Officials said the University began a “brand refresh” last month for the first time in 13 years to encourage a “strong” and “differentiated” look.
University President Ellen Granberg and Vice President for Communications and Marketing Ellen Moran announced in a release early last month that they are beginning the process of a brand refresh to ensure GW’s marketing and communication strategies “reinforce” ideas that make GW “recognizable” and “unique.” Officials unveiled a draft strategic plan framework last Monday, outlining impactful scholarship, creating strong and resilient leaders and cultivating a culture for excellence as priorities — which experts in higher education said, in tandem with the brand refresh, could help students understand the direction of the institution.
The release states “increased competition” among peer schools in the D.C. area since the last refresh in 2012 encouraged officials to differentiate the brand from other higher education institutions in the region.
University spokesperson Shannon McClendon said Ologie, a branding firm, is “guiding” the University during the brand refresh process, including the discovery, community engagement, design and implementation stages. She said officials sent a feedback form to the community last month requesting opinions from the community to guide the University’s further planning and communications, and officials will continue to engage with the community during the process.
“This effort will include updates to GW’s creative direction and messaging to reflect who we are today and in the future,” McClendon said in an email.
McClendon declined to comment on the specific elements of GW’s brand officials are going to change, including whether the University is planning to change its logo, colors or design elements. She declined to comment on the anticipated cost to implement the brand refresh or how GW is funding the refresh.
McClendon also declined to comment on how much the University is paying Ologie and the length of their contract.
Brian Prescott — the president of the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems, a nonpartisan postsecondary education consulting organization — said it’s “much better” when a brand refresh coincides with a new strategic plan because it is “defining” the direction the institution is trying to go.
Prescott said the brand refresh will have to motivate prospective students to come to GW over other institutions as it competes for higher enrollment rates with Georgetown University and nearby public institutions in Virginia and Maryland. He said GW is a “destination” for national and international students alike because of its location in downtown D.C.
“It’s also going to have to be something that I think students will find exciting and encourage them and motivate them to think about enrollment at GW in a thriving city at the center of a lot of controversy right now and public policy challenges,” Prescott said.
Frank Maisano, a professorial lecturer of public relations at GW and a partner at Bracewell law firm’s policy resolution group for strategic communication, said the timing of GW’s brand refresh “makes total sense” after the moniker change two years ago because the University can now go “full circle” to revamp the brand. He said officials can maintain similar design elements, like colors, while looking for changes that are “refreshing” and “present energy.”
Maisano said Granberg has had two years to establish herself as president while giving the community time to use the new moniker, which was implemented at the same time. He said the community can now provide their opinion on the further direction of the brand she outlined in her October town hall.
The University has not refreshed its brand since 2012, despite the University’s moniker change in 2023 from the Colonials to the Revolutionaries following years of pressure from students, who said the moniker glorified the United States’ legacy of colonialism, slavery and racial discrimination. Colonial-branded events, organizations and locations on campus abandoned the decades-old symbol in early 2022 prior to the Board of Trustees vote in June 2022 to ditch the Colonial moniker and commence the process of finding a new moniker.
Maisano said branding firms, like Ologie, serve as a “listening machine” and “implementer” that produces concepts and ideas based on community feedback. He said the branding firm doesn’t force the University in a particular direction, but rather presents concepts for brand refreshes and fields further feedback to adjust ideas as needed.
“They’re going to implement what they feel is appropriate for the feedback that they’re getting, in my mind, and that’s what good agencies do,” Maisano said.
Ologie completed George Mason University’s three-yearslong brand refresh in 2024, which included a redesigned logo to match its branding language.
Chris Aarons, an assistant professor of instruction at the University of Texas McCombs School of Business, said revamps are “tough” because universities want to preserve their legacy but not change their brand entirely.
GW received pushback from students, alumni and faculty after the retirement of the Colonial moniker, saying the Revolutionary moniker failed to sufficiently differ from the previous branding.
A Hatchet poll from the GW brand refresh 13 years ago of 122 individuals across campus showed dozens of students were largely uninterested in the logo redesign. One student said the unveiling wasn’t “revolutionary,” and another said “For the hype, it really isn’t worth it.” The refresh included a new University logo that included an updated George Washington portrait and a font that was met with hesitation from students because they felt officials made the change seem more substantial than it was.
“It’s not just like changing a visual system, it’s changing how people think about you, but you’ve got to preserve the good and understand what the bad is and have a good reason for doing it, not just do it because you’re tired of it,” Aarons said.
Aarons said a brand refresh could “take years” because institutions have to change all current GW branding to its new visual identity, and ordering and waiting for supplies takes time. He said officials can wait to implement the new branding until previous supplies run out or throw away old branding, but officials should change the branding all at once.
Aarons said brand refreshes could cost between hundreds of thousands of dollars to multiple millions, depending on the type of rebranding, like changes to logos, color schemes and the mascot, which would require changing signage around campus.
“The one thing you don’t want to do is have two brands living at the same time,” Aarons said.
