Brand strategy and messaging

Brand strategy

Our strategy is the foundation for the UIC brand. It’s a useful set of frameworks for anyone who communicates or creates content on the university’s behalf, so it’s tailored for marketers and communicators.

It serves as the blueprint for building our brand.

Audiences

Audiences: students and families, UIC community, stakeholders, influencers

Know your audience. That might be the most important thing to keep in mind when it comes to messaging. By understanding what an audience cares about, you can draw on a particular lens to color and frame your message.

Audiences: who they are and goals

Who they are

  • Transfer students
  • Parents and guardians
  • Advisers (teachers, counselors and mentors)
  • Professional students
  • Adult learners
  • Veterans
  • International students
  • K-12 students (regional and out-of-state)

Goal

  • Boost awareness, consideration and enrollment
  • Position UIC as the best choice for an affordable, high-quality education with pathways to upward mobility and career growth

Who they are

  • Leadership
  • Faculty and staff
  • Students and alums
  • Donors
  • Fans, friends and volunteers
  • Patients

Goal

  • Strengthen alignment and pride
  • Foster internal pride, unity and alignment around who UIC is and what we stand for, creating credible, energized ambassadors

Who they are

  • Employers
  • U of I System partners
  • Industry partners
  • Policymakers and legislators
  • Community and civic leaders

Goal

  • Increase reputation and boost consideration
  • Demonstrate UIC’s role as a vital engine for workforce development, research and community impact in Chicago and beyond

Who they are

  • Local and national media
  • Funders and donors
  • Rankings voters
  • Local and national leaders
  • Professional organizations and affiliations

Goal

  • Increase visibility and boost reputation
  • Elevate UIC’s visibility and reputation, positioning UIC as an urban public research university of rising national influence

Brand positioning and brand essence

The UIC positioning includes two strategic tools: the brand essence and the positioning statement. The brand essence is the heartbeat of the brand — a few powerful words that capture the spirit of UIC. The positioning statement is a concise, strategic summary of who UIC is, what we stand for and what makes us different from other universities.

Brand positioning

Who: For those with a relentless belief that more is possible, in their lives and the lives of others.

What: UIC leads the way for enduring progress for Chicago, in Chicago and beyond.

How: With unguarded access to a high-quality education, leading research and community impact — without barriers and without limits.

Why: When excellence is within reach, it doesn’t just change one life. The impact echoes across generations and communities.

Brand essence

Essence: access and excellence unlocked

Essence: access and excellence (un)locked

Brand messsaging

To help us communicate effectively, we’ve outlined four key themes that support the brand essence. This ensures that we’re telling the UIC story in a consistent way that reinforces the foundational idea. We build our story around these powerful themes to convey UIC’s offer and benefit (our core value proposition).

Key themes

  • Location
  • Culture
  • Student success
  • Innovation

UIC’s messaging map is a strategic storytelling framework that defines how we articulate the university’s value and impact. It provides direction, alignment and inspiration for anyone writing on behalf of UIC.

The messaging map starts at the center with our core value proposition, and all secondary and supporting points make that core stronger.

Core value proposition

Core value proposition

Messaging map

An attribute is what we offer to our audiences. Attributes include things like programs, facilities, culture and experiences. A benefit is what our audiences get. It’s the value of the attributes that we offer and why they matter.  
 
A benefit is what our audiences get. It’s the value of the attributes that we offer and why they matter. 

ACCESS AND EXCELLENCE (UN)LOCKED
These are displayed through four strategic pillars.

Attributes

Deep roots in the heart of one of the world’s greatest cities

  • A pipeline of highly skilled talent
  • An anchor institution for Chicago and the region for generations
  • Chicago’s only public R1 and its largest university

Benefits

Lead change and fuel progress across Chicago and beyond

  • Producing work-ready candidates within Chicago, the state and beyond
  • Directly contributing to the growth and vitality of Chicago and Illinois
  • Access to a multitude of programs and partnerships that position Chicago on the world stage

Attributes

Groundbreaking research and an expansive, high-quality education that cultivates curiosity

  • Academics grounded in building practical knowledge and skills
  • Life-enhancing research that directly benefits communities
  • Nationally ranked institution and programs with highly renowned faculty

Benefits

Build skills and knowledge for your career and drive real-world impact

  • A strong foundation across disciplines for future study or the workforce
  • Real-world learning and new discoveries that enhance and save lives
  • Learning from leaders in your field and gaining a competitive edge in the job market

Attributes

Removing barriers and providing access to life-changing opportunities

  • The skills, opportunities and network to achieve professional success and financial stability to lead a meaningful life and create positive change
  • A transformative and accessible education
  • Creating a legacy of success for you and your family

Benefits

Elevate futures and create lasting change

  • A launchpad for a rewarding and fulfilling career
  • Focusing on what you will achieve next, not what you owe
  • Long-lasting, generational change for you and those around you

Attributes

A vibrant and tenacious community that reflects and engages in the communities where we live, work and serve

  • Growing from and alongside diverse perspectives
  • Easy access to a diverse, urban campus and the vibrancy of Chicago
  • Fostering a holistic sense of identity and wellness that extends beyond your education

Benefits

Gain real-world experiences and prepare to navigate a global society

  • Becoming more adaptable, empathetic and prepared to lead in a complex, global world
  • The ability to learn, live and work, and commuting seamlessly between those worlds
  • Pursuing a thriving future professionally and personally

Brand personality

The following traits capture how we want audiences to experience and connect with UIC.

Here’s how we want audiences to think about UIC.

  • Community-centered

    Civic-minded, people-focused and grounded in community.

  • Resilient

    Strong, persevering and adaptable. Having grit.

  • Innovative

    Forward-thinking, creative, research-driven and curious.

Here’s how we want audiences to feel about UIC

  • Welcoming

    Inclusive, motivating, built for belonging and caring for all.

  • Purposeful

    Fiercely driven, with intention behind everything. Nothing is accidental.

  • Bold

    Not flashy, but confident in our mission and accomplishing big things.

Strategic goals

  • To provide the broadest access to the highest levels of intellectual excellence.
  • To create knowledge that transforms one’s view of the world and, through sharing and application, transforms the world.
  • To provide a wide range of students with the educational opportunities only a leading research university can offer.
  • To attract faculty from among the brightest, most productive and prolific scholars in their respective fields in the world.
  • To address the challenges and opportunities facing not only Chicago but all great cities of the 21st century, as expressed in the Great Cities Commitment.
  • To serve as a powerful economic engine by contributing to the continued growth, development, health and well-being of the city of Chicago.
  • To foster scholarship and practices that reflect and respond to the expanding diversity of the U.S. in an increasingly complex world.
  • To train professionals in a wide range of public-service disciplines, serving Illinois as the principal educator of health science professionals and as a major healthcare provider to underserved communities.