\n<\/p>\n
\u201cLeave a Future,\u201d the University of Minnesota\u2019s new slogan, is leaving an impression\u2014not necessarily a good one. As one current student reportedly told The Minnesota Star Tribune<\/em>, it\u2019s \u201calmost mental gymnastics a little bit.\u201d Another local news and entertainment website was less generous in an article titled \u201cUniversity of Minnesota Debuts Astoundingly Stupid New Tagline.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The current slogan, \u201cDriven to Discover,\u201d\u00a0has served Minnesota well over the last two decades, university spokesperson Joe Linstroth said via email Wednesday, but a \u201cmore comprehensive brand position\u00a0will serve the University in strengthening and advancing its mission and priorities in this current climate. One\u00a0that builds on our strengths in research discovery, but better reflects the totality of who we are by also including our commitment to education and community.\u201d<\/p>\n Susan Hagen, university director of creative services, said at an unveiling \u201clab\u201d earlier this month that the institution\u2019s branding needs \u201cto be a little less Minnesota humble and a little more bold and proud of the amazing work that we do here.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n The university\u2019s foundation paid the majority of a $15\u00a0million marketing firm contract to help with university branding over the next five years, according to the Star Tribune<\/em>. <\/p>\n Linstroth said that $15 million budget includes creative services, production and paid media spending, and that the university\u2019s marketing spend is comparable to that of its peers. <\/p>\n The new tagline is \u201cjust one component and lacks context without understanding how it will be used in videos, ads, signage, websites, social media, etc., and with a unified and integrated marketing communications strategy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The university is currently asking community members to share personal stories about leaving a future. \u201cAt the University of Minnesota, our community is committed to a shared purpose:\u00a0to leave a future for the next generation,\u201d reads the online request. \u201cWe invite you to share how your work at the University helps create opportunities for the next generation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n College branding is notoriously tricky, and \u201cLeave a Future\u201d is far from the first tagline to meet a chilly reception. But some experts note that branding is rooted in specific institutional cultures, in ways that may not be legible to or meant for external naysayers.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThrough extensive research and engagement across a broad spectrum of external and internal audiences,\u201d Linstroth said, \u201cthe tagline combined with creative (images and audio) was the favorite across all surveyed groups. This nearly year-long effort gives us the confidence that we have the right approach.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cLeave a Future,\u201d the University of Minnesota\u2019s new slogan, is leaving an impression\u2014not necessarily a good one. As one current student reportedly told The Minnesota Star Tribune, it\u2019s \u201calmost mental gymnastics a little bit.\u201d Another local news and entertainment website was less generous in an article titled \u201cUniversity of Minnesota Debuts Astoundingly Stupid New Tagline.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47472,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[2772,2773,2284,2957,20796,24008],"class_list":{"0":"post-47471","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-education","8":"tag-falls","9":"tag-flat","10":"tag-future","11":"tag-leave","12":"tag-minnesotas","13":"tag-slogan"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/47472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}