along with modernizing the Queen’s visual identity for digital platforms, the overarching goal was ensuring that the end result was user-friendly. After all, the brand users at Queen’s would be the ones implementing the brand, and the project could not succeed without their adoption.

Outcomes. 

After an extensive consultation process and working in partnership with the Queen’s brand team to craft the renewed brand architecture framework, we presented it to eight executive and senior-level stakeholder groups, and we were able to build consensus. 

Queen’s renewed brand architecture framework was ownable, and provided a cleaner and more user-friendly digital presence. And Brand users were provided with the tools needed such as the Brand Central website and visual identity guide to ensure it could be easily implemented. 

The stars rarely align to allow a post-secondary institution to develop their strategic plan, their marketing, and their fundraising platforms simultaneously – and cohesively. But ED was presented with this rare opportunity with then-named Red River College (RRC). 

Given our position on integrating branding and strategic planning, we embraced the challenge as a chance to prove our thesis – that these two foundational initiatives benefit most from being aligned.

What they told us: Our full value to the market isn’t understood.

Early consultation performed by the college revealed that industry partners and other key market stakeholders didn’t know that RRC was designated a polytechnic institution – the only one of its kind in Manitoba, and one of only 13 such institutions across the country. 

Polytechnics are distinguished by the range of credentials offered, applied research, and industry-driven course design and delivery. But while annual reputation surveys showed that RRC was better regarded for producing job-ready graduates and working closer with industry (compared to the province’s universities), industry leaders and students were unaware of the college’s designation as a polytechnic – and the value that such an institution offers.

Our solution for RRC needed to express that value in a way that was clear and compelling, as it would be applied to three initiatives: 

• Theming to guide the college’s new strategic plan – the foundation of which was being developed concurrently by a specialist consultant.
• Creative direction for a new campaign for reputation building and recruitment – which would be executed by the college’s internal marketing team.
• Narrative for the college’s case for fundraising support – to be drafted by ED.

What we saw: We need to build understanding for what a ‘polytechnic’ is.

Since the strategic planning initiative had started when ED was engaged, we began by reviewing the consultation that had already taken place. We worked closely with the strategic planning consultant to understand their data and feedback, and designed a compressed interview guide that focused on a refined list of stakeholders and a refined set of questions. This ensured we would gather new information, while avoiding ‘consultation fatigue’ with interviewees.

From the consultant’s data and our follow-on interviews, we learned that stakeholders were excited about RRC being better-known as a polytechnic institution. But they were skeptical that Manitobans would be familiar with that term, much less the associated benefits. ED recommended the college conduct market research to validate that notion, and the results were clear: ‘polytechnic’ was not a well-understood term in Manitoba. Further, in our interviews, even some RRC faculty and staff admitted they had trouble describing the distinction.

To effectively leverage this unique market positioning for RRC, we needed to educate the public about what a polytechnic is – and why it matters. 

Approach.

ED’s work was intended to provide a foundation for other initiatives, so we began by crafting a brand narrative. 

The narrative provided language that focused on the distinctive nature of a polytechnic institution in the post-secondary landscape, and the benefits such an institution delivers for students, industry, and the province. It described a proactive, nimble and responsive institution; working shoulder-to-shoulder with industry; and preparing students for emerging market demands. This forward focus provided the basis for our narrative’s theme line: In front of what’s ahead.

Armed with a narrative and theme line, we focused our attention on supporting, directing or developing the college’s three key initiatives.

Marketing campaign

We focused on providing creative direction to the college’s internal marketing team with regards to how our narrative and theme line could be applied to marketing materials. We developed a suite of look and feel and messaging materials for reference and guidance, which inspired their creative execution. 

In consultation with ED, the college launched a campaign to help inform the market of the value and uniqueness of a polytechnic. Through online and broadcast media, the campaign’s video assets draw directly from the ED-developed brand theme line and narrative.

