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CSU launches branding initiative emphasizing change

University debuts new logo and tagline in effort to revitalize its image and boost enrollment. 

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By Dave Larsen, Staff Writer 10:47 PM Wednesday, November 4, 2009

WILBERFORCE, Greene County — Central State University’s new brand identity promises students the opportunity to change their lives and transform their world.

The university determined its own strengths in developing the brand, which includes a stylized logo and the tagline: “Change is Central.”

Change is Central “represents the continuing renewal and revitalization of the university, and of the people who come to the university,” said John W. Garland, Central State president. It replaces Central State’s previous brand, “The only public historically black university in Ohio,” and tagline: “Where Dreams Become Careers.”

Launched this fall, the branding initiative is a critical enrollment and marketing tool, Garland said.

It was developed by Carnegie Communications, a higher education research, marketing and consulting firm based near Boston.

Carnegie interviewed more than 1,000 Central State students, faculty and alumni, said Cecil Foster, the company’s executive vice president. Researchers also spoke with prospective Central State students and those who didn’t traditionally select the school.

Transformation was a recurring theme, but it was “more than an educational change that was a means to an end,” Foster said.

“It was changing who they were as people and they all felt it was for the better,” he said.

The brand lends itself to university promotional materials and media advertising, Foster said.

Garland said the marketing and recruitment effort was budgeted at $110,000. That funding was part of the Speed to Scale initiative approved in 2007 by state officials to increase the school’s enrollment and reduce its annual state supplement funding.

Central State has record enrollment this fall of 2,436 students, according to university officials.

Jamie Minor, a Central State senior from Canton, Ohio, was pleased with the school’s new brand identity.

“Central is going to a positive new direction, so I like it,” Minor said.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2419 or dlarsen@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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