FULLERTON, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--To beaches, shopping and theme parks, add brand values and trust to the list of Orange County exports.
The College of Communications at California State University, Fullerton (CSUF), and The Values Institute at DGWB (TVI), a social entrepreneurialism think tank based at Santa Ana’s DGWB Advertising & Communications, have formed the Center for Brand Values Communication and Research at CSUF (CBVC&R), the world’s first university-based center dedicated to studying the link between brand values, corporate communications and resulting consumer trust.
This week’s official CBVC&R unveiling press conference at the Crevier Classic Car Showroom in Costa Mesa, Calif., also announced a three-year, $75,000 gift from the Crevier Family Foundation to the Center to expand brand trust-related research, curriculum development and programming opportunities.
Located on the CSUF campus, the Center will work with TVI to examine brand trust as it predicts and directs organizational decision-making and communications. Both entities will conduct independent and co-authored research with the goal of helping organizations maximize their communications effectiveness.
Center directors Mark Guohua Wu, Ph.D., CSUF associate professor of communications, and Patty Malone, Ph.D., CSUF associate professor of organizational communication, will partner with Mike Weisman, TVI founder and president/co-founder of DGWB, in an effort to connect theory, research and instruction through various research and outreach tools.
The Center will also develop curricula to provide a values-based context to existing CSUF and other university communications programs, starting with an immediate professional studies mid-management certification program taught by CSUF faculty and industry advisors.
“The new Center for Brand Values Communication and Research allows us to link the shared values work we’ve been doing with Fortune 500 companies to directly relevant curriculum and research at the University level,” explained Weisman. “For the first time since starting this conversation in the 1980s, we can now make a classroom-to-boardroom connection. The result is a growth in brand trust and shared values-based marketing and management as an even more legitimate field of study and practice.”
“Given the current underpinning of values in the Millennial Generation, universities have the responsibility for graduating a workforce that understands the importance of brand values communications and research — not only to the bottom line but to the societal good,” said William G. Briggs, dean of the CSUF College of Communications. “The new Center brings together the best research, industry experience and resources to enable us to lead what is clearly a long-term, national trend.”
Making the funding announcement was Donnie Crevier, director of the Crevier Family Foundation and former president and CEO of Crevier BMW and Crevier Mini. “Today’s students are tomorrow’s leaders, so integrating values and trust into the curriculum is crucial if future generations are going to understand the consequences of their decisions,” explained Crevier. “The Center provides the framework for students to examine the awesome responsibility that comes with brand trust and communications.”
For information, go to http://communications.fullerton.edu/centerforbrandvalues/index.aspdetails (Center), http://communications.fullerton.edu/go (CSUF College of Communications) or www.thevaluesinstitute.org/ (The Values Institute at DGWB).
About CSUF College of Communications
The College of Communications at Cal State Fullerton, with more than 3,800 students, is one of the largest and most comprehensive communications colleges in California. The College delivers an affordable and quality education to a diverse group of students. The College’s three departments − Communications, Human Communication Studies, and Radio-TV-Film − feature accomplished faculty and researchers. Through a talented student population, an alumni network of 26,000 and practical industry partnerships, the College prepares graduates who fuel the communications workforce of our region and beyond. For information, contact Michael Karg at 657-278-3348.
About The Values Institute at DGWB
The Values Institute at DGWB is a social science research entity housed at Southern California’s DGWB Advertising & Communications. The Values Institute grew out of the agency’s more than two decades of work helping Fortune 500 clients and nonprofits build long-term relationships with their constituents based on shared values and socially responsible behavior. Founded by DGWB President Mike Weisman, the Institute is led by an advisory board of leaders at academic, nonprofit and for-profit organizations involved in values-based marketing and social entrepreneurialism. For information, contact Mike Weisman directly at 714-881-2300.
About the Crevier Family Foundation
The Crevier Family Foundation has been created to lend a helping hand to children in difficult home and cultural environments, to support single and un-wed mothers, and to improve the wellbeing and safety of animals and our environment.
