Become who you are meant to be.
St. Ambrose University’s new brand promise is a simple yet powerful idea – provide students the opportunity to envision a bold future for themselves through a transformative and experiential education.
It is also a testament to the internal work the university has undertaken to reimagine and bolster itself as the world steps into an increasingly competitive era in higher education.
It’s no secret that colleges and universities across the country are facing enrollment challenges. In a market filled with limitless options, St. Ambrose University puts its innovation and tradition at the forefront. It invites students to imagine how they fit into the SAU community and the value their education will bring to their personal journey.
“It's that human experience. It's that every student is inspiringly unique. And that is a different approach in creating a brand in higher education,” said Brian Boesen, assistant vice president of communications and marketing for St. Ambrose University.
Catholic identity, our transcending guide
At its core, the brand promise is guided by the university’s identity documents, which were updated in spring 2024. A group of 39 university stakeholders discerned, iterated, and refined the university’s mission, vision, values, and Catholic identity statements.
The university’s Catholic identity is rooted in the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, and Saint Ambrose of Milan, the school’s patron saint. The Catholic identity statement informed the university’s other documents – the process of how each of these documents came to be is explored in Courage, Wisdom, Justice, Service – and is now infused with the university’s updated brand.
Visual identity
St. Ambrose’s four values – Courage, Wisdom, Justice, and Service – are the clearest and most succinct way the university shares its unique identity. They are embedded in the new visual identity of the brand and are derived from the writings of Saint Ambrose himself.
Under the brand promise are four illustrative icons: a bee, the Catich star, a human – or Ambrosian – and a globe. Each relates to one of the four values. The bee represents courage; the star, wisdom; the Ambrosian, justice; and the globe, service.
“Our values are the base from which the rest of the brand ‘Become Who You Are Meant To Be’ and our visual representation are grounded,” Boesen said.
The university began the early process of reimagining its visual identity in 2022. According to Boesen, these core values were evident then. “They truly are exemplary of the information that we gathered early on in the brand exploration process.”
Now, the university is diligently working to convey these values, this identity to the world.
“When we start looking at how we want to represent ourselves we had to understand what we were creating and why we were creating it that way,” Boesen said.
The university worked with higher education marketing agency SimpsonScarborough early in the process to help create its updated visual identity which includes new colors, illustrative icons, and updated typography.
Many of the illustrative icons used in the brand’s visual identity are derived from the chapel stained glass or architecture on campus.
Once those visual identity items were delivered, it was up to the university’s communications and marketing office to discern how to implement them.
“We had a brand palette and elements,” Boesen said. “What we were lacking was a cohesive story that brought it all together in a logical sense. The values and the way that we were able to tie the previous great tile work that was already part of our SAU brand together with our brand colors allowed us to be able to think more visually about how we want to represent ourselves to the world.”
Zyon Velázquez, creative manager for communications and marketing, immersed himself in the color psychology of the institution’s color palette. Boesen and Velázquez familiarized themselves with the illustrative icons. This work, coupled with the intense integration of the updated institutional identity statements, launched the latest version of the university’s visual identity.
“When Zyon came back with the psychology behind the colors in our brand, the meaning behind some of those tiles, I think that St. Ambrose started understanding what that meant and how the student is the center of the brand story and not just the institution,” Boesen said.
“This is all about discovering who we really are and who we really want to be. And that's a relatable brand. Why can't we be the brand of choice among like-sized private faith-based universities?”
Sharing who we are
This fall, the university began its official rollout of the new brand identity. This included, among other things, a brand story video, brand training on campus, brand initiatives, and other branding campaign elements. The goal, Boesen says, is to build connections with a multitude of audiences, from prospective students to staff to alumni.
“We really want everybody to see themselves within the brand, to love the brand, and want to be part of the brand,” Boesen said. “It’s so critical that we differentiate ourselves, that we share our full picture with the community in the hopes that more people come to St. Ambrose to live out those dreams and their journeys in life.”
So what is the full picture of St. Ambrose University?
Ambrosians are inspiringly unique. They come from different places, backgrounds, and faiths. At St. Ambrose University, all are welcome, free to explore the big questions and issues of our times with curiosity, integrity, and love. We help others because that’s who we are. Built on faith and tradition, we cultivate a community of belonging. We empower Ambrosians to act with courage, seek wisdom, work for justice, and lead lives of service.
It takes courage to reimagine who you can become while remaining true to who you are at your core. But this is the monumental task St. Ambrose University has undertaken. A venture that is unapologetically and distinctly Ambrosian.
