Colorado State University
Strategy
Design
Colorado State University’s sustainability and climate work was entering a new chapter. Through strategic brand positioning, the School needed a clearer identity that could reflect its evolving role, strengthen internal alignment, and communicate its leadership across climate, sustainability, education, research, and engagement.
Cultivate was engaged to support a strategic positioning and brand identity process that would help the School define how it wanted to be understood, how it could stand apart, and how its story could be communicated consistently across audiences.
The work brought together strategy, naming, messaging, visual identity, launch support, and the writing, editing, and design of the School’s 2025–2030 Strategic Plan.
Clarifying the School’s position
At the centre of the project was a strategic brand positioning challenge: how could the School express its role in a way that was clear, credible, distinctive, and future-focused?
We led a structured process to help CSU assess naming options, understand audience needs, and define a stronger identity for the School’s next chapter. This included reviewing existing materials, analysing the higher education landscape, exploring relevant climate and sustainability conversations, and supporting stakeholder consultation and decision-making.
The process led to the recommended name School of Sustainable Futures, supported by a clear strategic rationale and messaging system. The new identity was designed to give the School a more distinctive platform while keeping climate leadership visible and explicit across its communications.
We developed a messaging framework that gave the School practical language for communicating who it is, what it does, and why it matters.
The framework supported consistent communication across the School’s key audiences, helping leaders, faculty, researchers, students, partners, and supporters understand its role and value. It also helped ensure that the new name was not simply a brand change, but a clearer and more useful way to explain the School’s role.
To bring the positioning to life visually, we developed a refreshed brand identity that balanced continuity with renewal. This included logo refinement, visual direction, and templates for social media, PowerPoint, newsletters, and other communications.
Creating a strategic plan for the next chapter
Alongside the brand and messaging work, Cultivate supported the development of the School’s Strategic Plan 2025–2030.
Working from the School’s draft framework, we helped refine the structure, language, and presentation of the plan, transforming it into a clear public-facing document. We then designed the final digital publication using the new visual identity.
The strategic plan became an important expression of the School’s positioning. It translated the new identity into a practical roadmap for education, research, engagement, partnerships, and organisational capacity.
This work delivered more than a new name. It gave the School a clearer way to articulate its role within Colorado State University and beyond, supported by a shared narrative and identity that provides a strong foundation for communication, engagement, and decision-making across the organisation.
Cultivate delivered a connected suite of strategy and design outputs, including:
- Naming and positioning strategy
- Stakeholder consultation and decision support
- Strategic rationale and decision support for the new name
- Messaging framework and talking points
- Name and brand launch brief
- Refreshed brand identity, including logo refinement and visual direction
- Communications templates and branded assets for digital and stakeholder engagement
- Writing, editing, and design of the Strategic Plan 2025–2030
Interested in working together?
Send us a message below or to hello@cultivatecomms.com
