Pyrotechnics are more popular these days at the University of Arizona. So are buzzwords such as “boundless” and “beyond.”
All are part of a new effort to burnish the UA’s image with donors, would-be students, sports fans and others.
Hoping to stand out like a BMW in a parking lot full of Chryslers, the Tucson school embarked this year on an aggressive branding campaign that includes new slogans, a focus on fireworks and mountaintops, and a 112-page guidebook that now governs all external communications.
“Coca-Cola has ‘Happiness.’ Apple has ‘Simplicity.’ The University of Arizona has ‘Boundless,’ ” says a statement that sums up the strategy.
The UA’s new tagline (“Bigger Questions. Better Answers. Bear Down) has been popping up on billboards and bus shelters around Tucson.
Fireworks also have been popping at graduation ceremonies and fundraising events as the school seeks to create an aura of celebration, a sense of reaching for the sky.
The use of triangle shapes — intended to mimic both the letter A in the school’s logo and the mountains ringing the city — are another common feature in the plan.
The branding concept, borrowed from the business world, is helping the UA distinguish itself in the increasingly crowded marketplace of higher education, officials say.
“It was past time for the University of Arizona to step up and really differentiate itself,” said Teri Lucie Thompson, the UA’s senior vice president for university relations and chief marketing officer. She led the effort that sought input from more than 200 people and groups, both on and off campus.
The boundless theme aims “to communicate the transformative power of the institution,” Thompson said.
The plan breaks down the UA’s target audiences into four main “personas” based on the magazines they read and the TV and radio stations they favor.
There’s The Fan who “bleeds red and blue” and is an ESPN addict; The VIP, who reads The Economist and National Geographic; The Innovator, who favors technology publications; and The Culture Hound, who listens to National Public Radio.
UA employees are urged to keep the four audience types in mind when creating material for public consumption.
The branding effort sprang from a sense that the UA wasn’t highlighting its strengths as well as it could, said Melinda Burke, president of the school’s alumni association.
“I can’t stress enough how often I heard from alumni that the university wasn’t really telling its story,” Burke said.
Alumni interest has increased since the campaign began, especially in Maricopa County, home to thousands of UA graduates, she said.
Melissa Vito, a senior vice president who oversees UA enrollment, credits the branding effort for helping to fuel recent spikes in admission applications and enrollment.
“The new brand contributed to the dramatic increases we’ve seen in applications for admissions and the largest freshman class in the history of the UA,” Vito said in an email.
“Applications for 2014 were 20 percent higher than the year before, and we’re currently running ahead of last year.”
The UA spent about $260,000 on the branding effort, with much of the work done in-house, Thompson said.
Both the university and its graduates will benefit in the long term, officials predicted.
“The more you build your reputation and talk about it, the easier it is to attract students, keep faculty and get alumni engaged and donating to the university,” Thompson said.
Burke said everyone with a UA diploma stands to win when the school’s prestige grows.
“Their degrees increase in value as the strength and reputation of the university increases,” she said.
