Status Report of Rutgers Comprehensive Communications ...

The transformation of Rutgers’ web presence to communicate and reinforce the central
Rutgers messages, starting with the university’s core website (Rutgers.edu) and encompassing
campus and departmental sites.
Rutgers Today, a daily online news source that integrates stories written by Rutgers
staff with multimedia and external coverage of the university.
Rutgers Day, an annual event that brings tens of thousands of New Jersey residents to
campus to build awareness of and emotional ties to their state university.
Rutgers Speakers Bureau, which showcases Rutgers expertise by placing university
speakers at professional associations, national and statewide conferences, and
statewide and regional chamber of commerce groups.
The incorporation of key messages into the script used by students staffing RU-info,
the university’s central telephone and online information and referral service.
Visual Identity System
It was evident from the “Constituency Research Report” and the Lipman Hearne focus groups
that the chaos of Rutgers’ visual representation undermined the university’s ability to define
itself as a unique resource for the state and eroded the strength of its brand. As a result:
the university did not receive consistent positive recognition as the home of
respected faculty members, academic departments, schools, institutes, and research
and cultural centers;
entities of the university did not benefit fully from their association with the strong
Rutgers brand; and
the campuses were not always fully linked to the university brand.
A clear, coherent visual identity system for an exceptionally complex university was developed
to effectively link our campuses, schools, academic units, and administrative offices
with the name “Rutgers”—a strong asset that we all proudly share. The system was endorsed
by President McCormick and the Board of Governors as university policy in December 2006.
The key elements of the visual identity system include:
the Rutgers logotype;
an informal university seal;
the “Block R” universitywide athletic and spirit mark;
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