Task Force for Integrated Marketing
Timeline
January 2005. Portland State President Daniel O. Bernstine forms the Task Force for Integrated Marketing, charging its members with guiding and engaging Portland State's Campus community in an authentic and meaningful process to translate the University's missions, vision, and values into a set of key messages and a visual identity program.
February 2005. The University hires Larry Lauer and Associates, a renowned expert on marketing in higher education, to guide the task force. Lauer meets with the Council of Academic Deans, Executive Committee, Task Force for Integrated Marketing and external relations professionals across campus to discuss integrated marketing communication in concept and practice.
April 2005. Lauer and Associates conducts a university wide audit of marketing and communications operations by examining marketing materials and interviewing over 84 individuals.
View the audit questions and interview schedule.
May 2005. Lauer and Associates presents the Marketing and Communications Operations Audit, which provides recommendations for mounting an effective integrated marketing effort that will help Portland State accomplish its strategic goals. The audit addresses institutional strategic marketing issues, operational effectiveness and the organization of day-to-day marketing and communication efforts. Presentations are made to a variety of groups and are advertised in Currently.
View the audit Executive Summary and Final Report.
June 2005. In response to one of the audit's major recommendations--to clarify the image of Portland State--Lauer and Associates return to campus to conduct a "message-on-a-page" exercise. The purpose of the activity is to
- identify themes and clarify the competitive advantage of Portland State University;
- identify the facts that support the truth of those themes;
- identify the symbols and design characteristics that best reinforce those themes; and
- identify other phrases and descriptions that can be used as leads, descriptors and/or tag lines.
A total of 198 people (25 administrators, 57 faculty, 38 staff, 28 external relations professionals, 23 students, and 27 alumni and friends) are invited to participate; 85 attend the sessions. [The links are to that stakeholder group's outcomes.]
September 2005. An online survey [view a draft of the survey instrument] tests the themes of the message-on-a-page exercises. The survey is promoted extensively on campus and in 19 days over 3,500 people complete the survey. The words found to communicate the essence of Portland State are "urban," "community centered" and "engaged." The images most frequently named by respondents as highly associated with Portland State are "South Park Blocks," sky bridges," "Portland cityscape," "green" and "streetcar." See a complete summary of the survey results.
October 2005. Lauer and Associates returns to campus to discuss the survey outcome with faculty, students, alumni and friends. The site visit summary includes an evaluation of the identity survey, a revised message-on-a-page, and an addendum to the marketing and operations audit.
A request-for-proposal is issued October 26, 2005, for creative services for a visual identity package that includes a logo, redesign of PSU Magazine, publication design, Web design, electronic documents, stationary, a visual standards guide, and guidelines for logo, color, typography, linking departments with logo, and advertising. The RFP is sent to over 40 vendors and advertised in local publications. Nine responses are received.
November 2005. The task force and external relations professionals from across campus--representing every campus entity--meet to discuss the site visit summary and to approve a final message-on-a-page. The core message identified on the message-on-a-page is "Portland State University's intentional academic engagement and connection with the Portland urban area provides exceptional opportunities for learning, service, research, and achievement" (updated February 2006).
The task force discusses at length Portland State's current visual identity and the visual identity of subbrands such as Athletics and the PSU Alumni Association. The group concludes that the University would not adopt the Athletics logo; however, Athletics is open to adopting a universal logo if appropriate.
The representative vendor selection committee, composed of 14 members, holds its first meeting.
December 2005. The selection committee meets to narrow the vendor selection for interviews.
January 2006. The campus community is invited to participate in a series of open presentations by six creative services finalists. Those in attendance provide the vendor selection committee feedback via e-mail and at an open discussion.
February 2006. The vendor selection committee offers the contract to Sockeye Creative, Inc., a Portland based creative firm that specializes in branding.
March 2006. The task force approves a revision to the message-on-a-page that reflects "research" as a component of Portland State's distinctive advantage. An updated version is posted online.
Sockeye Creative conducts a series of independent interviews with the task force, campus administration, and external relations professionals to garner creative inspiration. Open sessions are held for faculty, staff, and students. Over 122 people (17 task force members, 47 administrators, 21 external relations professionals, 31 faculty/staff, and eight students) participate in the interviews.
April 2006. Sockeye develops a creative brief for the visual identity package that serves as a "road map" to guide creative efforts. It defines the assignment, audiences, key messages, tone, brand personality and brand values. The primary message identified is "Portland State is an aspirational place of choice--a destination of opportunity."
Members of the task force share the creative brief with internal stakeholders who were interviewed by Sockeye in March and begin a dialog about topics addressed in the document.
Sockeye begins the logo design process.
May 2006. Three logo choices are revealed in a widely promoted two-day (May 8-9) campus gallery viewing and a one-hour "Meet the Artist" session. Task force members are available at the gallery to answer questions. Handwritten feedback is solicited at the gallery. Based on campus feedback, one logo direction is chosen for further discovery.
Another widely promoted two-day (May 24-25) gallery viewing is held to reveal one logo direction. Again, the gallery is staffed by task force members. A variety of similar options are displayed as well. Feedback is solicited via e-mail. Sockeye Creative explores additional refinements to the proposed direction to address concerns noted in the campus feedback.
June 2006. Action-oriented subgroups of the task force meet to begin work on integrating brand communication in admissions/enrollment, sub-brands and internal communications. See the complete list of members and subgroup goals.
Task force and President Bernstine review new explorations and refinements of the proposed logo direction. The task force selects a final design for the logo.
Next steps. Throughout the summer a comprehensive tool kit of print and electronic resources will be developed and made available for use by fall 2006.
The Office of Marketing and Communications and the Office of Publications will begin the process of merging into one unit--the Office of University Communications--to better serve the campus community.
