The University of Winnipeg’s Marketing and Communications Department today launched a campaign to introduce a refresh of UWinnipeg’s brand messaging and its communications-based look-and-feel. Featuring a new tagline — Discover • Achieve • Belong — and fresh visual treatment, the update is being unveiled this week via campus banners, coordinated graphics on UWinnipeg’s web and social media properties, plus a local advertising effort that is rolling out this month.
Building on feedback from key stakeholder groups — including students, alumni, faculty and staff — the campaign aims to broaden UWinnipeg’s messaging to better emphasize the institution’s cited strengths: academic quality, caring faculty, downtown location, diversity, sense of community, and more. The new tagline’s three keywords are intentionally thematic and will be used separately in some instances to highlight UWinnipeg core attributes and areas of focus. For example, the “Belong” theme reinforces the institution’s reputation for smaller class sizes and meaningful faculty-student interaction; it also aligns with UWinnipeg’s comprehensive Community Learning and outreach initiatives that welcome inner city youth to campus.
The new brand messaging augments but does not replace the long running ‘You of W’ moniker, which still will appear on targeted student recruitment materials, accentuating UWinnipeg’s student-focused post-secondary environment.
“Our goal is to better convey the totality of the true UWinnipeg experience. Our research tells us that we’ve done a great job letting people know that this is a friendly, accessible place. But we additionally need to highlight other key strengths like our quality academics and research, excellent faculty, and community-minded initiatives,” said Dr. Lloyd Axworthy, President and Vice-Chancellor. “It is also important to note that the entire brand messaging exercise — from stakeholder consultation through creative development and execution — has been done entirely in-house, in a responsible and cost-conscious manner. On behalf of the UWinnipeg community, I’d like to commend the excellent work of Dr. Jodene Baker, Director of Institutional Analysis and Kevin Rosen, Director of Marketing and Communications along with his team.”
Between January and June 2013, more than 2,500 survey participants provided input and feedback on UWinnipeg’s perceived areas of strength and best attributes, as well as pre-existing and proposed brand messaging. The responses indicate that the majority of UWinnipeg stakeholders perceive a caring urban community that values diversity — a place that fosters student achievement and success through academic excellence, research, inclusion, and meaningful interpersonal connections. In short: an environment in which students can discover, achieve, and belong.
