The Adelaide Uni brand launched is bang-on for the three markets it must win; but succeeding in the make or break fourth market will take time – lots of time
The new university, combining the existing University of Adelaide and University of South Australia, is getting ready to go – with an academic program and flexible delivery that makes it greater than the sum of its parts. For a project that only seriously started last year, it is no small achievement, presented in a coherent, credible brand.
Certainly there is the inevitable guff about livery, “the monogram balances stability with agility … its curvature and shape reflect the broader state of South Australia with harmony and openness.”
But overall, the brand identity will speak to the staff who will make the new university work – it is ambitious but understated, a calculated appeal to people who believe deeply in their work and its power to improve individual lives and communities. “With our history of pioneering achievements, we aim to enable ‘firsts’ at every level—from supporting first-generation university students to leading in First Nations engagement and driving scientific breakthrough.”
“We will raise the bar by becoming the equalisers of opportunity and catalysts of change” is a standard for teachers, researchers, professional staff to rally around.
For local students, the “Adelaide attainment model” presents the new university as flexible not flaky, rigorous not reactionary. There is more Uni SA than Uni Adelaide in the pragmatic presentation of education as career-building but the teaching-promise will appeal to prospective students across generations and across disciplines, from the vocational to the scholarly. “Modular and stackable learning, a flexible academic calendar, a digital underpinning that embraces AI technologies, work integrated learning, and common core courses across all degree programs, along with embedded graduate qualities to ensure strong employability” is a hell of a sell.
The new brand is also calculated to be SA’s State university – there is a calculated pitch to community pride in the foundation brand. “This tradition of firsts is deeply rooted in South Australia’s history … with our history of pioneering achievements, we aim to enable ‘firsts’ at every level—from supporting first-generation university students to leading in First Nations engagement and driving scientific breakthroughs.”
Planning for the brand has been intensive – as has the strategy of attempting to temper expectations, through a pre-launch comms strategy that included Dual VCs Peter Hoj and David Lloyd writing a piece for THE in May waxing lyrical about values and hosing down critique in advance, We know our new logo will be met with both jubilation and judgement.
The Media Release announcing the new brand had comments from the Go8, but not UniSA’s affiliated group the ATN, signalling the move to scale and status.
It is a message fundamental for the success of the brand. In pushing the two universities towards merger Premier Peter Malinauskas made it a matter of public interest – and prosperity – bases on the belief that education and research can transform the state.
“What if the next space race took off from our state? What if Whyalla powered the world with clean, green, hydrogen. What if two of the state’s leading universities came together to create a global university for the future – welcome to Adelaide University” is the hope, presented implicitly as a promise.
So that’s the trifecta, a campaign for staff, students, citizen of SA
But Adelaide U will not deliver on all the admirable aspirations without the fourth audience the merger is intended to attract – international students. Premier Peter Malinauskas drove the merger because he believes that a big, research-strong university will attract fee paying internationals and plenty of them.
But there is nothing in the media statement for international audiences that went out Monday this week that will win over young people in Asia who have never heard of Adelaide and think south Australia is everything below Darwin. It’s a start, but the pace needs to pick up fast.
It is peak pangloss to assume that Adelaide Uni can quickly take international student share from the Big Four, who have spent decades building their brands – and alumni networks. The people creating Adelaide Uni know what they intend it to stand for and deliver – the hard part will be reaching and convincing consumers who don’t care what a huge achievement the new brand already is.
In the meantime, the UniSA and University of Adelaide marketing teams had to go back to their day jobs on Tuesday, finding a balance in spruiking their old brands for 2025 intakes without conflicting with the new HE beast, which will spring to life in 2026.
