Creating a garnet brand
Marketing team aims to change public view of the U
Katie Manko
Issue date: 10/22/09 Section: News
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The office members began assessing the college's needs and developing a marketing plan between January and May and first began working on the plan back in June.
The four major initiatives for this year are to elevate Union's reputation through more aggressive public relations and marketing; develop a unified, compelling brand identity for the College; revamp Union's website and build a true digital strategy for the College; and assist other departments and communicators across campus with their own messages and marketing efforts.
So far the Marketing and Communications staff has launched the "Web Reboot" project with an outside partner, worked to identify more aggressive PR strategies and metrics, and created a Rankings Task Force to dive into each of the various college rankings systems and analyze how Union might improve its rankings.
"[The Marketing and Communications team] really want to elevate Union's reputation in places outside of the northeast by securing more exposure for our students, faculty, alumni, programs, and accomplishments," said Jill Hungsberg, Senior Director of Communications and Marketing. "We are also working on an aggressive effort to dissect and address rankings because going forward, we want them to accurately reflect all that Union has to offer."
Another step toward improving Union is creating an innovative, new visual identity for the College. In order to create this identity and help portray the Union "brand" more consistently, the Marketing & Communications office is in the process of conducting extensive market research this fall, including recent focus groups with students, to understand Union's special characteristics from several perspectives.
A new design firm has been hired to help with these efforts, and all major communications efforts are now coordinated through the Marketing and Communications Office to ensure that materials which promote the College have a consistent look and common message.
The goal is to clearly articulate what differentiates Union from other small liberal arts colleges as well as portray Union as innovative and forward-looking without losing sight of the College's rich tradition.
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