We also advised on the college’s proposed adjustment to its visual identity – introducing the notion of RRC as a polytechnic without alienating legacy audiences. Together, we introduced two new applications for the RRC identity: a formal adaptation “Red River College Polytechnic”, and a more colloquial “RRC Polytech”.

Strategic plan

By involving the college’s strategic planning consultant in our development, we ensured that our language aligned with the operational priorities the consultant was proposing. As a result, the theme line “In Front of What’s Ahead” was used as the title for the college’s strategic plan. The college President also used the full narrative to frame the plan to stakeholders in an introductory video.

Case for support

Similarly, the narrative’s language described a desired end-state for fundraising – with your support, we will stay in front of what’s ahead. The narrative effectively framed the college’s commitments, and again the theme line was employed as the title for the case for support for donors.

Outcomes.

The persuasiveness of the case language helped RRC Polytech raised 25% of their total fundraising goal within the first five months of their philanthropic campaign. This positions them to achieve – and potentially exceed – that total goal within their three-year campaign timeline.

Over its lifespan, the University of Manitoba’s Trailblazer brand expression was recognized by industry peers, emulated by competing institutions, and embraced by faculties and stakeholders within the university. But as the campaign evolved, so too did the university. And, following more than a seven-year run with the award-winning brand positioning, the university turned to ED to imagine its next creative platform.

What they told us: We’re perfectly positioned to make a global impact on issues that matter.

Discovery: Identifying key insights.

To ensure that this far-reaching initiative could be effectively managed, ED worked closely with the university’s Marketing Communications Office to establish a project roadmap, outlining an 18-month work plan from discovery and consultation, through to the first stage of implementation. The roadmap took into account the potential for a refresh of the university’s visual identity, which was an anticipated but unconfirmed deliverable at the outset of the process.

7,000+ community members consulted

ED designed a stakeholder consultation program that would go on to reach approximately 7,000 community members. A series of online surveys were deployed by the university to existing mailing lists and promoted through internal communications; several small and large group discussion sessions were held to gain qualitative insights into the university from variety of perspectives. These sessions (moderated by ED) took place in a number of Manitoba communities, and in several urban markets across Canada with a high concentration of ex-pat U of M alumni. The process took 11 months to complete, with the majority of the consultation concentrated in the final three-month period.

Following the consultation, ED presented our findings and key insights to the university’s Brand Advisory Council, a 25+ person working group with administrative, academic, alumni, and student representation. We distilled the findings into nine key insights that would inform the strategic and creative exploration.

Strategy: Elevating opportunities to differentiate.

In a broad consultative process, not all insights lend themselves to the creative brand expression. So, following the advisory council’s review, ED’s team critically evaluated which of the key insights from discovery held the most potential to inspire an authentic creative platform. And of the nine, three became our focus:

• Signature areas of research: These include exceptional and globally renowned work on climate change, global population health, infectious diseases, and human rights.
• A pivotal role in reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples: Acknowledging the institution’s strategic commitments, and its location – a city with Canada’s largest urban concentration of Indigenous Peoples.
• An undisputed record of leadership: Both in-province, where professional fields disproportionately rely on U of M grads; to boasting the largest number of Rhodes Scholars of any Western Canadian university.

Considered together, these three insights led us to a strategic premise – that the areas on which the University of Manitoba leads are among those that matter most to Canadians. 

We validated this premise through a range of external research that showed leadership development, reconciliation, climate change, diseases, and human rights were the leading, or among the leading, concerns for the majority of Canadians. This external research also indicated a global perspective that Canada does, or should, be a leader in these areas. This presented an opportunity to leverage Canada’s global identity into the U of M’s brand – and a sector scan confirmed that no other Canadian university was positioning itself on the country’s quintessential reputation.

What we saw: A Canadian university leading on global issues – the world’s northern light.

This led our creative team to explore how to express this notion of Canadian idealism – a nation renowned for being on the right side of the pursuit with respect to the world’s most important issues. In our exploration, we discussed a natural phenomenon that is often associated with Canada, and especially with the north-most part of the province the University of Manitoba calls home.

