Lippincott delivers inaugural brand design for the new Adelaide University

Lippincott – the brand and innovation subsidiary of Oliver Wyman Group – has celebrated a massive local coup in delivering the inaugural branding for Adelaide University.

The 150-year-old University of Adelaide – Australia’s third oldest – has come together with the University of South Australia under the one umbrella, creating the country’s fifth largest academic institution.

Such an exercise – said to be the global education sector’s biggest in history – naturally stirs a lot of emotion, which is just one of the challenges Lippincott faced when it was tasked with crafting Adelaide University’s branding.

Moreover, the consultancy would somehow have to harness the legacies of two proud, accomplished institutions and maintain a sense of prestige while at the same time create a modern, dynamic brand, reflective of an evolving sector. In a highly competitive market, Adelaide University also needed to differentiate itself from the world’s top 100 universities, including its fellow ‘Group of Eight’.

Lippincott in Australia

This is quite an assignment for the creative consultancy, which despite last year celebrating its 80th anniversary and having shaped some of the world’s most iconic brands, such as Coca-Cola, Starbucks, and Delta, has until recently had a limited presence on the ground, while Oliver Wyman has been steadily expanding in the ANZ market.

Indeed, Lippincott launched its first permanent office in Sydney in 2022 after around a decade serving the local market from abroad, with brand and innovation senior partner Graham Harvey and former APAC (now EMEA) partner and creative director Dan Vasconcelos arriving Down Under from Hong Kong to set up shop, and shortly after landing the monumental Adelaide University gig.

“The higher education sector is at a pivotal moment of change, as more people opt for non-traditional paths and disruptive technologies are redefining learning,” Harvey said. “Our biggest challenge was combining the rich legacies of two storied universities into a singular brand that really connects with the next generation of students, staff, academics and wider stakeholders.”

Meeting the brief

Perhaps astutely as recent arrivals, the pair first conducted over 45 interviews with leaders and academics from both universities, along with a rigorous global competitor analysis and survey of thousands of current and prospective stakeholders both locally and internationally (education is Australia’s fourth largest ‘export’ behind iron ore, coal and gas).

The core insight from this extensive research phase, the firm says, was an understanding that “universities level the playing field for progress and catalyse change in people’s lives and industries.” From there, the creative team got to work in designing a brand that could act as a ‘strategic compass’ and reinforce the role of the university as a driving force for positive change.

Design and delivery

The end result, which includes Adelaide University’s go-to-market brand identity and digital toolkit, is quite a departure from the classic signifiers of the past, or in Vasconcelos’ words – “the traditional university visual conventions of ornate crests and antiquated Latin mottos are no longer the only quality cues in the higher education sector.”

“Our solution retains an element of prestige while expressing the new university’s vision of excellence without elitism.”

For the design nerds, the navy blue echoes the colour already used by both institutions, with a digital blue thrown in for freshness and accessibility and the purple reminiscent of the trees that blossom across the state at the advent of summer. The monogram logo was inspired by the progressive architecture of the Adelaide Festival Theatre, with the ‘A’ intended to create a sense of forward momentum and the ‘U’ suggesting upward motion.

“Lippincott’s exceptional design and strategy work expertly matches our ambitious and confident mission,” said the University of Adelaide’s CMO Benjamin Grindlay, with his University of South Australia counterpart Sarah Cutbush adding; “Weaving the golden thread of our two quite distinct universities together into a singular, authentic brand is no easy feat, and we are very impressed with the outcome.”

Established in 1874, the University of Adelaide has produced one third of Australia’s Nobel laureates – including Penicillin-driver Howard Florey – as well as key Manhattan Project figure Mark Oliphant, while also being credited with playing a hand in the development of sunscreen, Wi-Fi, and the military tank among other inventions.