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Sponsorship activation and advertising with the intent to reach the university community comes with added responsibility. These guidelines, standards, and policies have been designed to promote responsible marketing and advertising on campus and to maximize reach across the university while still supporting the core mission of the institution. Sponsors and advertisers are ultimately responsible for the content and messaging promoted on campus, as well as the safety and trustworthiness of the products and services offered.

GUIDELINES & CONTENT STANDARDS

Be Authentic with Our Community.

Authenticity means being truthful and honest about the product being promoted. It also means being transparent with the University community about what can be expected when interacting with the advertisers’ products and services.

  • Advertisements around campus should accurately reflect what is being offered. Products or services being advertised must be available to students, staff or faculty of the University.

  • Don’t make false promises about products or services.

  • Advertisers’ presence and messages on campus cannot appear as if the message is coming from the University. Making claims such as “The Official ________of the University,” will not be allowed without express written permission.

  • Advertisements must not infringe upon, nor violate the rights of any third party, including copyright, trademark or privacy rights. Using University trademarks in advertisements is expressly prohibited without written consent following the licensing, trademark and branding policies of the University.

Be Thoughtful About Messages.

Communications should be:

  • Communications should be simple, clean and easily understood. Creative content with the following qualities will not be allowed:

    • Fuzzy or grainy images.
    • Incorrectly oriented images.
    • Overly busy images that are packed with text overlay or have too many font styles and colors.
    • Improper grammar, incorrect spelling or excessive capitalization and symbols.

  • Communications should set the right expectation and should not pressure people to act or click on ads. The following will not be permitted:
    Communications with artificial functionality such as play or download buttons, notification icons, search bars or other elements that mimic those with some type of functionality (calls-to-action that resemble buttons are permitted if they accurately describe where the person will be taken when clicking through).

  • All communications must adhere to the highest levels of editorial quality. The following will not be permitted:

    • Poorly edited images that are distracting or exaggerated.
    • Poorly cropped images that feel careless or recycled.
    • Amateur or user-generated content such as selfies and screenshots.

CONTENT POLICIES

Access to sponsorship and advertising on campus at the University of Utah is reserved for university speech and for commercial advertisements that fall within the scope of this policy. All messages, communications, and advertisements delivered as part of a partnership, sponsorship, or advertising agreement with the University of Utah are subject to this policy and should be consistent with the University’s mission of education, research, and healthcare. This includes advertisements that support student education and resources for student living and wellness. Products that may negatively affect the health of students are inconsistent with the mission of the University and scope of this opportunity.

The following are examples of messages, communications, and advertising not consistent with this policy and that will not be allowed:

  • Things of prurient nature including sex-related items, products or services, unless related to student wellness.

  • Advertisements for alcoholic beverages are prohibited by the state of Utah advertising law and therefore not permitted.

  • Fake IDs, passports or other fraudulent documents.

  • Any goods or services that facilitate or promote illegal activity.

  • Communications cannot promote the sale or use of illegal or recreational drugs. This includes any drug paraphernalia, images or informational material about illegal or recreational substances or products to cheat drug tests.

  • Knock-off products, brand-name replicas, goods wrongfully advertised as brand-name.

  • Any type of lottery (including raffles), gambling game applications, gambling websites, fantasy sports or other on-line prize-based games that require payment for entry.

  • The University of Utah is a tobacco-free campus. Tobacco products such as cigarettes, e-cigarettes, chewing tobacco or paraphernalia (i.e. pipes, pipe cleaners, or rolling papers) are not permitted.

  • The promotion of products, services or business models considered deceptive.

PAYMENT POLICIES

Prepayment for sponsorship or advertising is required for the following: campus groups, political advertisers, bars, nightclubs, private clubs for members, and event promotions.
New partners who have not established prior payment activity or existing partners whose account has become inactive are required to pre-pay for all sponsorship and advertising as follows:

One Month or Less
One Month or Less
If agreement is for one month of advertising or less - 50% of the overall agreement.
Longer Than One Month
Longer Than One Month
If agreement is for longer than one month - 50% of the first-month balance of the agreement.

The University of Utah accepts payment via check, ACH, and all major credit cards. Campus groups may also submit payment via E-Journal or purchasing card.

Upon approval, all sponsorship and advertising is invoiced at the end of the month in which it occurs with a net term of 30 days.

Invoices not paid in full after 30 days will be assessed a 3% late fee on the outstanding balance. Late fees will accrue each month until balance is paid in full.

Clients with unpaid invoices older than 90 days will not be allowed to continue advertising or sponsorship activities until paid in full and the account will be sent to a collection agency.

FINE PRINT

The University reserves the right to modify the implementation, design, or size of any sponsorship activation or advertisement.


The University reserves the right to reject sponsorship or advertising that may conflict with existing contractual obligations of the University. 


The University reserves the right to change or modify partnership policies at any time without notification to affected partners.


Unless requested, tear-sheets or other proof of performance will not be sent to partners.

The University assumes no financial responsibility for typographical and design errors in publications and communications. If mistakes in advertisements or communications are the fault of the University, make-good opportunities will be offered in proportion to the sponsorship or advertisement containing the error,  provided proper notification of such error is received from the partner within 14 days of the date of the activation or advertisement.

All sponsorship and advertising is subject to any policies of the University of Utah or State of Utah, including Utah Advertising Law, that are not mentioned here.