From the Nominator

"Repositioning and renaming our faculty from 'FCAD, The Faculty of Communication and Design' to 'The Creative School' in August 2021 came after two years of rigorous research, consultations with industry professionals, and input from the community that overall supported the revised brand positioning and comprehensive definition of creativity. Despite representing a collection of strong, reputable programs and schools among the best in the world, the arguably clunkier name “FCAD” hadn’t been recognized fully in Canada as a collective, let alone globally. Changing the name would give the faculty the chance to establish themselves both domestically and internationally with a more recognizable brand. The repositioning also allowed for greater synergy within the faculty’s “ecosystem” and for its individual departments to flourish, alongside offering a more accurate encapsulation of the programs on offer. 

The renaming campaign was centred around the concept of creativity and taking ownership of what that truly means. We designed a collection of branding materials highlighting the new brand colours and typography, as well as creating promotional videos and supplemental assets that showcased successful alum. The goal was to spark excitement around the faculty’s long history of leadership in the creative industries. We focused on a threefold promotional strategy aimed at raising awareness and increasing reach and traffic, which we achieved by creatively using location-target mass media to reach target audiences. The campaign was a success, seeing high levels of engagement, positive sentiments and impressions over social media, and sparking a significant jump in our site traffic."

From the Judges

An exemplary, well-designed branding refresh and launch with proven results. The brand launch included a strategic, layered marketing approach with consistency throughout it. The name change made the brand clearer, more concise to appeal to its audience. Overall creative, authentic, and impressive with the team's budget--nice work!