ESU’s new institutional logo is reflective of both the principles and goals of ESU’s strategic plan – Students First: Innovate ESU. We define the new institutional logo as being bold, confident and aspirational. These adjectives are tied to concepts that ESU’s mission and strategic plan put into practice every day: challenging academic curricula, quality faculty, personal student success, and an active and caring campus community.

When we began a new marketing and branding initiative at ESU, we started with research in order to understand the perceptions of our institution’s many stakeholders, particularly students. From September 2015 through February 2016, we held focus groups, conducted in-depth interviews and surveyed thousands of people about ESU. The impetus for the new logos for East Stroudsburg University was a message we heard over and over again; research participants indicated time and again that ESU is a great institution but we could be more effective in telling that story. These new logos, in addition to our brand positioning statement and tagline, have enabled us to represent a brand that is bold, confident and aspirational.

We envision that the new ESU logo, coupled with our brand positioning statement and tagline, will raise the overall awareness of East Stroudsburg University and thus enable us to have more opportunities to tell others that we, as an institution, are committed to putting students (and their education) first.

During our earlier phases of the marketing and branding initiative, research indicated that few really knew anything about the ESU brand – surprisingly, some were not able to identify the university’s institutional logo. As we moved forward and made the decision to rebrand the University, we did so intending to develop a new logo that would be simple, uncluttered and memorable. The institutional mark is now much more flexible, functioning effectively in a variety of vertical, horizontal, and extreme horizontal applications. The new font being used is also instrumental as it was intentionally selected for the ever-expanding digital use (computers, tablets and smart phones).

Based on what we heard from our stakeholders, we worked with Joe Bosack and Co. to create an institutional logo that is bold, confident, contemporary that embodies the Mission, Vision and Values of ESU.

The current ESU institutional logo was first used in 1993 to mark the centennial of the University’s founding. This logo was created long before the proliferation of the internet and digital media. The new ESU logo enables us to refresh the University brand presentation to function significantly better across all digital media platforms while also aligning much better with what ESU is today and what ESU aspires to be tomorrow.

Further, the new ESU logo provides a more unified look across all communications and will ultimately create a greater alignment among all divisions, departments, and colleges.

The institutional mark has been created to be distinctive to ESU in our crowded northeast collegiate geography. It is also intended (color representation) to reflect the outstanding campus community of students, faculty and staff, alumni and friends while being a leader in education (banner shape similar to that of the banners displayed during commencement exercises). ESU’s new mark is aligned with the guiding principles of our vision, mission and values statements as well as our strategic plan; to remain a challenging, contemporary and scholarly community that is unique, innovative and deeply embedded in the Pocono region.

In reality, the new institutional logo is an updated, bold version of the current logo. It is intended to transcend the University’s proud history and traditions and signify the current relevance to our region.

The new institutional logo is scheduled to be revealed to faculty, staff and students on Tuesday, January 17 at 11 a.m. in Common Grounds, University Center. A larger reveal of the ESU’s brand identity is slated for Tuesday, January 24 at 7 p.m. in Koehler Fieldhouse. Once these events occur, we will begin the gradual process of replacing the logos on items across campus – including ESU websites, publications, stationery, business cards, etc. It will take time.

A new visual identity guide is nearly completed and will include specific guidelines for the use of all logos and word marks. We expect to have this guide ready by January 24.

Because of the financial impact, the rollout of new logos will be gradual.

The new institutional mark will begin showing up on the ESU website and in our social media communications with a few other ‘surprises’ to be shared with everyone on January 17. The new institutional and athletic logos will be used on orders of letterhead and business cards (newly designed) placed after January 24. University Relations will be directing all members of our campus community to be good stewards of the resources and to use all existing materials before reordering any new material.

There will be a transformation of the arena at Koehler Fieldhouse to reflect the new athletic marks and you will also see some subtle additions of the new institutional mark across campus. Be sure to come out to the January 24 event to participate in this historical change.

We will be making some modest signage changes; however, many updates will occur as items need to be replaced and are budgeted.

The development of the new ESU logo is part of a three-year branding and marketing initiative that ESU has undertaken to focus on the needs of today’s students, and to elevate the perception of ESU with prospective students, alumni, and the entire ESU community.

The funding for this very important initiative was incorporated in the University’s operating budget over a series of years.

Since the project’s inception in Fall 2015, thousands of individuals have had the opportunity to be involved in molding ESU’s new marketing and branding program. We have reached out to students (current students, prospective students, students who came to ESU but did not complete their degree, students who were admitted to ESU but opted to go elsewhere, transfer students), parents, faculty, staff, alumni, and community members. The project’s charge was led by a core team of individuals who represented administration, university relations, enrollment management, athletics, and university advancement who made recommendations at every step based on data that was provided by the firm Bosack and Co., the selected vendor for this work.

Yes. We conducted in-depth interviews with alumni and also invited them to participate in a survey that was pivotal in shaping the brand positioning statement for ESU. Logo concepts were also shared with members of the Alumni Board of Directors for input prior to finalizing them.

Yes. Faculty and staff were involved in several marketing and branding meetings throughout the development process and were encouraged to participate in the survey that helped us to shape the brand positioning statement. All members of ESU’s campus community were also invited to a number of open marketing and branding meetings for updates on the positioning statement, the tagline, the advertising campaign and the logo concepts as the process progressed.

In the case of ESU’s new institutional logos, both the institutional and athletic logos are both meaningful and iconographic. They are aligned in three separate areas: shape, color and typography.

The shape of our new institutional mark represents our leadership in education; the shape is similar to that of the banners that are displayed in the arena during commencement exercises at ESU.

East Stroudsburg teams have been identified as the Warriors since 1932. In 1996, in anticipation of compliance with imminent NCAA requirements, ESU retired all references to Native American imagery in its Athletics branding and logos, including the use of an associated Native American Warrior mascot. However, the school retained the nickname “Warriors.”

In the two decades since, the Warriors have had an athletics visual identity limited to disconnected word marks and a variety of acronym logos which has provided little brand equity for the program.

ESU’s new athletic mark gives our Warriors an identity that is confident, bold and eager to champion our institution.

To support the new athletic logo, a new mascot has been developed and will be revealed on January 24. This mascot will embody ESU’s vision of a Warrior, something we hope all of our students, faculty and staff aspire to: an ESU Warrior wants to take on the world, values community and works as part of a team.

Finally, portions of the new ESU athletic logo have been developed specifically for our club sports teams. They, too, have sought a solid Warrior identity and will be proud to be part of the new ESU brand.