The UA System office requires that all University of Alabama entities submit marketing and advertising materials for review prior to purchase or placement. This includes, but is not limited to, print advertising, brochures and other materials, giveaway/promotional items, invitations, digital ads and graphics, radio and television ads, billboards, magazines and other promotional materials. UA’s Division of Strategic Communications, Trademark Licensing and Procurement Services have joined together to help University departments and organizations protect and enhance the University’s reputation by ensuring public-facing advertisements and promotional items adhere to the approved graphic standards. The Branding and Licensing Approval form can be quickly accessed at ua.edu/brandapproval.
Anything that references the University in any way needs to go through the approval process. This includes departmental logos, word marks and logos for events funded by the University.
If you have a valid reason for not using a logo or referencing the University in any way please contact Meagan Stockton, mlstockton@ua.edu, in Purchasing prior to placing any orders. You may still need to submit the Branding and Licensing Approval form to get the approval to not reference UA.
A trademark or service mark is a name, design, seal, insignia or other symbol that an entity uses to identify and distinguish itself and its goods and services from those of another entity, or to indicate to the public its authorization, sponsorship or affiliation with the provider of goods or services.
For the current branding guidelines, please review UA’s Graphic Standards.
No, you can fill out one approval form per quote. If you are using the same vendor, you can submit multiple items on the same form.
Representatives for Strategic Communications and the Trademark Licensing office will still need to review the actual artwork being used to be sure it is in compliance with all branding and licensing regulations.
The form will still need to be completed because Procurement Services and Trademark Licensing are included in the approval process.
Once you submit the Branding and Licensing Approval form, the form is routed to and reviewed by Strategic Communications. If approved, the form will advance to Trademark Licensing (if the collateral is a promotional item/apparel or contains Athletics-specific logos) or Procurement Services. If the form requires Trademark Licensing approval, the form will route to Procurement Services following that approval. You can track the status of your approval from the confirmation email you receive that contains a link to the status page. You may view any pending approval forms on that page.
Most approvals are completed in 2-3 business days as long as both the quote and the artwork are submitted with the form and there are no issues. If there are vendor or cost issues, you will be contacted by either Trademark Licensing or Procurement Services. If there are issues pertaining to the artwork, you will be contacted by Strategic Communications and/or Trademark Licensing. Issues with the submitted materials can delay the process of approval, and that delay depends on how quickly the issues are resolved.
Procurement Services is the final approval in the process. Once that representative has approved, you will receive an email with an attached PDF of your completed form. Please save that form and attach it to your Concur Expense Report or Payment Request.
First, please search your inbox for emails from k2usrp@fa.ua.edu. Emails from that address may be in your junk/spam folder. If you can’t find the original email with the form, please contact Meagan Stockton, mlstockton@ua.edu, in Purchasing with the date the form was submitted and the name of the person who submitted the form. She may be able to retrieve the form for you.
If the form is declined, there will be comments posted from the administrator noted on the form as well as in the email notification. Please make the required adjustment and resubmit the form. The form will resubmit just to the administrator who declined the form. For instance, if Strategic Communications approved the form, but it is declined by Procurement Services because of a cost issue, the form will not require another approval by Strategic Communications. For this reason, please do not submit a new form, or it will need to route through the entire process again.
Yes. The vendor will receive approval through IMG College Licensing, but you will still need to submit UA’s Branding and Licensing Approval form because Strategic Communications and Procurement Services are not included in the IMG process. The IMG form cannot be submitted as approval in Concur. Vendor approval in the IMG College Licensing system is not a guarantee for approval within UA’s internal approval system.
Refer the vendor to the Trademark Licensing Website for more information.
Please fill out the Branding and Licensing Approval form and contact Paul Mills, pmills@ia.ua.edu, to discuss.
Student groups officially recognized by The Source will need to fill out the Branding and Licensing Approval form if UA funds are being used to purchase items such as t-shirts and promotional items. If UA funds are not being used, please email the artwork to jennifer.rodrigues@ua.edu and pmills@ia.ua.edu for approval prior to purchase. Please note that regardless of how the items are being paid for, a licensed vendor must be used. Please review the list of licensed vendors.
While PowerPoint presentations do not need to be submitted and approved via the Branding and Licensing Approval form, we recommend using one of the templates found on the UA Strategic Communications website. These templates will ensure you are utilizing the correct logos and color schemes for the University. Various design templates can be found at the Brand Portal.
Sponsorships must be approved by the Director of Accounts Payable as per the University’s Spending Policy. Prior to requesting the sponsorship approval from Accounts Payable, a Branding and Licensing Approval form is required to approve the use of the logo or word mark. When submitting the Branding and Licensing Approval form, please include the logo or collateral you intend to have the conference or entity display as well as documentation showing the cost of the sponsorship. If you are sponsoring an insert, flyer or ad that will be created at a later date and need initial approval for the sponsorship, please indicate that in the comments and then email jennifer.rodrigues@ua.edu with the final artwork once completed and before it is sent on to the conference. Please note: Per UA Graphic Standards, if you use a Capstone A version of your identifier, it must be accompanied by the UA nameplate. To have a logo created that includes both the Capstone A version of your logo and the nameplate in one file, please fill out the Identifier Request Form.
You don’t have to fill out the Branding and Licensing Approval form for research flyers. You can email your flyer directly to jennifer.rodrigues@ua.edu or brandapproval@ua.edu.
Yes, Strategic Communications has developed several research flyers you can download and customize. The flyers, which are created in Word, can be found under Resources on the Brand Portal.
Strategic Communications has provided design templates for flyers, ads, brochures, electronic letterhead and PowerPoint presentations that can be downloaded at the Brand Portal and customized.
As noted in UA’s Graphic Standards, it is recommended that t-shirts utilize our school colors palette of crimson, white, gray and black. Exceptions may be made on a case-by-case basis with documentation as to the reasoning for a different color. For shirts utilized specifically for staff uniforms, recruitment, retention, orientation and community service efforts, the school colors palette should be used in all cases.