Becoming a Branded House: Spring 2023 University Update

Dear CWU Community,

Public Affairs has been very busy engaging the university community in the initial launch and phased implementation of the new brand. I'm writing with an update on the launch activities and the work we are doing to provide supplemental resources that will take Central to the next level in our branding, marketing, and storytelling.

University Engagement on the Brand Launch

More than 250 faculty, staff, and students joined the brand launch events at the CWU Ellensburg and Des Moines campuses on January 27 and February 3, 2023. At those sessions, not only did we unveil the new brand messaging, visual identity, and initial resources, but we also visited with the university community about ways they envisioned integrating our new messaging into their work and received feedback on the proposed taglines (more about taglines in a moment).

The feedback we received from the university community helped shape the development of new resources on the CWU Brand Resources page; workshops that we will announce soon for upcoming academic year, and additional projects and priorities that will guide the work of Public Affairs to be leaders in brand over the short-, intermediate, and longer-terms. Thanks to those of you who have been able to engage with us in the workshops and other outreach activities.

Since the launch events, Public Affairs has continued to engage the CWU university community, including our alumni and trustees, in the implementation of our new brand while also gathering feedback on the proposed taglines (seriously, I promise, more about this soon!). On Saturday, February 4, Public Affairs unveiled the new brand to the CWU Alumni Board of Directors. This engagement opportunity was followed by a presentation and interactive conversation with the CWU Board of Trustees during the February Board of Trustees meeting.

On the afternoon of the 17th, Public Affairs hosted an Open House to build relationships between our team and the university community we are proud to serve and support. In late February, Public Affairs participated in an interactive marketing and branding update with the Academic Department Chairs Organization (ADCO) and the Faculty Senate Executive Committee for feedback to strategically and intentionally tie our marketing and communications efforts around the amazing scholarship and teaching our faculty and academic leaders do every day.

Also in late February, Public Affairs presented to the CWU Foundation Board of Trustees. There has been great energy around the messaging themes, affirming the direction and inspiration provided by the collaborative and inclusive spirit of this work since the beginning.

One of the gaps we had in the tagline feedback to date was the intentional engagement of non-traditional and place bound learners who may not have had an opportunity to engage during our Ellensburg and Des Moines campus launch events earlier in the year. On March 6, we hosted a virtual focus group of six students enrolled in a program that was either fully online or at one of our Centers. Special thanks to Alexa Orcutt and Ash Perron for helping us reach these students; they were fabulous.

What Are the Next Steps with Our Tagline?

After robust feedback during the launch sessions and post-launch focus groups, Public Affairs conducted an analysis of the positive and negative responses to the two proposed tagline options: Futures in Focus and See Beyond. We concluded that neither option complemented the strength of our new brand messaging platform. We did, however, see lots of great feedback on certain concepts of the taglines that will be used as we take our next steps in selecting a tagline for CWU.

On April 13, Public Affairs will host a small focus group of CWU colleagues and students who represent a broad cross-section of the university community and can advise our marketing and communications teams in the development of a new tagline. The focus group will comprise CWU community members from the Provost's Office, the Faculty, Alumni/Advancement, the student body, Student Engagement and Success, Athletics, and Human Resource Services. We will review the analysis of university community's feedback on the taglines and outline key concepts that the marketing and communication teams in Public Affairs will use to craft a new tagline for CWU. Public Affairs is working to produce a tagline for the CWU community by the end of the spring quarter.

Additional Brand Adoption Resources and Workshops

Public Affairs has been coordinating with the recently established CWU Brand Council to review the current slate of branding resources at cwu.edu/brand, and to design a plan for additional templates and other online resources made available to campus on an ongoing basis. Soon, we will share a FAQ guide that will answer a lot of questions we are hearing from campus about the ongoing implementation of CWU's brand. For now, please have your email signatures updated with the signature tool available at cwu.edu/brand.

Further, we are working with the CWU Brand Council on a targeted set of interactive webinars for campus departments that will take place in the fall and winter quarters for the purpose of engaging the university community about how to use the templates and other online resources currently available on the cwu.edu/brand page; to practice writing with the university's new messaging platform; and to answer any department-specific questions related to the adoption and use of the new branding in internal and external communications. A list of workshops, proposed timeline, and other details will be communicated in the early part of the fall.

Developing and Launching a New Marketing Plan for CWU

In addition to developing a new brand and set of resources for the CWU community, Public Affairs has launched a comprehensive marketing plan development process with broad engagement from the CWU university community. Led by Emilie Hobert, CWU's new marketing lead, this process will greatly elevate the strategy and intentionality of our outreach to prospective students and their families as we work diligently as a university community to grow our enrollment. The planning process is underway and we anticipate having a plan ready for launch by July 1, 2023.

Developing and Launching a Strategic Communication Plan

We are also reimagining our external communications at CWU. Dave Leder is facilitating a campus-wide effort to amplify the many, many amazing stories of our faculty, staff, and students that showcase who we are as a university and the role we play in the lives of the people, communities, and industries we serve. We will be growing our relationships with media outlets, increasing the number of feature stories and press releases, and aligning our external communications with the new brand messaging and promise. The outcome of this work will help CWU further elevate our strong reputation throughout the state and beyond.

We're on Track for the Launch of CWU's New Website in September 2023

Marty Romero and the web team are doing great work to engage the CWU community in critical next steps in building our new website. Marty and team are crafting a proposed web policy and engaging shared governance leaders on its provisions. They are engaging the university community in the website layout and coordinating with key partners in the development of brand-aligned content across the webpages.

We will continue to keep the CWU community updated on our progress to tell the university's powerful story. As always, you can reach me by email at andrew.morse@cwu.edu or by phone (1425) if you have any questions.

Go Wildcats!

Andrew Morse, Ph.D
Chief of Staff and Interim Vice President for Public Affairs

Note: This blog also appears on the CWU Brand Blog.