University of Puget Sound
A New Message
As college enrollment nationwide declined, the University of Puget Sound entered a more competitive and uncertain recruitment landscape. To stand out, the University needed messaging that clearly communicated its value to prospective students and families while also giving internal teams a shared story they could confidently carry forward. The goal: reflect the priorities, spirit and self-image of Gen Z students as they navigate the future of higher education.
GUIDING THOUGHT
In times of change, consistency builds confidence. For higher education brands, messaging can only resonate externally if it’s clearly understood internally. By aligning faculty, staff and leadership around a shared story first, institutions can ensure their message isn’t just distributed — it’s lived, expressed and reinforced across every interaction with students and families.
Getting the Right People in the Room
We convened a cross-campus brand team representing alumni, students, faculty, staff and friends. The work began with a communications audit, a competitive analysis of peer institutions and facilitated focus groups that explored identity, perception and aspiration.
Through collaborative working sessions, the team defined Puget Sound’s personality as optimistic, purposeful, grounded, collaborative, supportive and active. Those traits informed a clear message map designed to guide communications across departments, audiences and touchpoints on campus and beyond, with a shared point of view: keep students at the center, balance autonomy and community, keep it interesting and be curious.
Bringing the Message to Life
Puget Sound’s new message — Pursue purpose and impact in a community that challenges and supports you — was introduced internally through a Brand Basics guide that clarified how to articulate and adapt it across communications. Simply, what we say — and how we say it — matters.
From there, the message was activated through an enrollment campaign and on-campus environmental graphics. Traditional recruitment tactics were paired with unexpected, guerrilla-style elements (stairwells, cafeteria wraps, coffee break materials) to translate the message from concept into experience.
Results: Resonant
