Brand Experience

CU Boulder has developed and refined our brand experience over time. When consistently aligning our brand promise and elements, we create a brand experience that meets audience expectations and leads to organic brand loyalty.

Three Core Brand Experiences

CU Boulder’s primary audiences include current learners, employees, donors, industry partners, supporters and alumni. We offer these primary audiences three main brand experiences, each consisting of different academic and cocurricular offerings.


Foundational Experience

The foundational experience covers the structure, mission and values of the university. It’s what we do, who we want to be and how we show up for our community. The foundational experience includes:

  • Strategic direction: The university mission, vision, imperatives and priorities
  • Brand value: How we define the quality of our academic and cocurricular offerings
  • Community values: How we define the quality of our brand experiences
Academic Experience

The academic experience is our main offering, the concrete benefit members of our community receive from CU Boulder. The academic experience includes:

  • Academic programs: CU Boulder’s core offering
  • Faculty: The resource behind our core offering
  • Research: The output of our resources and core offering
  • Nexus: CU Boulder’s connections, networks and local environment
Community Experience

The community experience is the holistic, interpersonal benefit our audiences receive from being part of the CU Boulder community. This includes:

  • Academic and community support and resources
  • Leadership and development
  • Enrollment management
  • Health and wellness
  • Operations, systems and facilities

The brand experience works alongside the brand elements to create a cohesive, audience-centric experience for all Buffs.

Learn babyÖ±²¥app the Brand Elements