Rebrand Update
What to Expect with the August 23 Brand Launch
As we prepare for the official launch of USCA’s new brand on August 23, we want to share an overview of the updates you can expect—and how you can begin preparing for the transition.
What’s Changing on Launch Day:
- Website Refresh: Our official website will fully adopt the new brand identity, offering a fresh look and feel that reflects our future-forward direction.
- Bookstore Flip: The bookstore will unveil all-new merchandise and displays featuring our updated logo and colors.
- Campus Pageantry: New flagpole banners and other branded visuals will begin appearing across campus, reinforcing our revitalized identity.
- Social Media Refresh: Our main channels will begin showcasing the new identity, and departmental icons will be available with the new marks.
- Templates and Logos: New digital assets—including logos, email signatures, PowerPoint templates, business cards, poster templates, and letterhead—will be available for download.
- Merchandise & Resources: Branded merchandise will be available at the launch event, along with access to our new brand website, which will provide tools, guidance, and a video explaining the evolution and impact of the rebrand.
- Admissions Collateral: Collateral for prospective students is currently being updated to reflect the new brand and will be available near launch.
- Convocation Center Floor: The new logo and branding elements will appear in the Convocation Center at launch.
- AMC Signage: The new logo will be unveiled at launch on the new Advanced Manufacturing Collaborative.
What’s Coming After Launch:
Some updates will roll out in phases over the next year to accommodate budget and timeline considerations. These include:
- Campus Signage: Exterior and monument signage will gradually be updated to reflect the new identity.
- Interior Updates: We’ll work to remove older branding from common spaces and shared areas.
- Advertising Campaign: The new brand will be featured in outdoor, print, digital, and other advertising channels as an official campaign is approved and launched.
What You Can Do Now:
- Attend the Launch Event: Please mark your calendars for our official launch in Downtown Aiken on August 23 from 5-9 p.m. Invite your family and friends for this special celebration featuring new branded merchandise and installations, live music, food trucks, and more.
- Learn More About the Brand: On this page, learn more about the process for the rebrand, what we’re hoping to achieve with the introduction of the new USCA identity system, and other frequently asked questions.
- Rep the Brand: Preorder merchandise or promotional items through Scout Fogul at [email protected] in the Office of Marketing and Communication or other campus partners in Student Life and Athletics.
- Departmental Audits: While main campus areas have already been assessed, each department will need to audit its own office spaces, materials, and promotional items to determine branding updates based on need and available budget.
- Champion the Brand: Help us build excitement with internal and external audiences through championing the brand with others!
This is an exciting moment for USCA—an opportunity to unify our message, elevate our presence, and signal who we are today and who we’re becoming. Thank you for your partnership in bringing this bold new chapter to life.
More details and resources will be shared as we approach August 23. Stay tuned!
Why rebrand USCA?
Positioning USCA for the future
As part of our continued efforts to position USCA for long-term growth and relevance, we are preparing to roll out a rebrand of the institution beginning this fall. This work has been months in the making and is grounded in extensive feedback and research conducted with our campus community, alumni, donors, and prospective students and families.
Why a rebrand was needed
The need for this rebrand emerged during an assessment of the university’s brand equity in 2023. Through surveys, focus groups, and discovery sessions, internal and external stakeholders noted that our current brand no longer reflects who we are or where we are headed. It lacks cohesion, energy, and distinctiveness in an increasingly competitive higher education environment. Stakeholders desired a more youthful, progressive, and vibrant identity that communicates the USCA experience better.
A critical finding of strategic planning
This sentiment was echoed during the recent strategic planning process, where the absence of a unified, compelling brand identity was identified as a critical area for improvement. Survey responses also highlighted that our current brand assets are problematic, many of which are a blend of former institutions or iterations of the brand. This has left USCA without a strong or recognizable visual identity and have hindered our ability to stand out among system and non-system competitors.
More than just a new look
The rebrand is not just about aesthetics. A refreshed and strategically positioned brand can significantly enhance our visibility and competitiveness. It will help clarify and communicate USCA’s value proposition, improve recruitment and retention, and support fundraising and engagement. Consistency and clarity across all brand elements allow our messages to cut through the noise, making it easier for prospective students and families to understand who we are and what we offer.
Why now?
The timing of this initiative is intentional. Like many institutions across the country, we are facing increasing competition for new students. The impact of the pandemic, shifting demographics, and rising costs have created an environment where we must do more to reach this audience. We are not alone in this challenge, but we must respond proactively. The rebrand allows us to reintroduce USCA in a way that resonates with new audiences while reaffirming our mission to those who already know us.
