Brand Platform
NC State has countless stories to tell about the people we empower. Here's how those stories always start.
Getting Started
NC State’s brand platform is the launchpad for all the university’s communications and marketing. It was built to achieve four key aims:
- Secure NC State’s status as a global leader in experiential education, research, outreach, partnership and economic impact.
- Express NC State’s unique strengths as a grounded, practical university that tends to people’s needs and prepares them for what’s next.
- Invite talented, caring people to join the Wolfpack, a resolute community that seeks out problems and solves them.
- Continue to win the trust and investment of North Carolina — and the nation — by relentlessly proving NC State’s value.
This brand platform is designed to inspire and guide any and all communications on behalf of the NC State. If you work for the university, you can use these concepts to help the Wolfpack stand apart from our peers, run with shared purpose and reach our goals.
Brand Promise
The simplest expression of NC State’s reason for being.
NC State tackles the world’s challenges as a Wolfpack: a responsive network of thinkers and doers united in the pursuit of a better future. Together, we empower people in North Carolina and beyond to learn, take action and thrive.
These two sentences address why NC State exists, what we do and how. They define the meaning of “Wolfpack” and express our universal calling: help people in our home state and elsewhere to access knowledge, apply it and pursue their ambitions.
Brand Mantra
The single phrase that captures our approach to life.
Think and Do
These three words capture all of NC State’s work. They form an imperative sentence that calls our community to action: We must ensure that the intellectual life of the academy serves the practical interests of people out in the world.
If your role at NC State involves marketing or advertising, we offer more detailed guidance about how to interpret and use Think and Do.
Brand Pillars
The four core themes that express what we do — and how we get things done.
- We Dream Big
NC State creates new knowledge for the public good. We foster innovation, entrepreneurship and lifelong curiosity in our students, and we conduct teaching and research for the benefit of all. - We Connect People
NC State unites hardworking people who embrace collaboration. We bridge gaps, break down barriers and set the standard for university engagement with the private, public and nonprofit sectors. - We Get Results
NC State delivers on its mission and follows through on its plans. We focus on outcomes, applications and real-world prosperity, ensuring all our work achieves its ultimate purpose: improving lives. - We Reach Out
NC State extends its impact to communities far beyond campus. We supply talent, tools and technology to the people who need them — in North Carolina, across the nation and around the world.
Our brand pillars are numbered to suggest a series of steps: All across NC State, we do these four things, typically in this order. While different units serve different functions, the university’s general approach is remarkably consistent.
The four verbs that begin each supporting sentence also serve to tell our story: NC State creates, unites, delivers and extends.
Brand Personality
The five traits that describe who we are and the values we cherish.
- Inventive
We spark new ideas, rethink the familiar and find fresh ways to move forward. - Driven
We take problems in hand and tackle them with determination and resilience. - Collaborative
We forge connections, combine our strengths and share the results of our work. - Supportive
We help people achieve their full potential, and we serve communities near and far. - Confident
We welcome challenges, learn from setbacks and insist our best is yet to come.
If NC State were a person, how would we describe them? These five adjectives express the university’s attitudes and aspirations. All the stories we tell and creative choices we make should reflect these five traits — and never contradict or undermine them.
If you need help expressing NC State’s brand personality when writing or speaking, we maintain a comprehensive guide to Voice and Tone.
Brand Narrative
The story we tell through all our communications.
Since 1887, NC State University has served to inspire and empower people in their pursuit of excellence.
From our home in Raleigh, North Carolina, we dream big to produce a wealth of ideas and unlock new possibilities. We connect people with peers and mentors who can support and amplify their passions. We get results — in experiential education, research, partnership and economic development. And we reach out, ensuring that the work we do here prepares communities everywhere for success.
NC State is not and will never be an ivory tower. We are a living, learning Wolfpack, hundreds of thousands strong, always on the hunt for new knowledge and lasting solutions.
Together, we Think and Do.
This is the elevator pitch for NC State: a short account of our history, purpose, methodology and enduring mission. Any good story about NC State — or any of its units — should echo, draw from or cohere with this overarching narrative.
While the brand platform is principally intended to inspire original creative work, you are welcome to reuse the brand narrative as short, boilerplate copy about NC State. If you do so, it must be reproduced in its entirety, without alterations.
Writing for NC State
Brand Architecture
