What is a brand? It may be easier to define what a brand is not — it’s not a tagline, not a color, not a logo. It’s not even a marketing campaign. Those are all aspects of a brand, but a well-articulated brand is much bigger than these individual elements.

Ultimately, a brand represents a promise. It is the sum of all experiences someone has with an organization, including both rational and emotional connections.

For Texas Christian University, our brand lives in how we deliver on the promise we make to our stakeholders: our students, their families, our faculty and staff, our donors, our alumni, our community and more.

Last fall, TCU’s Marketing & Communication team and BVK, a full-service image and brand agency, embarked on an exhaustive research process to explore how the Horned Frog community currently thinks about, talks about, experiences and represents TCU to determine the most effective way to tell the TCU story.

The results indicated a resounding passion that permeates the TCU culture: a sense of spirited belonging that fuels our community to be better, achieve more and have an impact for the greater good. This comes as no surprise to anyone closely associated with the University.

The next challenge lies in clearly articulating that ideology, creating a tangible representation of our confirmed brand identity.

“Capturing TCU’s authentic brand identity was our goal, and what we learned from our work with faculty, staff, students and alumni helped solidify who we are, what we stand for and how we make a difference in the world,” said Tracy Syler-Jones, vice chancellor of Marketing & Communication. “Be a part of the big reveal at Opening Luncheon Aug. 18.”