By: Ava Uhlack, Oct. 29, 2024
Cal Poly Pomona’s rebranding campaign that includes a new logo, motto, website and other promotional materials has received mixed reactions from the campus community.
After The Poly Post covered the initial reveal of some visual components released in a CPP Philanthropic Foundation board meeting, students expressed concerns via social media, while faculty and staff showed their frustrations during a rally held by the California Faculty Association Oct. 24.
In response to these concerns and The Poly Post’s initial story, Amon Rappaport, CPP’s senior associate vice president for communications and chief strategic communications officer, shared more about the rebranding campaign.
“I would respectfully ask folks that question the investment take the time to understand the urgency of the challenge we face,” said Rappaport. “If we don’t take bold action to meet our enrollment goals, our state funding will be cut. This will trickle down to the priorities that faculty, staff and students all want funded. We share the same goals of a successful and well-resourced university, which is why we are making an investment in the future of our university.”
During the Academic Senate meeting held Oct.16, Rappaport dove deeper into the specifics of the campaign costs. The logo itself cost $40,000. The rest of the quoted $4.1 million allocated for the rebranding campaign from the Mackenzie Scott donation will go toward a variety of outreach and rebrand campaign initiatives including but not limited to the already released logo, a website overhaul, a video package and other advertising ventures.
The video package is set to be a sort of Super Bowl ad, Rappaport said. Furthermore, the ad templates and campaign materials will include the new imagery as well as a new university motto “Become by doing.” The motto is modified on campus signage to read “Become by” followed by different encouraging terms, according to visuals provided by Rappaport.
As of Sept. 8, the initial story’s publication date, $775,000 of the $4.1 million budget for the campaign had been spent. Now, $885,300 has been spent, according to the slides provided by Rappaport.
The $4.1 million has been budgeted to be spent over the span of three fiscal years starting with the 2023-2024 fiscal year, 2024-2025 and eventually finishing in the 2025-2026 fiscal year, according to Rappaport.
Although it is expected the remaining funds will be spent by next fiscal year, Rappaport said it may take longer for the remaining funds to be used.
As for the costs of the individual projects, Rappaport provided a budget breakdown detailing the costs for each category, with specifications as to how much has been spent up until this point.
The campaign was initiated after the chancellor of the CSU system recommended to the universities and their strategic communications teams that enrollment needed to be a priority, according to Rappaport.
Yet, multiple faculty members at the CFA rally Thursday felt the decision to spend such a large amount amidst a budget crisis is in poor taste.
“The crisis that they used in order to justify the crap they do is caused by them,” said Marcos Scauso, assistant professor in the political science department. “The university that cut the budget, cut the amount of faculty, decreased the number of classes and then complain about a lack of enrollment. Students are not stupid. They are not going to go for a f***ing logo. That’s not going to cut it. It’s our education that will help.”
Associate professor of music Evan Ware pointed out that career administrators have turned the recruitment process into a corporate one.
“Listen to me; we are the branding,” Ware said, emphasizing faculty, students and staff as the driving force for recruitment at CPP.
The university’s previous rebranding from 2018 cost $210,000, according to an editorial by The San Luis Obispo Tribune that criticized CPP’s current logo.
“If the logo didn’t include the name ‘Cal Poly Pomona,’ it could be mistaken for an advertisement for any of the following: a software company; an intensely brutal weight-training program; a contraceptive; a series of dystopian young-adult novels; or insect repellant,” the editorial read.
While the logo’s eight sides represent the eight elements of a polytechnic education defined by an academic masterplan, Rappaport echoed the logo didn’t represent the best understanding of CPP. However, he pushed back against the CFA’s other concerns.
“When we meet our enrollment goals, that brings resources to support students, and it ensures that we have resources to serve our current students,” Rappaport said. “I don’t think the framing is accurate to say that bringing students here makes it harder to serve them financially.”
While the CSU system has faced an overall 6% decrease in 2023 enrollment compared to the enrollment in 2019, CPP, alongside Cal State Fullerton, CSU Long Beach, Cal State LA, CSU Northridge, San Diego State, San Jose State and CSU San Marcos, met or exceeded the enrollment expectations in 2024-2025.
However, multiple faculty and staff members stressed during the CFA rally they are struggling to support all of their students due to recent budget cuts and dwindling ability to keep up with financial costs that range from office supplies like printers and computers to classroom essentials, as mentioned by multiple speakers at the rally.
According to Vanessa Kettering, a lecturer in the psychology department, some professors are even taking on more students than the baseline enrollment number to keep students on track to graduate.
The rebranding cost is high, but Rappaport explained the allocated budget is less than other universities, including other CSUs, are spending on rebranding efforts.
“Large universities, those with 12,000 or more students, are spending 20% more annually on marketing communications than we do at Cal Poly Pomona,” Rappaport said. “Cal Poly Humbolt spent $3 million over two years on their rebranding, and they’re a fourth our size. What we are spending is below average other CSUs.”
Cal Poly Humbolt went through its rebranding campaign after the CSU Board of Trustees approved a name change and designation as a polytechnic university. The state allocated a “historic $453 million investment” to support those changes, including the addition of new academic and experiential learning programs. Cal Poly Humbolt then partnered with the marketing agency SimpsonScarborough in 2022 for the rebranding campaign.
Following the recommendation to prioritize enrollment, the strategic communications department Rappaport leads collaborated with colleagues from outreach, recruitment and education partnerships as well as enrollment management services, student affairs, student orientation and IT for more than a year and a half.
The strategic communications department then put together a brand strategy working group in 2022 that contained representation from across the university for collaboration, including students.
Student representatives were also present at the CFA rally to give student outlook.
“Students are constantly being misled and misinformed about the true financial condition of our school, and we’re tired,” said Emily Summers during the CFA rally, a student intern from the Students for Quality Education group.
There are two open forums for the community, including students, to voice their thoughts on the campaign. One will be held from noon to 1 p.m. and the other from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., according to an email from Rappaport to the campus sent Oct. 21. The open forums will be held virtually over Zoom.
Anyone can register for an opportunity to speak by clicking on the above time they wish to attend. If students, faculty and staff cannot attend but wish to view the proceedings, a recording will be posted on the brand page of the CPP website after the forums, according to the email.
For more information into the logo’s creation and design process, listen to the new episode of In Parentheses, featuring an interview with Rappaport.
Feature image courtesy of Amon Rappaport
