Bridgewater College took home the highest honor in two categories at the 2021 CASE District III Institutional Awards. The Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) announced it received more than 700 entries in this year’s awards competition, which represents the best in Advancement in CASE’s Southeast district.
Both winning entries have direct ties to Bridgewater’s Infinite Connections branding campaign, which was launched in fall 2019. The new brand identity, created along with Bridgewater’s branding partner, Lipman Hearne, included an updated visual identity for the College and a strategic communications framework to incorporate the brand in marketing materials and digital platforms, including a redesigned website.
The rebranding effort, led by Associate Vice President for Marketing and Communications Abbie Parkhurst and the College’s Office of Marketing and Communications, began in 2018 and incorporated findings from community conversations among each College constituency. A central theme that emerged from those talks was Bridgewater’s embracement of the student experience as an ever-growing network of connections, both while on campus and long after graduation. But Bridgewater’s connections extend even further, to professors who are always learning and providing professional opportunities for students, to alumni who graduated with a clear sense of purpose and are making noteworthy contributions to their professional fields and their communities.
“We are so pleased with the results of our rebranding efforts and the ways in which our work now aids us in articulating to various audiences the great value of a Bridgewater education,” said Parkhurst. “We are honored by CASE’s recognition, which further illustrates the power of our brand and messaging.”
In the marketing category, Bridgewater won gold in Visual Identity Systems for the visual identity portion of its Infinite Connections campaign. Bridgewater’s previous identity dated from the 1990s and was centered on a campus building that lacked relevance for the community as a whole. Bridgewater’s redesigned logo of an interlocking B and C clearly illustrates the College’s expertise in building connections and fostering relationships.
In the publications category, Bridgewater won gold in Student Recruitment, Publications Packages for its suite of recruitment communications created in 2019 and still used today. Each piece targets a specific audience: high school seniors, high school juniors and parents of prospective students. The cover of each brochure features a powerful photo of a student or students on campus along with a single verb followed by the words “Infinite Connections.”