The aurora borealis are a spectacle that attracts people from across the world to northern Manitoba; and in many Indigenous cultures, they hold a spiritual significance. We used the northern lights as a symbol to inspire our exploration – that the work being done at a university in the middle of North America was attracting attention from, and serving as a beacon for a global academic and research audience.

The northern lights themselves are a result of the collision of particles in the earth’s atmosphere – a process that directly inspired our creative interpretation for the brand expression for the University of Manitoba. The university’s leadership in these areas of global and national importance were the result of a collision of ideas, perspectives, cultures, and individuals. We reflected this impact in a burst graphic that used the university’s updated colour palette to create a striking device for visual storytelling – one that was evocative of the hues evident in the northern lights.

In messaging, we set out to connect with audiences on a personal level. We developed a convention that centres on what any individual – a student, and alumna, a professor – brings to the university, and what their contribution can result in when it collides with the ideas and ideals of others. The branded approach is anchored by an institutional tagline that links each individual to the U of M’s catalytic influence on issues of global significance: What inspires you can change everything.

The first campaign: Celebrating a Nobel Prize recipient.

ED was given an incredible opportunity to launch the new creative approach to the world, when Dr. James Peebles (professor emeritus at Harvard University and a U of M alumnus) became the first university’s first Nobel Laureate. Working closely with the university, we deployed a congratulatory campaign that included a national print insertion, and an airport installation at the James Richardson International Airport. 

The main headline referenced the results of Peeble’s career-long curiosity with the cosmos: Fascination unravels mysteries. And, as Manitoba’s university, it was fitting that the university’s new brand was unveiled in celebration of one of the province’s own.

Outcomes.

The first iteration of the newly-developed brand platform for the University of Manitoba was unveiled in tandem with a broader communications initiative, to congratulate Nobel Laureate James Peebles. The integrated campaign, featuring the look and feel developed by ED, was recognized with a Circle of Excellence Award by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education – District VIII.

The challenge: Make the journey part of the experience.

Churchill (Manitoba), located on the coast of the Hudson Bay, is known worldwide as a tourism destination, where travellers can find themselves inches away from polar bears, beluga whales, and other arctic wildlife – all under the canopy of the northern lights.

Less known, but just as impressive, is the important research being conducted at centres based in Churchill, that benefits the global scientific community’s understanding of the arctic ecosystem, and our planet’s climate.

Because the town of Churchill is relatively remote, for some time travellers could only arrive by plane, as train service had been suspended for several years. But as railway service prepared to re-open, partners working and researching in the region joined with Via Rail to rebrand the train ride and promote passenger travel.

And for those choosing the railway, the ride can take up to 40 hours en route to their final destination. The University of Manitoba, leading a consortium of partners, engaged ED to engage this a captive audience of tourists and visitors, and educate them about the important research being done in the area, and its impact on better understanding our world.

The solution: Immerse travellers in the destination prior to arrival.

Naming the adventure.

ED’s first task was to explore naming conventions for the branded experience. The name Expedition Churchill: A Gateway to Arctic Research was selected from a number of options, elevating the trip northward from a leisurely ride to a voyage with purpose – a notion that’s evident in the research being done in the Hudson Bay region. The accompanying visual identity for Expedition Churchill used a compass motif, pointed north.

Interactive publication.

The anchor of the branded experience was an interactive publication (for iOS and Android devices), featuring a description of the work being done in the region. Working with project’s lead author, ED collected the text content and video/photography assets, and collaborated on bringing several infographics to life through animation.

We laid these out in an e-book format, which was made available for download prior to boarding the train. The immersive content served to enhance visitors’ understanding of the depth and impact of the work being performed in Churchill in advance of their arrival. And providing that depth of content prior to the 1,700km ride allowed visitors to begin their Churchill experience before they arrived.

Experiential media.

