By: Dani-Elle Dubé
The results are in. After five months of voting, students and staff gathered in the Student Commons to witness the unveiling of the new Students’ Association brand in a ceremony on April 3.
Some 1,327 students voted from a pool of four designs to change the face of the SA in a two-phase process that began in November 2012 and cost the organization $43,500.
“It is time for a change because the reality is all of our facilities are branded slightly differently,” said SA director Rylan Vroom. “We’ve had the suspicion for years that students didn’t necessarily associate the brands that they saw with the full experience that is the Students’ Association.”
Marketing Breakthroughs Inc., a marketing and advertising firm based in Ottawa, was chosen to design the four variations of the SA logo.
“There was a selections process from the marketing department and they were the company that best suited our needs,” said Michael Kokich, SA outreach coordinator.
“They came in on a reasonable cost compared to other companies which was important,” added Annie Thomlinson, manager of marketing and communications for the SA. “They had the experience we were looking for.”
The first phase, which cost $15,000, included a brand audit that entailed a campus-wide appraisal of current brand awareness and overall thoughts towards the organization, as well as research of other student brands across the province.
Phase two involved logo design, student engagement, public relations and promotions and cost $28,500.
“This new brand encompasses strength, youth and vitality,” said Vroom. “Our brand also has a full circle and that sort of signifies that our services are divided but they’re also part of the whole that is the Algonquin Students’ Association.”
The new logo is inspired by street art, a component that is reflected in the tilted white SA letters within the circle. The lighter shade of “Algonquin green” demonstrates the connection with the college but sends the message of being an independent entity.
“What we really hoped to have accomplished is having a branded house as opposed to a house of brands,” explained Thomlinson. “So when people are going into an SA facility they know that it’s an SA facility.”
The winning logo, according to Kokich, was the overwhelming choice of students.
“I thought this was the best logo by far,” said Kokich. “It just has a nice, new, fresh and current feel.”
It will take approximately a year to change the 20-year-old blue and grey SA logo to the newly-designed green and silver brand.