Introducing our brand

Our brand is more than just our logo. Our brand is what makes a memorable impression on students, stakeholders and our community and what sets us apart from our competitors.

We are a vast institution, with many different audiences – from staff, to students, to partners, to parents, to government and policy makers. A cohesive brand helps all of these audiences understand who we are and what we stand for, and what to expect from us.

In order to maintain that trust and connection with our audiences, our communications must feel consistent, and distinctly ‘Herts’. This is why we encourage everyone in our staff community to use the resources in this toolkit so that they can communicate with confidence and in the most impactful way.

Who are we and how do we want to be seen?

Our brand is underpinned by solid foundations; we are seen as a friendly, inclusive, diverse, and welcoming place to work or study. We help our community find and capitalise on opportunities and make the most of them, and we work with them to ‘Power Potential’.  Ensuring our communication is ‘on brand’ helps to protect this, and to build on it.

We are ambitious; we also want to be seen as dynamic, innovative, forward thinking, strategic, aspirational, entrepreneurial and influential. Some people may see us this way, but we know there is work to do to improve awareness of our brand across broader audiences than just our students, prospective students and those already in our stakeholder network.

The Marcomms team are working on various corporate campaign activities over the next 12 months which will support the amplification of our brand. In the meantime, the guidance and resources in this toolkit have been created with our ambitions in mind – to help you convey all the ways we want to be seen in your communications, which will play a key role in improving brand awareness. Having an enhanced reputation will ultimately attract more students and support our commercial goals too.

What is our brand promise?

Our vision is to transform lives. This means whatever your background, wherever you are from, we will drive your potential, powering you to succeed. ‘Powering Potential’ is our brand promise, it is how we transform lives and is the promise we make to students, staff and organisations when they come to study or work with us.

We don’t usually use ‘Powering Potential’ explicitly in our communications, but there are ways you can consider and capture the essence of this promise in the way you communicate with your audiences, from tone of voice to use of colour. Using this toolkit will help you to do that.

Watch our Strategic Plan 2020–2025 launch film