BIOLA UNIVERSITY – Talking Monkey

christian sternal

creative director | copywriter

The university was at a crossroads. As one of the top all-Christian universities in the nation still offering a fully faith-integrated education, they realized that it was time to either step up and stay true to who they are or give in to pressure and relax their commitment to their core values and convictions. We recommended they keep the faith. Resist becoming merely “Christian enough” like so many other faith-based universities have in the pursuit of growth. They agreed. A few months later, we let our “All As One” campaign out of its cage.

All As One

The brand video had to clarify what the university stood for. Inspire and align the students, administration and faculty. And surprise and excite prospective students and their parents about Biola’s very distinct personality and POV. But to do all that, we needed the university let down its guard—bare its soul—and take some chances. Which they did.

“We are restless…”

The Cultural Divide [Expand]

This was a whole new kind of animal. Every brand has a personality and culture that you need to adapt to, but knew this brand was almost perfectly everything I’m not. Deeply conservative with a literal approach to scripture. They use lots of esoteric and coded language and they lens and filter everything through their worldview. It was a huge challenge. To understand them. Find their voice, translate their message and discover a way forward. It basically turned my brain to mush sometimes. But we worked with and listened to each other and got all the way there. And the results were crisp, vibrant, stirring—stunning.

A Venerable Viewbook

We ripped away the layers of the old brand and discovered a entirely new one underneath. One that was straightforward and bold. Modern, confident and exceptionally authentic. This piece in many ways became the Rosetta stone for the rest of the brand.

CASE Circle of Excellence Awards

CASE Circle of Excellence Awards
Silver
Multi-Page Publication
2018

Page details designed to be visually interactive

Cohesive, from the first page to the last

In the center, a gatefold that draws you in...

Self-Constructing Digital

Each display banner was designed to build itself in situ—a nod to the faith concept of constantly “becoming,” growing and learning academically and spiritually throughout one’s life.

Intentional Content

We created all the visuals we needed to support the brand rollout, but we also produced an abundance of additional assets, candid and planned photography and video, with the same look and feel that could be utilized to support the brand well beyond campaign launch.

The Landing Page

All digital roads lead back to a clean, concise, sales-focused landing page that efficiently unpacked the who, what, where and why high notes for visitors.

An All New .edu

The main brand website was given a complete overhaul, too. Simplified, reorganized and refreshed using the new design language and brand voice—from header to footer.

A Brand Font With A Story To Tell

We built a proprietary brand font that had the appearance of being “work in progress”—perpetually unfinished. Another very intentional nod to the faith concept of “becoming.”

CREATIVE TEAM