The consultation fee that was passed at Trustee Board is £19.600, to cover the hired help with consultation, design, strategic positioning reports, brand guidelines and implementation methods. The Union felt that consultation was necessary because the project is absolutely worth doing well to avoid having to repeat it in just a few years, and the expertise and experience is absolutely required in a project that many students feel passionately towards.

Implementation of a new brand is not expected to cost much, since signage can be updated rather than replaced (it is vinyl on plastic so can be peeled and re-stuck) and the most immediate and far reaching use will be online and in digital media. When the building renovation takes place in a few years, the look and feel a new brand represents will be considered as part of the interior design and so is unlikely to create additional costs not already covered by that project, but the renovation will provide the best opportunity to redo the building. To put a figure on it in the short term, it is unlikely that implementation – from stationery to signage – will cost more than a couple of a thousand pounds. When the total amount is known, it will be shared in keeping with the SUSU principles of being transparent and open.  

If you look up MMU (Manchester Metropolitan Union), you can see their new logo, which is now reflected in all their design work, in their building, even in content their students groups and societies create. Their engagement figures rose following the rebrand and combined with a new building it has led directly to an increase in student satisfaction. We anticipate similar results here once the initial period that inevitably follows change has passed. The new brand, the new democratic structure, and the plans for new development of our building will hopefully see the start of a change in mentality around the Union and a genuinely improved offer for our student community.