UNB Marketing Blog
Tips and tricks from your university marketers

Brand identity or how to tell your story

Author: Marketing

Posted on Mar 30, 2016

Category: Brand

Over the last few years, storytelling has become a pillar of marketing.

And how you tell your story is a powerful ally in crafting a strong brand identity.

But what is branding, and why is storytelling such a powerful tool in crafting a strong brand identity?

Let's start with a brand.

It's a term that gets thrown around all the time in marketing. For a lot of people, the word brand is tied closely to a logo or one's visual identity. But a brand is so much more than that. 

For us at UNB, it's what we stand for in the hearts and minds of students, alumni, donors, faculty, staff and our communities. It's the expectations, memories, relationships and stories that add up to why a person chooses UNB. It’s what sets us apart from other universities and makes us unique.

A brand is the essence of your story – and how you implement that is how you tell your story to the world.

So when we’re talking about marketing as storytelling, it’s branding as storytelling, too. In a lot of ways, your brand is your story.

Every day, we're telling UNB's story.

We do it through our #OnlyHere campaign, through our website, social media, by empowering our faculty and staff, and in our interactions with the community.

But implementing your brand – and telling your story – isn’t just a role for marketers. 

A brand is a responsibility that falls to the entire institution.

Every corner of your organization has a role to play in telling your story. For us, it’s everything from our professors inspiring future leaders through experiential learning, to our researchers who are constantly going above and beyond in their academic explorations, to our students who live the brand both on campus and on social media.

By creating a common understanding of what UNB stands for, we’re ensuring that everyone at the university is building our brand.

We’re stronger as one – and together, we have the skills to tell our story to the world.

Have a question? Get in touch with us at brand@unb.ca.

- Emma & Sarah