What the rebrand includes
The rebrand includes our logo, secondary colors, typography, and messaging updates. It also encompasses how we tell our story and ensures that all communications feel intentional, unified, and authentic. While the horse will remain a part of our athletic identity, it will no longer appear in the university’s primary logo.
The process has involved many voices across campus, including input from faculty, staff, students, alumni, and donors. The Marketing and Communication team has worked closely with a professional branding firm, combining qualitative and quantitative research to shape the direction of this work. A rebranding process inevitably leads to change because it emphasizes strong points, dispels misconceptions, highlights inconsistencies, and illuminates opportunities.
The investment is expected to return dividends through stronger enrollment, increased donor activity, greater alumni engagement, and broader institutional recognition. The website redesign is also part of this initiative and will be one of the most visible ways we bring the new brand to life.
Fall rollout and community launch
The brand will be launched through a phased rollout beginning in Fall 2025. Materials and platforms that reach external audiences, including advertising, signage, digital assets, and public relations, will be given priority. Currently, the Marketing and Communication team is finalizing core creative elements and these will be shared broadly during a campus and community launch event. The event is a USCA Downtown Takeover in downtown Aiken on Saturday evening, August 23, where campus and community members will see the new brand on Aiken streets, enjoy food trucks and live music, and have the opportunity to build energy and connections among key constituencies.
The power of consistency
As part of the rollout, we will implement consistent standards across communications, including email signatures, as uniformity is critical in building familiarity and recognition early on.
Embracing change together
This rebrand represents a shift. Change, even when carefully planned, often brings questions and some uncertainty. However, it also brings an opportunity to present a clearer, more substantial, and more compelling vision of USCA to the world.
We look forward to sharing more in the weeks ahead and working with you to bring this new chapter to life.
Frequently Asked Questions about the rebrand
Higher education landscape
The landscape of higher education is rapidly changing across the country. Almost all schools have been impacted by declining enrollment since the pandemic. Many have merged or closed. This decline is primarily attributed to falling birth rates and potentially slower immigration rates. The impact is expected to be particularly pronounced between 2025 and 2029, potentially leading to financial challenges for institutions. We are, and will continue to be, competing for fewer students. In fall 2022, 1.4 million fewer students enrolled as first-year students in U.S. colleges and universities (National Student Clearinghouse). Additionally, fewer adult learners are choosing to continue their education in the face of inflation and recession. Simply put, we must make significant changes to attract more students to all our undergraduate and graduate programs.
USCA’s Challenges
A key benefit of USCA’s rebranding work is reaching new audiences. Honing our story, highlighting it, and sharing what is new and different will make people take notice. Rebranding generates energy and attention, needed in a massively cluttered marketplace where we want our messages to stand out and be seen and heard. Our competition is fierce, often with larger budgets allowing greater reach.
We intend to be as strategic, creative, and data-driven as possible to maximize our branding. We will be able to affirm our value to those who know us and, more importantly, establish the university as an attractive option with a personality that appeals to new audiences. This new voice, look and feel also signals that we are current - our programs, services, and approach are keeping up with students' current and future educational needs. The brand refresh is all about enhancing reputation and revenue. A strong brand increases student retention, benefactor activity, alumni pride, partnerships, support hiring, etc.
In 2023, the university conducted research to better understand USCA’s brand equity. We needed to know if our audiences were aware of USCA and understood the great things happening here. Through discovery sessions, surveys, and focus groups with prospective students and their parents, alumni, faculty, staff and donors, we learned our audiences felt the current brand isn’t reflective of the institution's current-day realities. They asked for a more progressive, youthful, energetic, and vibrant brand that reflects where USCA is today and where it is headed.
During the Strategic Planning Process in 2024, constituents noted the lack of a unified brand identity as one of the top areas for improvement over the next five years.
Survey respondents went on to say the brand lacked a unique and compelling identifier. The current university mark has no connection to the university’s rich heritage beginning in 1961. The university’s colors combine the colors of USC Columbia and local competitors Lander, Aiken Tech, Augusta University, and others. This makes it challenging for USCA to cut through the noise of local competition and attract new students.
This is particularly important as we need to compete with system and non-system institutions.
These challenges, coupled with the opportunities presented with the new strategic plan and campus investments from DOE and SCNG, presented an excellent opportunity for a rebrand to reintroduce USCA to its audiences uniquely and authentically.
