Celebrating 25 Years with UTIMCO

And many more to come

As of the time of this writing, TruBrand celebrates the 25th anniversary of providing design and marketing services for The University of Texas Investment Management Company (UTIMCO).

UTIMCO is the first nonprofit corporation formed by a public university. They are the investment portfolio management firm for the University of Texas and Texas A&M University systems and are the largest public endowment fund in the nation–with $65 billion of current Assets Under Management. UTIMCO is the 3rd largest among schools, preceded only by Harvard and Yale.

UTIMCO’s mission is to generate superior long-term investment returns to support The University of Texas and Texas A&M University Systems as they provide world-class teaching, push the boundaries of discovery, and achieve excellence in patient healthcare for the people of Texas and beyond. Their goal is to allow Texas universities to continue offering world-class education, healthcare, and resources for discovery by delivering long-term investment returns.

CHALLENGE

When UTIMCO first opened its doors in 1996, it required annual reports to show investors the value of their investment management. The company spent two years searching for the right design and marketing firm before finding a reliable partner with TruBrand. UTIMCO approached us, seeking professional designs for their annual reports and to assist them in their brand identity. Up until when we began our business relationship, they were unhappy with their annual report developed by other agencies.

STRATEGY & CREATIVE WORK

UTIMCO’s business is deeply rooted in professionalism, education, and the Texas spirit. With their vision to strive to be the world’s leading endowment fund and make a lasting positive impact on the future of Texas and beyond, it has been a critical part of our strategy and design choices that support their legacy of success.

Classic designs for logos, annual report artwork, and marketing collateral must convey their enduring commitment to excellence, high performance, and integrity. It is a responsibility to rise to the level of world-class design and branding to reflect the world-class education that their universities offer.

GENERATIONS OF ORIGINAL PHOTOGRAPHY TAKEN

At TruBrand, we pride ourselves on providing customized artwork and experiences for our clients. One way we deliver this is with our original photography services. Many media agencies rely solely on digital stock images that can make a company’s brand feel impersonal.
Throughout the past 24 years, we have supported UTIMCO’s growing staff with annual photo-shoots capturing employee work lifestyle and committee imagery; taking architectural images of their office’s high design, and CEO-featured photos and staff head-shots. The original photography that we shoot conveys the authenticity of the brand and highlights the people that work for UTIMCO.

Besides our yearly annual report package including a 16 – 24 page annual report, we design a companion wall-art for the year. Now, 24 years of annual report art lines the walls of their downtown office. Our visual brand identity included logo design, color palette and communication collateral design style for their branding collateral to leave a lasting impression.

RESULTS

Our creative work has continued to impress UTIMCO all throughout the past 24 years, including an entire visual re-branding of their company, two website re-designs, twenty-three annual report packages–and throughout the succession of six CEOs.

Since beginning its long-term relationship with TruBrand, UTIMCO has increased the size of its endowment funds under management significantly – from $11 million in 1999 to $65 billion in 2022. Their staff has grown from under 20 employees to 115, and we have supported them, taking care of their design and marketing needs every step of the way.

The theme of the 2021 Annual Report was “Making a Difference Every Day.” In that report, we highlighted worthy causes and university initiatives that they funded through their $1.8 billion distribution. We’re proud to declare that this past year, UTIMCO continued with impressive distributions and donated over $2.3 billion dollars to the 13 different academic institutions they serve, supporting causes such as:

Cancer research
Clinical trials, patents, and drugs receiving FDA approval each year.
Financial support for UT System and Texas A&M students currently receiving need-based aid.
Climate & environmental research

While we are not responsible for UTIMCO’s excellent investment strategies or successes (and in no way trying to take credit for it), we’d like to say it has been an honor to have been able to support them and their marketing needs, every step of the way, for the past 24 years.

Our long-term relationship is one of the strongest in the business world – and we’re honored to serve their organization as they continue to create a legacy. It just shows that when agency-client relationships are strong, extraordinary things can happen for the world.

We look forward to all UTIMCO’s new projects on board for 2023.