What is a Brand?

It’s more than a logo, a slogan, a mascot or an ad campaign.

A brand is:

  • the promise we make to our audiences
  • the essence of our organization
  • the personality we convey
  • the message we deliver
  • the identity we express

In recent years, branding in higher education has become critical to engaging audiences, shifting perceptions and communicating a university’s mission to the world. 

While we are the largest and most comprehensive university in the SUNY system, nothing about our institution is interchangeable with any other. UB has the power to educate and inspire, and so does our story.

The UB story will:

  • capture and communicate our distinct mission and culture
  • define and differentiate our approach to the challenges facing our city, state, nation and planet
  • make who we are as an institution known, felt and understood
  • build pride and inspire faculty, staff, students and alumni

Most of all, our brand helps us tell our authentic story.

These guidelines define and describe the various parts of the UB brand, and offer examples of how we bring it to life across our institution and through our communications. Ours is a living brand, and accordingly, this is a living document. The principles and guidelines set forth here are a map and a guidebook, but there are infinite ways to tell our story.

Here is how.

Our brand is made up of five key components.

These components build on each other, ultimately creating a unique and compelling brand.

  1. Our Positioning: What sets us apart
  2. Our Brand Attributes: Who we are
  3. Our Messaging: What we do and why it matters
  4. Our Personality: The tone in which we communicate
  5. Our Brand Expression: The creative platform that brings our stories to life