In Spring 2012, an improved marketing and communications plan was identified as one of the priority Blue Sky ideas by the majority of Blue Sky Plan participants. To support that initiative, the Office of the President and the Division of Marketing and Communications made a strategic decision to restructure the Division of Marketing and Communications to report directly to the Office of the President through the Senior Advisor to the President and Chief of Staff. This model is intended to set into motion a series of marketing initiatives within the Blue Sky Plan, Pathway 3: Embracing a Culture of Excellence: Promoting Spirit, Community and Collaboration.

Under the first phase of the Blue Sky Plan Implementation, the Division of Marketing and Communications, as the unit responsible for “managing the institutional brand and primary communication efforts to support UMaine’s mission and the needs of the many constituencies of Maine’s land-grant research university,” was charged with the following initiatives for fall 2012: 1.) Organizational restructuring of the Office of University Relations to the Division of Marketing and Communications; 2.) Creation and implementation of the UMaine Marketing and Communications Policies and Procedures, the UMaine Brand Standards Style Guide and the UMaine Communicators Network; and 3.) Organizing the first UMaine Communicators Summit. Through these Blue Sky initiatives, the Division of Marketing and Communications will lead the development and implementation of an integrated marketing campaign and establishment of uniform, consistent and high-quality branding of UMaine with all departments, colleges and divisions proactively participating in this partnership for consistent messaging and quality UMaine branding.

Toward this end, the Division of Marketing and Communications guides and partners with all UMaine communicators, providing counsel and services in the areas of newswriting, marketing writing, graphic design, multimedia, and photography and video production with the goal of producing both internal and external high-quality messaging consistent with UMaine positioning, branding and strategic priorities.