5° + University of Mary Hardin-Baylor
Brand Promise • Theme and Message Map • Brand Book • Enrollment Marketing Materials • Photography
The Opportunity: A Story of Purpose-Led Vision
The University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in Belton, Texas, is united in a bold vision for the future: To be the university of choice for Christian higher education in the Southwest.
Ideas of such dimension call for equally bold action. Putting power behind their vision, UMHB embarked on a major branding initiative. Prioritizing current marketing, communication, and advancement planning, the university’s leadership engaged 5° Branding in a comprehensive brand audit and refinement followed by a fresh enrollment marketing campaign.
The Plan: Purpose-Led Vision
Prioritizing current marketing, communication, and advancement planning, the university’s leadership engaged 5° Branding in a comprehensive brand audit and refinement followed by a fresh enrollment marketing campaign.
An energized campus visit experience including a series of interactive brand workshops gave the 5° team an up-close and personal glimpse of the heart of UMHB. Comprehensive surveys of key constituent groups quantified findings.
Pinpointing the “why” of UMHB’s bold vision led to a distinctive brand promise—Your Purpose Is Our Promise—and a statement-making rally cry: Live on Purpose.
The Brand Book includes: Telling our Story, Building our Reputation, and Managing our Image
The Results
UMHB’s new branding showcases the personality of the university—upbeat, personal, and vibrant—and reflects the authenticity of the school’s commitments. On a campus splashed with purple and gold and teeming with a message of purpose, the vision is more vivid than ever.
What has the new branding accomplished so far?
According to Ashley Smith, Director of Marketing and Public Relations: “The new brand equips us with strong messaging, bold visuals, and meaningful storytelling, which allows UMHB to stand out in the crowd of Christian universities in Texas.”
This comes on the back of 7 consecutive years of record enrollment as a long-standing partner school.
“UMHB certainly values our partnership with 5° Branding. We have had the opportunity to team up for several enrollment campaigns and each time the product seems to be better. They take the time to get to know your campus. A lot of UMHB’s success can be attributed to the wonderful partnership we have with 5°.”
BRENT R. BURKS, ED.D. | DIRECTOR OF ADMISSIONS
A Purposeful Partnership
Looking back on the process, UMHB’s Ashley Smith and Rebecca O’Banion reflect on the project’s success and the planning that started even before the project began. Recognizing the scale of the branding and enrollment marketing project, O’Banion said, “We needed a partner we could fully trust, and we knew 5° was that partner.”
“Our long-term partnership with 5° contributed to our desire to work together again in this capacity,” Smith explained. “We also interviewed half a dozen institutions that worked with 5° on similar branding projects and heard nothing but wonderful things about their creative work and how they served their clients well.”
“The 5° team feels like an extension of our UMHB family,” Smith and O’Banion agreed. “They ‘get us’ and have our best interests at heart.”
