Blowing the cobwebs off of a largely forgotten institution.
The Challenge
The UBC Alumni Association was formed in 1917 to keep alumni engaged in the broader life of the university and maintain lifelong support for UBC. Nearly a century later, however, alumni engagement had all but disappeared.
At that time, the logo and identity system were inconsistent, they looked dated, and were an impediment to connecting with a younger alumni population.
The Solution
After extensive research and stakeholder engagement, a key insight was revealed—though alumni were proud of their association with UBC, they didn’t feel that the association belonged to them, or that it was particularly relevant to their lives.
The strategy was to rebrand the old UBC Alumni Association as a member-driven organization, more in tune with the needs of all alumni. We began with a new name that reflected the insight and put alumni first.
A full branding system with a new logo and positioning statement was created, including brand architecture for Alumni UBC’s various programs, properties, and partners.
The Results
Website visits increased over 44% in the month following the launch and total alumni engagement increased over 9%, despite no additional outreach activity other than the rebrand.