The interactive publication was promoted at train stations through interactive kiosks (which were also located at other educational and tourism destinations in the province). The publication was available for preview by touchscreen, which allowed travellers to sample the book and encouraged downloads prior to departure.

(First photo courtesy of Heather Hinam)

Arriving at the track, travellers were greeted by a wrapped train car promoting the Expedition Churchill experience. And once on board, they found an entire dining car interior wrapped – from table top to ceiling – in images from the Hudson Bay.

(First photo courtesy of Heather Hinam, third photo courtesy of Thomas Fricke)

The Expedition Churchill train car was unveiled – and the interactive publication app was made available for download – at a launch event at Union Station in Winnipeg. The Mayor of Churchill, the President of the University of Manitoba were among the speakers at the event, which attracted media from all regional print and TV outlets.

(First image courtesy of Global News, third image courtesy of Heather Hinam)

Outcomes.

Thanks to the strong media presence at the launch, and the published stories being shared more than 2,000 times through social media, the Expedition Churchilll announcement reached an estimated audience of almost 436,000 people, nationwide.

Meanwhile, the interactive publication has received 5-star reviews from users on both app marketplaces, with comments praising its design, easy navigation, and educational content.

The challenge: Prioritizing one pillar of a multi-pronged capital campaign appeal.

The University of Manitoba’s Front and Centre campaign was an ambitious initiative: its $500 million goal represented the largest philanthropic appeal in the province’s history. The fundraising goal was intended to support five strategic pillars – each of which were comprised of multiple related components.

One of these five pillars was financial support for graduate students. Of the 15 leading research intensive universities in Canada, the University of Manitoba offered the lowest level of financial support – a key incentive to attracting and retaining graduate students. In order to be more competitive with other institutions in Canada and worldwide, a transformative investment was required.

Graduate students are the engine that powers a university’s research, and they become key leaders and influencers in our knowledge economy. Our task was to make it clear to potential donors that supporting grad students isn’t just good for the university: it’s a direct way of making a difference on issues that are important to all of us.

The solution: Improve the understanding of what grad students do, and their impact on the world.

Our campaign coincided with the U of M’s Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition – a regional chapter of a nationwide competition where graduate students present their research to a panel of peers and community members in under 180 seconds. This time limit forces the participants to make their complex work accessible to a broad audience, without compromising the importance and application of their theories.

We used the 3MT event as a launchpad for a campaign that showcased the innovative work being done by graduate students. Following the event, we arrange for one-on-one video interviews with each to discuss their research in their own words (and with less of a time constraint). The sit-down format allowed us to discuss the work, and each students’ motivations, in more depth.

On camera, we captured moving stories about the personal experiences and perspectives that motivated each grad student’s research. One student grew up in an earthquake-prone country, and was exploring new materials that would make buildings more resistant to natural disasters. Another recognized the rapid expansion of soybean production in Manitoba, and was proposing new solutions for the specific soil needs for this crop. Yet another drew on her travel experiences to examine how people’s interactions with nature – specifically polar bears – could motivate them to act in the interest of our planet’s climate. 

Each participant interview was edited into a one-minute video that could be used to support online and email fundraising appeals. The collection of videos was housed on a fulfillment page on the fundraising campaign website, which linked to the university’s news feed and other videos of each student’s 3MT presentations.

The interviews were also adapted for advertising purposes, with edits created for preroll and interstitial video ads that were targeted to donor audiences.

A print, digital and out-of-home campaign also shared these stories, and drove audiences to the fulfillment site to discover more about these students’ innovative work, and to encourage donations to support similar innovation in Manitoba.

Outcomes.

Support for graduate students was one of five pillars under the university’s $500 million philanthropic appeal. Over the course of the campaign, we helped promote several appeals, and to recognize donor support as a means of encouraging campaign momentum. 

When the university concluded its campaign, it had raised $626.2 million – exceeding their unprecedented and ambitious fundraising goal by more than 25%.

Working with in-house marketing teams.

