Matt Gentry | Roanoke Times

Charles Steger and Lary Hinker present the new look.

BLACKSBURG -- The mission is the same. It's the message, or the articulation of the message, that's changed.

That's what's behind a new trademark tagline and spruced-up logo Virginia Tech President Charles Steger unveiled Thursday in Burruss Hall.

While students and faculty can still expect to put knowledge to work, the new tagline, "Invent the Future," will take its place at the center of a campaign that will touch all forms of media, from print to podcasts.

"We are not changing who we are, we are not changing what we do," Steger said. "But we are trying to put a finer point on how we tell our story. ... Education and knowledge can invent the future."

Steger explained that the campaign is not an isolated project. It's part of a strategic plan that began when he became president in 2000.

In his inaugural speech, Steger announced a goal for the school to become a top-30 research university by the end of the decade.

The campaign goes beyond that and could have implications as far-reaching as President Bush's Innovation Initiative announced in his State of the Union address Tuesday night, Steger said.

In addition to the new phrase, the Virginia Tech logo, created in May 1990, received a bit of a face-lift.

The university shield, with the War Memorial pylons and the date the university was founded, has been moved. Instead of sitting below the last three letters of "Virginia" and to the left of "Tech" it will sit to the left of Virginia Tech.

The new brand and logo will be seen in advertising, on the Web site, in the new admissions book sent to accepted 2006 applicants and on business cards and stationery.

Because such a small percentage of letterhead is preprinted and employees will use their old business cards until they run out, the cost in new print materials is virtually nothing, said Tech spokesman Larry Hincker.

Consultants who helped brainstorm the campaign cost the university about $60,000, he said.

Virginia Tech spokesman Mark Owczarski said the new logo is more e-friendly, while the old logo was designed for print. The print campaign featuring the new logo and tagline has already begun, and the television campaign will begin Feb. 6.

The university has $150,000 in private donations to kick-start the advertising campaign in newspapers and on television.

The online branch of the campaign can be seen on the front page of the school's Web site, which features changing slides of students and the university instead of one still photo.

The Web site is undergoing a $90,000 overhaul that began in November and should be completed in July.

Visitors can now listen to podcasts -- audio recordings that can be downloaded from Web sites -- by going to www.vt.edu/future.

The site will begin airing new podcasts every Monday, Wednesday and Friday starting next week.

One podcast will give a basic rundown of news and events, another will share unusual facts and stories about the school and a third podcast -- HokieCast -- will be run by students.

Virginia Tech senior Kevin Sterne, a communications and electrical engineering major, was approached by a professor earlier this month to run the podcasts. Sterne said the podcasts will focus on student events.

"We want to make it really casual," he said.

Thursday's presentation was the culmination of an 18-month process that involved more than 800 faculty, staff, students and alumni.

Hincker said the new campaign is designed to attract the best students and faculty to achieve its goals.

"If we're going to help the nation be competitive ... then you have to be good," he said.

"It's all about quality -- the best students, the best scholars."