Adding some green to Big Red

How do you show the relevance of a university hort department that is typically seen as out of date and “just for farm kids”? You go green, of course.

That’s what marketing communications agency Swanson Russell Associates did as part of a collaboration with University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Department of Agronomy and Horticulture.

The department isn’t part of the main city campus at UNL, so the program remained a bit of a mystery to students on the main campus. (This despite Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee’s matriculation in a plant i.d. class as part of the ill-advised NBC reality series “Tommy Lee Goes to College” a couple of years back.)

SRA, working pro bono, formed a team with department head Mark Lagrimini to develop a communications plan for a department that went unnoticed and underappreciated.

The results are progressive, team-spirited and vibrant. With “GO GREEN” as the overarching theme, the team created posters, T-shirts, backpack tags, canvas book bags, bookmarks, Web graphics and lots more.

“Our main office is in Lincoln, as is the UNL Agronomy and Horticulture Department,” explained Jim Matya, v.p./account supervisor at the agency. “It made sense for us to join together and form this relationship.”

With a clean, contemporary design and a vibrant color palette, the Department of Agronomy and Horticulture, led by the Big Red Green Team, now is being seen for what it is – an academic leader, environmental steward and a force on the campus and in the community.

-- Kevin