By Iris Chau, Director of Advertising
For the past year, the KMA has been in the process of creating a new identity—in other words, a rebrand. After many hours put into meetings and discussion, we were able to very coherently make the correct decisions regarding what aspects of the old brand needed to be adjusted. I put emphasis on the word “adjust” because our rebrand wasn’t about building a brand new persona, it was about taking the identity we’ve already established and making changes that will allow us to be a club that is more impactful and sustainable.
A successful rebrand means all aspects of the organization needs to be re-evaluated. As a team we discussed aspects of branding such as logo, colours, social media, events, what the club is and what we strive for the club to be. After countless hours of trying to come to a consensus regarding all of those topics (and more) we finally came up with an identity we believe is true to itself, meaningful enough for people to notice, and powerful enough to make an impact at KPU.
Inspired by the university’s shift from being known as “Kwantlen” to “KPU”, we chose to follow suit. I was responsible for facilitating and leading the entire rebranding process. One of the first meetings we had focused on deciding a new name and motto. I didn’t expect it to be difficult. I also didn’t expect to take anything away from the meeting, besides perhaps a solid conclusion. We didn’t come to a conclusion that day, but we nailed down quite clearly the foundation of which the KPUMA is built on, and acquired insight regarding our role in the student community. Safe to say, this was empowering for all KPUMA executives. We all left with a clearer sense of why the rebrand was necessary, and also why we bother with the club anyway.
We realized that if there was one word to summarize the purpose of the club, it would be “connection”. This became the basis of every decision we made afterwards. We want students to be empowered through the KPUMA by making valuable connections, whether it be connections with industry, connections with other students, or mental connections by acquiring new knowledge. This is the foundation of the KPUMA—always has been, always will be—but it may have been blurred to the public in the past. We’re ready for a new start.
We hope you like it.