Published: 11 November 2020
Immediately prior to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in February, following wide consultation during the previous year, St George’s was poised to finalise and roll-out a new brand and visual identity.
However, with the pandemic having a far-reaching effect on University operations, it was decided that the project would be put on hold to enable the project team to focus on the institutional response to Covid-19 and student recruitment priorities.
At the Executive Board meeting in September, it was agreed that work on the project should resume, with the aim to launch the new brand and visual identity in Spring 2021, in time to benefit student recruitment activity during the next cycle.
Aware that there has been a gap in communications while the project was paused, below is a reminder for the community about progress to date; and what will be happening in the future as the way we talk about St George’s and its visual identity changes.
The context for changing our brand
At the end of 2018, the Marketing team commissioned a significant piece of market research to consider current awareness and perception of St George's among key audiences including prospective students, their parents, school advisors, employers, and staff.
A survey of nearly 500 prospective undergraduate students who were considering applying for a health care, science or medicine course in 2019, found that St George’s is less well-known that most of its London-based competitors. Additional feedback from new students early in their time at St George’s suggested that our logo was dated and did not represent St George’s as it is now.
Re-examining what makes St George’s
Following more detailed analysis of the initial research, and acutely aware of the importance of St George’s keeping pace in an increasingly competitive market, a project group was established with the aim of ensuring the University has a refreshed and distinctive brand identity and a clear, distinctive story about what it offers which connects with our key audiences.
Throughout 2019, the group, overseen by a Steering Group chaired by the Principal, Jenny Higham, appointed and worked with an external creative partner to redefine and strengthen our brand, alongside designing options for a new visual identity for the University.
Consulting with students, staff and other stakeholders
Regular and comprehensive consultation with staff, students and other key stakeholders has been a key part of the project. The University's creative partner, Spencer du Bois, facilitated a series of workshops with students, staff and the senior management team last year to inform development of a new narrative for St George’s and to shape concepts for a new brand for the University.
Following these workshops, two distinctive concepts, including a new narrative about St George’s and new visual identities, were tested in a survey which went to students, staff, alumni and other key audiences. The survey received nearly 600 responses and the extensive feedback was subsequently collated and discussed with key staff involved in the project to inform the headline messaging about St George’s.
Shaping a new identity
Following this process of consultation and refinement, more in depth focus groups were held with staff and students to gain further feedback on the front-runner visual identity concepts, as well as two open invitation presentations. Finally, an additional survey was sent to students, staff, alumni and other partners to inform decision-making about which new visual identity to adopt for the University, with nearly 650 responses.
Next steps for the St George’s identity
The Marketing team has already begun to embed the new narrative about St George’s with prospective students, including a new TV advert which aired over the summer in advance of this year’s Clearing campaign.
Over the coming months, work will begin to roll-out the new visual identity alongside the new narrative. We’ll be previewing the new visual identity and sharing details of how you can get involved to help implement the new brand in the coming weeks.
In the meantime, you can find out more at our brand and visual identity by visiting the Our brand section of our website.