At College of the Rockies’ 40th anniversary celebration on Tuesday, February 2, President and CEO David Walls unveiled a portion of the college’s new brand identity – a new logo.

“We recently concluded a yearlong strategic planning initiative and through that process it was determined that a new branding strategy was a logical step,” explained Walls.

A Request for Proposals (RFP) was issued in May 2015 to find a company to lead the rebranding. Strut Creative out of Calgary, Alberta was granted the contract in August.

The rebrand, which will be rolled out slowly before being fully adopted for the start of the fall semester in September, is meant to reflect the college’s brand promise – ‘Rocky Mountain Inspired, Small College Proud’ – and to strengthen and modernize how the college represents itself to the communities it serves.

As part of the rebranding initiative, Strut has developed a fresh look for the college, including the new logo unveiled at the 40th anniversary celebration.

“This is a brave departure from where we were,” says Walls. “The continuous flowing shape of our new logo signifies life-long learning, a continuous journey, sustainability and opportunity and speaks to our being adaptive, responsive and approachable. The new look also pays tribute to our place in the Rockies without giving the sense that the mountains are the only thing that we’re about.”

The logo is the first step in the overall brand strategy, which will be finalized by the end of February. The public will likely see both logos in use for several months as current stocks of branded materials are depleted before a full transition to the new look takes place in September.

“The rebranding is the largest overhaul of the image since we moved from East Kootenay Community College to College of the Rockies 20 years ago,” added Marketing and Communications Manager Heather Jackson. “Unveiling our logo is the first exciting step in this rebranding process. We look forward to communicating further changes to our brand identity in the months to come.”

Along with the new look, College of the Rockies remains committed to its vision of creating and providing the most personal student experience in Canada.

Learn more about College of the Rockies at cotr.ca.

Lead image: COTR president David Walls, Kootenay East MLA Bill Bennett and COTR Board of Governors Chair Wilda Schab cut the cake during yesterday’s 40th anniversary celebration at the Cranbrook College of the Rockies campus. Carrie Schafer/e-KNOW photos

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