In an increasingly crowded higher education landscape, many institutions struggle with a “sea of sameness” — similar messages, similar claims, similar stories. So how do you define and steward a clear institutional narrative in a decentralized university without becoming a bottleneck or the “brand police”?

This session explores how to distinguish institutional stories from faculty- or unit-level stories, and how to create narrative guardrails that enable creativity rather than constrain it. We’ll look at practical approaches to aligning earned media, owned content and executive communications under shared priorities — while building governance models that support coordination without over-control.

Grounded in real-world experience building a strategic communications function, this session will share frameworks, tools and lessons learned (including what we’d do differently).

Participants will leave with:

• A practical framework for defining what qualifies as “institutional”
• A campaign qualification checklist to support intake and prioritization
• A governance model for cross-team alignment in decentralized environments
• Candid insights on pitfalls, trade-offs and change management

Ideal for communicators and leaders working in complex institutions who want to move from fragmented storytelling to focused, differentiated strategy.