The entire university was involved in the rebranding in different ways. The Marketing and Communication team has been working on this rebranding with a well-respected branding firm for several months. We did significant qualitative and quantitative research and gathered feedback from current and prospective students, faculty, staff, alumni, and donors. The results of that work led to the brand design and platform development, including the visual identity, our messaging, and our pillars. A rebranding process inevitably leads to change because it emphasizes strong points, dispels misconceptions, highlights inconsistencies, and illuminates opportunities. Our process was no different.
A brand is the way an audience feels about an organization: the university’s personality and style. Branding includes everything we do with the intention of being recognized. Brands are a combination of tangible and intangible elements including visual design (i.e., logo, color, typography, images, tagline, packaging, etc.), distinctive features (i.e. quality, design sensibility, personality, etc.), and intangible aspects of customers’ experience with a product or company (i.e. reputation, customer experience, etc.)
The USCA brand comprises everything that differentiates us from our competitors, represented by our name, logos, colors, pillars, messaging, personality and voice, creative approach, and its execution. These elements work individually and together to create a thought or evoke a feeling. It makes someone think about us beyond our offerings and connect more deeply.
Rebranding allows us to reposition and reintroduce USCA to our audiences.
A relevant, relatable, and recognized brand will allow our story to stand out in a noisy and competitive market.
Consistent and clear branding will explain and establish USCA’s value in the minds of consumers so that when they are ready to decide on education, they understand our value, what the experience would be, and why USCA would be a good choice.
To support enrollment and giving by building reputation, awareness, interest, engagement, and pride.
To optimize reach and communication effectiveness. The best brands are known at a glance. You see a logo, a slogan, or a message and immediately know what organization is sending the message. We want to achieve that by being transparent, consistent, and compelling to our intended audiences.
To affirm our mission, reason for being, who we serve, and why.
To build pride, focus, and unite staff, faculty, and students across all schools and colleges, departments, offices, and units.
The Double Knot: a cherished, one-of-a-kind work of art and an analogy for the interconnectedness of all things USCA.
The fluid form of the letters in the icon nods to the sculpture. The lines of the characters reference the design aesthetics of the 1960s, when USCA was founded.
As supported by current and prospective student insights, our primary research revealed that many prospective students have little to no idea what the horse means to the institution's identity, particularly for first-generation and non-local students, so they lack an affinity. The horse will remain part of the athletic identity system as is standard practice at most public and private universities.
We are planning an exciting brand launch that includes advertising, public relations, collateral redesign, pageantry signage, etc. The plan will be phased in, beginning in Fall 2025, with prioritization given to high-impact assets and a focus on internal and external stakeholder engagement.
It is essential that the brand be rolled out in a thoughtful and planned way to encourage universal adoption.
As we launch this new brand (or any new brand), we hope to have it easily recognized, which requires seeding it with as much consistency as possible. The goal is that any and all communication receivers, in this case email, see clearly that we all are consistent with how brand elements are represented. Like a business card, the point of the signature line is information - name, contact information, and organization (logo is considered an anchor or last impression in an email). The best practice, especially at launch, is to keep signature lines clean and consistent.
No. We remain a part of the University of South Carolina System, the state’s university system collection of campuses. We are not a branch campus of USC Columbia.
The enhancement of our brand and the reputation of our university are critical issues, and the rebrand will help us build our brand equity
We can use the introduction of our new brand as an occasion to reintroduce ourselves to those who already know our work, and to build our reputation among those who don’t.
We now join the ranks of other venerable institutions like UCLA who are known by their acronym.
Specifically, the Chancellor is committed to utilizing this change as an opportunity to address deficiencies in our current approach and build momentum toward the evolution of USCA and its role as the keystone in Aiken’s burgeoning innovation corridor.
The rebranding and website redesign are critical parts of the strategic plan and the most visible and meaningful way our efforts can positively impact enrollments. This investment is predicted to show a meaningful return on investment in student enrollment, donor and alumni engagement, faculty and staff recruitment, and more.
It is too early to have an exact number at this time. As we work through the transition, we are committed to being good stewards of the resources with which we have been entrusted.
We need you to be a brand champion! Here are ways you can dive into the new brand.
- Read our internal communication about the rebrand.
- Visit the brand site with tools and assets.
- Order new items and merchandise using the tools shared on the new brand site.
- Attend the launch event.
No. We will remain the Pacers; our colors will be midnight blue and bright red.
Enhancing our brand and reputation as a university is a critical issue that the Chancellor is acutely sensitive to.
We will undoubtedly have to address some questions and confusion from individuals, much like any major brand or university nationwide.
Our new brand will allow us to cut through the clutter and share a clear and distinct message of our value to students and our community.
We can use the introduction of our new brand as an opportunity to reintroduce ourselves to those who already know our work, and to build our reputation among those who don’t.