Creating a new identity for enterprise and innovation
Building a unified brand that brings the University of Lincoln’s enterprise and innovation offering together under one identity.
The University of Lincoln has always been committed to helping people turn ideas into opportunities. For years, the university delivered this support through several distinct services within its Enterprise and Innovation community. While each service delivered valuable support, awareness of the wider offering remained low. The relationship between services wasn’t always clear, and many people perceived the support as being aimed primarily at students or technology start-ups. The challenge was making the offer more accessible.
What we did
Brand identity development
Design development
Brand guidelines
Copywriting
Digital and print advertising
Campaign material
Understanding the challenge
Our starting point was discovery. We explored the strengths and challenges of the current offerings through conversations with University stakeholders and tenants, competitor research, and a review of existing communications.
We looked at how people engaged with the different services, where perceptions differed and what opportunities existed to bring everything together. These insights helped shape a clearer brand direction.
Finding the right position
Research revealed an opportunity to move beyond the perception of a traditional business hub. The University had much more to offer than space. It offered academic expertise, specialist facilities, industry connections and practical business support.
Working collaboratively with the client, we developed a positioning that brought these strengths together through a more ambitious proposition: helping businesses progress from early ideas to commercial success.
Building Coventure
From this strategic foundation, Coventure was born. A name that combines collaboration and enterprise, reflecting the belief that good businesses are rarely built alone.
We developed a narrative, mission and values that balance the University’s credibility with the energy of entrepreneurship. A clear progression pathway, from Incubate through Elevate to Scale, gave the offering structure and helped communicate its value to different audiences.
Creating a confident identity
The visual identity reflected this ambition through a bold, contemporary design system built around confident typography, energetic colours and a flexible graphic language. As part of our delivery, we also established a direct, approachable and commercially focused tone of voice. Together, these elements created a brand that could speak confidently to students, founders, businesses and strategic partners without losing its personality.
Bringing the Coventure brand to life
With the strategy and identity established, we explored how Coventure could connect with its audiences across different environments. Applications included website concepts, digital campaigns, outdoor advertising and branded merchandising, each to build recognition and showcase the opportunities available. Strong, sometimes disruptive messaging throughout shifted the conversation from simply providing business support to actively backing ambition, growth and commercial progress.
