By: Ava Uhlack and Victoria Mejicanos, September 8, 2024
Cal Poly Pomona will spend $4.1 million in philanthropic funding for a rebranding initiative including a new logo, motto and website design, according to a CPP Philanthropic Foundation board meeting held Wednesday.
The investment is funded by novelist and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott’s $40 million gift to CPP in 2021, according to Amon Rappaport, CPP’s senior associate vice president for communications and chief strategic communications officer.
The rebranding, set to launch in January 2025, will be the second rebranding under President Soraya M. Coley since 2018. In an email statement to The Poly Post, Rappaport referred to the present campaign as “significantly more comprehensive and inclusive than the 2018 update to CPP’s logo and branding.”
The Poly Post attended the public Philanthropic Foundation meeting via Zoom, where the rebranding progress was announced.
Rappaport stated the items revealed in the open meeting have yet to be seen by most of the campus community. He also acknowledged The Poly Post was in attendance before requesting those in the crowd “be thoughtful about what you share and when.” Rappaport also welcomed a live interview with The Poly Post “at the right time.”
The logo that Rappaport and Karen Lindell, CPP’s director of marketing and brand strategy, shared during the meeting features the university’s gold and green colors with a reference to the original horse stables and iconography representing the now-demolished CLA building with the words “Cal Poly Pomona” to the right of the logo. The university presidential seal has also been updated to pair with the logo.
Rappaport acknowledged that no changes will be made to the Bronco Athletics logo due to its notoriety within the community. He continued that, because of the logo’s popularity, the gold and green of CPP’s new logo are the same shades as the Bronco Athletics logo.
“We are making an investment in this multi-year college enrollment and university awareness campaign to attract new students, talent and dollars to CPP, thus bringing more resources to support current students, impact society and reinvest in CPP’s campus and services for future generations,” Rappaport said in an email to The Poly Post. “The rebranding and new logo is just one part supporting the overall strategy.”
Scott’s donation allowed for unrestricted use of the funds, according to a previously published Poly Post article.
The article details that $32 million of the donation is to act as an endowment for the university’s strategic plan, while the remaining $8 million will serve to fund Coley’s Presidential Excellence fund. Coley can use those funds at her discretion in both new and existing university programs.
Rappaport said via email that out of the $4.1 million budgeted for the project, “approximately $775,000 of that amount has been spent to date and the unspent balance is held in reserve.” He also stated no other donor sources nor state or tuition funds have been used for this initiative.
CPP hired the global creative agency 160over90, which has done marketing for other universities including UCLA and San Diego State, to help with the rebranding campaign, Rappaport said in his email statement. This agency has also worked with other higher education institutions such as University of Arizona, University of Florida, University of Virginia, Temple University and Vassar College, according to its website.
Although it may be breaking news to some students, CPP’s strategic communications team has been working on this initiative for the last couple years, according to Rappaport.
“We’ve engaged stakeholders from the Bronco community for more than two years to inform this initiative, with 40+ meetings and presentations; 20+ interviews, focus groups and surveys; and input from 300+ stakeholders representing current and prospective students and their families, student leaders, faculty and staff, alumni and board members,” Rappaport wrote in his email statement. “This broad input has helped shape our message and assure that the strategies, branding and creative developed are resonant and reflective of the excellence, distinctiveness and diversity of CPP.”
Rappaport also explained the rebranding and new logo are part of a larger strategy to increase enrollment by making CPP an attractive choice.
“We’ve known for some time that the number of college-age students in the U.S. is decreasing,” he said. “There’s increased competition for students among colleges and universities nationally and in the state, and the CSU system is experiencing a decline in enrollment.”
The Poly Post will continue to attend all open meetings and provide updates about CPP’s rebranding campaign as they are released. According to Rappaport, open forums will be hosted in October where all students, faculty, staff and alumni will be invited to preview the campaign and provide feedback. The next CPP Philanthropic Foundation board meeting will take place Nov. 6, according to its website.
Images courtesy of CPP strategic communications team
