Public Affairs is launching a project to create a better image for itself on the national level after a year and a half of planning. Debbie Griffith, associate vice chancellor for public affairs, said the University spent around $200,000 to hire Luquire Andrews, a Charlotte advertising company, to produce several advertisements in national magazines and create two television spots to run this fall with money from donations not specified for a particular purpose.

Despite the need for attracting new students and business partners, the campaign’s emphasis on broad slogans and present fixation on the engineering innovation on campus detract from efforts to build the University’s national image.

These advertisements are the first wave of the rebranding campaign and are designed to present a confident, focused image of the University on a national level, with an emphasis on “extreme innovation,” with later stages of the project still in the works.

How inspiring. Empty slogans are the stuff of motivational posters that inspire no one. There is a tremendous amount of interesting research that have compelling visuals and dedicated people behind it.

Use it.

Administrators have correctly identified the need for creating a positive image for the University that makes students, alumni and business partners interested in supporting. According to Jeff Braden, interim dean for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, college department heads overwhelmingly supported branding the University as a place for innovation and quick action when briefed on the campaign two weeks ago. However, he also was concerned about ensuring that the campaign did not sound brash and boastful.

Those very concerns are real problems with the television commercials – they seem artificial and arrogant, at best offer only vague hints of what research the University actually conducts and move away from its primary mission as a land-grant institution. Worse, there are only vague plans for the rebranding campaign after the first wave of television and print advertisements and no solid estimations of how much later phases will cost.

Ultimately, the University needs to focus on its qualities that make it such a dynamic, effective institution. Braden said that NCSU was the best university he had worked for because it gets work done. That is exactly what the rebranding initiative focus on – students and faculty doing practical, compelling research and getting work done in all colleges, not just engineering.