South Dakota School of Mines & Technology Seeks Branding Firm

South Dakota School of Mines & Technology wants to increase its brand awareness by refreshing its current brand messaging and visual assets to accurately represent the university and its strategic goals. The purpose is to portray a clear picture of who we are and how we represent our university on campus, through marketing to our prospective student audiences, and with our alumni, donors and industry partners. The ultimate goal is to increase brand awareness by adopting a consistent brand identity to be implemented by the entire SD Mines community. 

This project will include identifying key differentiators and values that make us unique from our top competitors and other engineering and science universities across the country, creating a shortened university name that resonates with our identity, and developing a new university logo that works well in digital and static environments. In addition, the agency will illustrate how the updated brand will be applied to marketing and business collateral and will clearly lay out brand usage guidelines in a format all university constituents can follow.

The South Dakota School of Mines & Technology (SD Mines) is committed to excellence in science and engineering academics and research, and to developing the next generation of leaders and problem-solvers.  The university offers a wide array of bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees.

Founded in 1885 to provide instruction in the region’s primary industry, mining, today the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology has evolved into one of the leading science and engineering universities in the region.

Located in Rapid City, in the beautiful Black Hills of South Dakota, SD Mines offers a rigorous academic experience, supported by small class sizes, committed faculty members, and many student development programs and organizations.  We’re known for:

• STEM Academics
• Personal Attention
• Outstanding Internship Opportunities
• Great Value
• Our wonderful location:  the Rushmore Region

Scope of Work:

Proposals must address the following areas:

                • Research and discovery process to learn about SD Mines from its various stakeholders (students, faculty, staff, alumni, local community, donors, and employers of our graduates).

                • Research and discovery process of how SD Mines compares to its competition

                • Share findings with the university and use these to:

                • Identify a positioning statement and key brand messaging, including the brand voice

                • Identify a shortened name for the university

                • Create visual brand identity including, but not limited to, new logo for the university (athletics logo will not change), secondary colors, typography, and photography concepts

                • Develop a brand guide

                • Provide brand implementation concepts for, at a minimum, letterhead, business cards, email signatures, general promotional materials, email templates, and recruitment materials

                • General rebrand strategy rollout plan

                • List of items that will need to be rebranded and cost estimate associated with doing a brand refresh

                • Projected timeline for project completion

Due Date:

April 15

Address:

Barb Mustard

Director of Business Services

O’Harra Building

501 East Saint Joseph Street

Rapid City, SD 57701

Relevant agencies include Finn Partners and Ruder Finn.