Central Washington University | Campbell & Company

Building a collective brand story with heart

Central Washington University hired C&C at a moment of profound change: a new president, a new strategic plan, a new campaign, and a new brand—all at the same time. It was a moment that required deep listening to create a powerful brand story that could connect these important pieces of the university and infuse a sense of cohesion and pride.

After speaking to over 150 people—from deeply passionate faculty to first-generation students to local leaders ready to employ CWU graduates—we were able to hone in on a rallying cry that elevated CWU’s gift: seeing and building bright futures for every student it serves.

“We so often do our work and keep our heads down, we don’t always celebrate that we are doing magical things. C&C was able to do the deep and broad listening about what makes us special and different, and helped us take notice about why that mattered.”

Once we understood the community that CWU was, we knew it would be important to build buy-in every step of the way. So we invited students, board members, deans, and others into our process to review and refine the messaging, showing them how we integrated their thinking into a final result they could really celebrate.

“In the past, we used to have lots of committees and meetings and it wouldn’t go anywhere. Now people in our community know their voices matter; they are being listened to. We are still building off that goodwill and energy to move things forward—it’s a whole new collaborative ethos.”

Once we got the university community excited by the brand they helped build—things really took off. Staff took ownership of the messaging and used the tools we created—a message platform, a deck, and a comprehensive brand guide—to transform everything from student recruitment materials to their website and giving pages. We See Futures is now a living brand story across CWU’s campuses and channels, and became the name and brand of its comprehensive campaign.

“You helped bring CWU to a clear sense of identity. We accept that we do extraordinary things here – we talk about that now. I’m shocked how far we have come in living into the work you helped us do—there’s no going back to the place we were before.”