Samuel Albers, Editor-in-Chief
Metro State is set to roll out a massive rebranding on Monday, February 21. Although the new brand includes updates to Metro State’s logo, color scheme, website, and name, the changes run deeper. Through a complex process of discovery, Metro State and an outside marketing firm have led an exhaustive effort to capture the essence of what the school stands for. Led by the question “What does Metro State mean to you?”, the team set to work developing and conducting surveys, focus groups, and other activities to elicit important information from those closely tied to the school. Over 3,300 students, alums, and Metro State employees participated in these efforts, whose unique perspectives allowed the school to develop a foundation on which to base the rebranding effort.
After more than a year of hard work, the rebranding team was able to distill the information they had collected into three words that described the core of Metro State’s personality: advocate, optimist, and trailblazer. Along with the use of mood boards and additional focus groups, these personality traits were used to develop the visual aspects of Metro State’s rebranding. With a new logo and colors emblazoned on t-shirts, billboards, and advertisements, Metro seeks to draw in both potential students and corporate donors. With a healthy enrollment and funding from these corporate donors, Metro State can continue to provide an excellent academic experience for its students.
In addition to big visual changes, Metro State is revamping its entire educational platform. According to metrostate.edu/news, this will help the school to “summarize how Metro State University comes to life in our communications. It explains who we are, who we’re here for, what we do, and why we do it. Our platform is the foundation for our voice of who we are as a university.” While Metro State has always worked diligently to provide an inclusive academic experience for all students, the new platform fully commits the school to this course.
In anticipation of this event, I had the opportunity to speak with President Ginny Arthur about the rebranding and the resulting changes taking place. A large part of the motivation behind the rebranding was changing the narrative surrounding Metro State. “We want people to get the sense that this is a high-quality academic program,” explains President Arthur. “Students come out very well prepared in many ways.”
Many people associate the low cost of Metro State’s education with poor quality. The rebranding seeks to flip the script. “We want Metro State to be a destination, not a default,” says President Arthur. While alumni and current students know that Metro State offers a quality education at a fair price, there are many who might think of Metro as a last resort or a community college. With a fresh look and feel, Metro wants to get people talking and thinking about the school in a new light.
Above all, the rebranding effort seeks to instill a sense of pride in students and alumni. Speaking on how students talk about the school, President Arthur says that “they’re kind of quiet about it. They don’t speak up about it right away. I really want students to feel a sense of pride in their university.”
I don’t know about you, but I am proud to be a Metro State student, and I’m confident that the hard work Metro put into developing the new brand will take the school to even greater heights in the years to come.
