Southern Methodist University celebrated its 100-year anniversary with a new branding campaign: “World Changers Shaped Here.”
According to SMU President R. Gerald Turner, the campaign’s goal is to prove to the world that SMU students are smart, motivated, and committed to succeed. “There are many universities that are trying to communicate the value of an education at their institution, both in short-term benefits as well as those that last a lifetime,” said Turner.
But the new slogan has left some students scratching their heads and saying “meh”.
Dustin Weil, a senior Advertising major, believes the slogan is unrelatable to most students on campus. Weil isn’t sure how he’d change the world. “That’s a loaded question. I’m not sure how I want to change the world yet.”
Christen Summers, a senior Applied Physiology and Sports Management major, also can’t relate to the slogan. “I agree that SMU students have the potential to change “the world independently but I don’t think that’s what our campus as a whole is all about,” said Summers. “I just don’t get it.”
On the other hand, Caley Pavillard, a junior Advertising major, agrees with Turner and believes that the slogan stands for the great education SMU provides to its students. “Having a better education will allow me to get a job where I have the ability to influence change within the company itself and further better the world,” says Pavillard.
President Turner believes that this campaign differentiates SMU from other institutions as they compete for the same high-quality students out of high school. But The University of Texas at Austin has a similar slogan, “What Starts Here Changes The World.”
SMU’s new campaign was the result of debates and research by a committee consisting of Vice Presidents Brad Cheves and Tom Barry. In addition to this committee, Dallas-based The Richards Group, a leader in branding and advertising nationwide, helped develop the campaign.
Emily Jedlicka, a senior Advertising major, finds SMU’s new slogan unoriginal. “They advertise SMU as having such a good advertising department, which I am proud to be a part of. Why didn’t they give us a chance to come up with a campaign that is relevant?” said Jedlicka. She believes the administration should have given SMU students a shot at creating their own campaign.
Many officials believe SMU has done a lot to justify the new slogan, despite the similarity to UT Austin’s slogan. They point to a number of successful projects on campus since the branding campaign launched in April of 2013. These include the George W. Bush Presidential Library and the “ManeFrame” supercomputer used to transform technology across the university.
The university is also recognizing accomplished students and faculty in the advertising campaign on its website. Graduate Carl Dorvil, for instance, started a small tutoring company in his dorm room and is now running a 300-person business called Group Excellence with offices in Houston, Austin, Dallas and Fort Worth.
Professor Andrew Quicksall is finding solutions to dangerous water quality in refugee camps in Africa in a lab right here on SMU’s campus.
Other students say they plan to do great things in the future.
Zack Shumway, a senior Finance major, plans on climbing the ladder at Tom Ford in Highland Park Village to his desired COO position. “SMU may not be the sole driver of my impact on this world but I feel my education at SMU will give me the confidence to follow my dreams,” said Shumway.
