Case Study/
Building the HBKU Brand
A brand strategy for Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar Foundation’s flagship initiative
Working on Hamad Bin Khalifa University’s (HBKU) branding project was a highlight in my career. The complexity and depth of the project's requirements made it both challenging and rewarding. The interplay of stakeholders involved was sophisticated and creating confusion which demanded a very strategic approach. This project not only tested our creativity and strategic thinking but also left us with a sense of pride in contributing to such a significant educational brand.
The University that carries the name of the Father Emir, the modern architect of Qatar
Qatar Foundation (QF) launched Education City from a single school into a 12 square kilometer campus featuring multiple local and global educational and research institutes. Its flagship includes international branch campuses offering Western undergraduate education in a Middle Eastern setting, granting degrees equivalent to those of the main campuses. QF also created an educational division for strategic coordination and community student support.
HBKU, named after Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani, offers world-class postgraduate programs and national research, aiming to contribute to Qatar's knowledge-based economy.
However, four years post-establishment, HBKU faced challenges aligning its mission and identity, with only one executive program and two independent colleges, in addition to providing support to the branch campuses, highlighting a misconception about its role.
The research showed four major issues to be addressed through the branding strategy
Lingering confusion on what
exactly makes up HBKU
Internal misalignment on the direction of HBKU
Confused brand relationships internally, with the partner universities and QF
HBKU plays more than one role within Education City
A full brand project kicked off in 2015
In 2015, everything changed when the university underwent a major strategic shift integrating three national research institutes and the existing colleges. In addition to that, a much needed full brand strategy project kicked off.
The brand strategy was the primary focus, serving as the foundation for the entire branding project. This strategy will guide the creation of a unique value proposition, including positioning, architecture, tone of voice, brand identity and persona, along with a compelling brand story in both English and Arabic. Following this, we will develop the visual system and messaging to ensure a cohesive application across various media.
This approach prioritizes establishing a strong, differentiated brand foundation before detailing the visual and communicative aspects.
Scope of the project
Analysis: The brand audit and analysis encompass a strategic exploration and visual study to understand the brand's current position. This process involved reviewing existing marketing communication plans and materials, the organization strategy, and conducting in-depth interviews with key team members to identify brand opportunities, clarify the brand's vision, goals, and values, and understand stakeholders' needs. It also included evaluating education and research brands that HBKU aspires to, and analyzing current visual and verbal trends within the education sector to benchmark against.
Strategy: The Brand Strategy phase focused on establishing the brand positioning, promise, vision, mission, and values, while also understanding stakeholder perceptions and differentiating the brand. A comprehensive brand architecture was developed to define HBKU's relationships within its network, including QF, colleges, institutes, and partner universities. This phase also involved creating a tagline that reflects HBKU's essence and positioning, with a unique approach to "arabisation" for cultural relevance. Finally, key messaging and cohesive tone of voice, aligned with the brand's positioning, was defined to ensure consistency across communications.
Visual: The Brand Identity Development for HBKU involved evaluating the existing brand mark and deciding on aspects to retain, improve, or adjust. A central "big idea" was developed to guide the visual identity creation, ensuring the final brand mark resonates with the brand's essence and stands out. The process also included designing a comprehensive system for HBKU and its sub-brands, covering graphic patterns, typography, photography style, co-branding, and sub-branding, aiming for a unified visual language. Additionally, detailed brand guidelines were created to ensure consistency and guide brand application across various mediums.
Rollout: A significant part of this strategy was to deeply engage employees through workshops, aimed at deeply immersing them in the brand's purpose, tone of voice, and guidelines, ensuring their understanding and alignment with the brand's core values and strategic vision, to foster a consistent and impactful brand presence internally and externally. In addition, we focused on the application of the new brand across physical spaces, generating comprehensive brand assets, and revitalizing marketing materials to reflect the updated identity.
Positioning
Innovating Today, Shaping Tomorrow
The tagline “Innovating today… shaping tomorrow” captured HBKU’s commitment to be at the cutting edge of education and research in order to be best help grow and strengthen Qatar’s knowledge-based economy in line with Qatar National Vision 2030.
Key Messaging
HBKU is an innovation-centric university, leading in education and research that is dedicated to solving critical challenges facing Qatar and the world. HBKU develops multidisciplinary academic programs and national research capabilities that drive collaboration with the world’s best institutions, prepare future leaders with an entrepreneurial mindset, and shape novel solutions for positive, global impact.
Excellence
HBKU builds an integrated, cutting-edge teaching and research environment, nurturing top-tier students to excel, at the same time enabling faculty and researchers to achieve the impact they are aiming for.Innovation
HBKU is built on a spirit of entrepreneurship and the pursuit of new solutions for global challenges. As an advocate for innovation in Qatar and beyond, HBKU builds bridges between everyone that is vital for this goal.
People
HBKU makes positive impact on society through its people that represent diversity and play active roles in their local and global communities. HBKU inspires a mindset of continuous growth and participation in an environment of lifelong self-development.
Partners
HBKU actively leverages synergies with renowned local and international partners to facilitate expertise and build capacity in Qatar and the region, hence ensuring an inclusive, high-quality research and education ecosystem.
The concept behind the brand identity
Designing the brand identity was an interesting project, requiring the design to embody the university's legacy within a modern Middle Eastern context. Collaborating with multiple creative agencies, a unique visual identity emerged, based on one of the prominent geometric shapes found in Islamic architecture: the triangle. Patterns based on the triangle can be seen extensively across the HBKU buildings within Education City, linking HBKU to Islamic heritage and culture while also signifying an embedded intellectualism. It also contains a beautiful combination of the initial letters of the University’s name, HBKU, in both Arabic and Latin characters, signifying the University’s role as a locally focused but globally minded academic institution. The chosen identity was designed by Sixty Degrees Qatar
8 years on…
By 2024, HBKU's brand reputation has achieved remarkable national and international acclaim. The university expanded its academic offerings to include 40 graduate programs across six colleges, in addition to integrating three national research institutes, establishing the HBKU Press, and launching over five centers dedicated to innovation, research, and commercialization. This growth signifies HBKU's commitment to excellence and innovation in higher education and research.
“While HBKU will forever be firmly rooted in its Qatari heritage, the launch of a new brand identity marks the beginning of an exciting new chapter for the University. HBKU’s new identity reflects its innovative approach to offering students high-quality research-based education, while the ten-year plan will help ensure the University’s development is in line with its strategic objectives and matched to the economic and cultural needs of the nation.”
Her Excellency Sheikha Hind bint Hamad Al Thani