Positioning Lehigh for Unprecedented Growth

Creative Direction
Brand Strategy | Messaging

Recognition
Gold Hermes Creative Award 2025

The Client
Recognized among the nation’s top research universities, Lehigh Graduate College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), provides professionals rigorous program offerings across the humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences. These programs equip students to shape the future of their fields.

Well, there’s your problem

The Crux
Lehigh CAS had everything: world-class faculty, advanced research facilities, and academic excellence out the wazoo. What they didn’t have was strong visibility.

Too many potential applicants were overlooking the incredible opportunities only Lehigh had to offer. But the difficulty wasn’t just about being seen, it was about standing out.

In such a competitive space, Lehigh CAS needed a way to get noticed. Sure, they had plenty of substance, but without a new strategy they risked losing to institutions with a stronger brand presence.

It was time to change that.

Unlocking Lehigh’s Incongruent Advantage

The Strategy
In a world flooded with graduate options, Lehigh CAS really did offer something different—a place where ambitious minds didn’t have to choose between top-tier research programs and a welcoming community of peers.

What makes Lehigh so unique is how it appeals to seriously driven professionals, but caters to passionate scholars who thrive in a free-thinking, liberal arts setting.

This insight became the foundation for the campaign theme, Where Brilliance Finds Belonging.

The real challenge was shifting messaging from a focus on academic details to a narrative with students at the center of the story.

With a whopping 10 distinct graduate programs, each targeting different audiences, messaging required a unified approach to position Lehigh CAS as an interdisciplinary powerhouse, amplifying its appeal and making it impossible to ignore.