I'm a brand specialist and have created or developed brands across many sectors. This project is a good example of where I've led a full branding process.

The University of Portsmouth (UoP) created a five-year strategy to 2020, reflecting its ambitious growth plans and its growing reputation. Rising steadily through the league tables, it had struggled to build a positive public profile locally, nationally and internationally that reflected its successes. One of its key strategic priorities was to create a brand positioning and visual identity that reflected UoP’s true position as a modern, dynamic and forward-thinking university with a growing reputation and a strong ethos, that could both enable and survive expansion into new products (courses), services (e.g. commercial) and markets (e.g. Asia).

Traditional, linear branding and creative strategies don’t stack-up for universities. You must engage their constituencies in a forensic process of discovery, insight, co-creation, testing and validation. I directed the strategy and creative on this nine-month project, working with a team of consultants and designers, and also working with the talented UoP team, with their University legal team handing trademark searches, registrations etc. If you scroll down, you can see the engagement stats.

This brand was recently highly commended at the Transform European Branding Awards, has been welcomed by the UoP community and is being enthusiastically rolled-out by the university. My role was pitch direction and content, brand & creative strategy, brand research & insight workshop design and facilitation, creative direction, photography art direction and copy concept/copywriting.