Guidelines on the Karolinska Institutet brand

Summary of the guidelines

Strategy 2030 defines Karolinska Institutet’s (KI’s) three strategic themes – to be a groundbreaking, engaged and global university. These themes point the way for how we are to achieve our overall goals and move closer towards realising our vision: to advance knowledge about life and strive towards better health for all.

The KI brand serves as a guarantee of quality and a promise: this is our mission, and this is what our target groups can expect of us. A recognised, strong brand is crucial to the realisation of our ambitions as set out in Strategy 2030 and our vision. Karolinska Institutet must be cohesive in its whole and in its parts, in word and in deed – the university’s image is something we create together. The brand is the sum of our actions and is formed in the eye of the beholders. It is up to everyone, students as well as staff, to nurture and develop this shared asset of ours that is the Karolinska Institutet brand.

KI’s activities are firmly rooted in an ethical perspective and the rational core values of creativity, passion and responsibility, which inform everything we do as well as how we relate to each other and to the community in which we operate. In a world of ever fiercer competition, the brand is essential for making KI visible and attractive. Our aim is to enhance both our image as outward-looking, modern and credible and our already solid reputation. These guidelines contain instructions on how to handle the KI brand and are for all staff, students and affiliates of the university.

Purpose

Brand strategy – building a single KI brand

KI’s brand strategy is monolithic and devised to build a single brand: Karolinska Institutet. The KI brand is to represent the entire organisation and all its operational units. No project, unit, division or department may be perceived as having its own brand identity, which in effect means that it may not have its own logo or distinct name separating it from KI.

Risks of brand misuse

If staff and students deviate from the brand strategy, it will lead to a lack of clarity about the identity of the communicator. We risk compromising our ability to maintain our distinctiveness if sub-brands are created under the main brand. A cohesive communicator – KI – enhances the organisation’s total legitimacy.

Gains to be had by proper brand use

Gathering everything under one brand gives KI’s activities greater impact by strengthening communication and making it clearer and more recognisable. It also makes it easier to affect the associations that our target groups make with KI. All divisions, departments and projects at KI benefit from the correct use of the brand.

One important reason for maintaining a strong brand is the recruitment of new employees. The aspect of KI’s brand work that concerns the development, shaping and communication of KI as an employer is called the “employer brand” (arbetsgivarvarumärke), which rather than being its own brand, clarifies what KI offers as a workplace – our values, organisational culture and general goals.