University of Toronto Brand Platform Development

From: David Estok, Vice-President, Communications
Date: September 15, 2020
Re: University of Toronto Brand Platform Development

Starting this fall, the University of Toronto will be developing a new brand platform for the entire U of T community based on thoughtful consultation with stakeholders across our three campuses. The Brand Marketing team at University of Toronto Communications (UTC) will lead this effort in partnership with McCann Worldgroup, the University’s Agency of Record.

Simply put, a brand is an expression of what makes us unique and shapes how our audiences perceive us. A brand platform refers to a brand’s core elements: vision, mission, values, personality, brand promise, tone of voice and visual look and feel.  

U of T’s brand platform will provide a strong, strategic foundation for storytelling across the University in mass-media campaigns, fundraising activities, student recruitment, faculty hiring advertisements, and other vital reputation-building efforts. The platform will also allow us to develop tools and templates for creating content and communications with a harmonious and instantly recognizable look and feel. The University will make these resources available to all faculty and staff through a new brand portal.  

As part of the process, UTC and McCann will be consulting with a broad spectrum of stakeholders, including senior University leadership, faculty, staff, students, alumni, donors, government officials and business leaders. They will also be drawing insights from industry trends and best practices, marketing research and the University’s previous brand work on Boundless.  

The University expects to complete brand platform development in early 2021. The new platform will deliver tremendous value to the University, and we hope to keep you informed and engaged in this process as it unfolds. 

Please contact Tanya Kreinin (tanya.kreinin@utoronto.ca) if you have any questions.