Like other large and complex institutions, many colleges and universities employ an in-house marketing team to address the frequent and ongoing communications needs of the institution. We developed Brandcamp™ specifically to fill important gaps in this arrangement.

Brandcamp™ was created under our parent company, McKim. It is a one- or two-day branding intensive workshop designed to mentor and invigorate in-house marketing teams. With each engagement, a facilitator leads a series of workshop discussions and activities designed to help internal marketing teams discover or rediscover the brand they manage every day. 

Brandcamp™ was how we met Lethbridge College. They already had an internal team modelled after an advertising agency, with graphic and digital designers, copywriters, and client service reps who managed various Faculty and administrative portfolios within the college. Lethbridge College engaged us to kickstart an internal rebranding initiative – an endeavour their team was excited to take on, but hadn’t led before.

What they told us: Point us in the right direction.

Over the course of two days, we led an immersive session that challenged the Lethbridge College team to think critically about their positioning, their competitors, their students, and their unique role. 

Prior to the session, participants were asked to research competing institutions, and to think critically about their marketing claims. We explored personality and tone through the use of archetypes. We leveraged research and insight to develop audience personas that helped humanize target audiences. And we thought about the messages and media that best addressed their needs.

Finally, we brought these seemingly disparate aspects together using a series of tools. Working in teams, colleagues explored functional and emotional benefits, core offerings, brand characteristics and audience insights – all in an effort to distil a brand essence and potential positioning, and compare each teams’ work to see where it aligned, and where it deviated.

What we saw: Preparation runs through it all.

Our deliverable was to develop a draft narrative for Lethbridge College based on its team’s work. The narrative would be used as a jumping off point for the college to refine (or rewrite) as appropriate as the team worked post-session to explore and identify the college’s new brand.

While reviewing the participants’ work, we saw that the notion of preparation and responsiveness was a recurring trend. From law enforcement to auto technicians to culinary arts, the college’s role is to prepare students to enter the region’s workforce – and adapt the teaching and learnings as the needs of the region change.

Making a common claim ownable.

But ‘preparation’ is a common refrain for similar colleges. To stand apart, we needed to express the idea uniquely. So, we drew inspiration from excerpts from the workshop exercises:

• Participants described an audience persona as driving a used pickup truck and drinking black coffee. This led us to use plain-spoken language in our narrative.
• A competitive analysis pointed to a university that leveraged the sunshine and bright prairie skies in their brand expression. We contrasted this with embracing the earth, and encouraged Lethbridge College to be ‘grounded’ in its communications.
• One of the unique natural attributes of the region is its coulees – the deep ravines etched across the landscape. We leveraged that imagery into messaging that referenced ‘digging deep’ and ‘making an impression.’
• The narrative developed by ED capped off with a simple, plain spoken call to action for Lethbridge College community: Be Ready. 

We presented a recap of the session, and our recommended narrative, to session participants and select college leadership via videoconference. The narrative was unanimously embraced and presented to the Office of the President within days. Today, it’s a cornerstone of the college’s award-winning brand expression.

Outcomes.

In the months that followed Brandcamp™, we worked collaboratively with the Lethbridge College team to build off of this foundational work. From this two-day workshop, we helped this group build and execute a brand expression and marketing campaign that would help unify the campus community, set it apart in its competitive set, and earn it multiple awards at CASE District VIII. Read more about our work with Lethbridge College, here. 

Internal applications.

This foundational exercise, and the resulting narrative, has helped Lethbridge College unify communications across platforms. In addition to the marketing campaign, the Lethbridge College fundraising campaign – Ready to Rise – is clearly tethered to the institutional brand, resulting in a cohesive message across multiple institutional channels.

The value of a brand narrative as a marketing building block has come into full effect during the COVID-19 pandemic, where Lethbridge College’s crisis messaging to students has helped anchor their communications. The ‘Be Ready’ messaging that came about during Brandcamp™ sent a signal of confidence to students that shows that even during challenging circumstances, the college welcomes their questions and anticipates their needs.