Branding a state university: doing it right

Abstract

Shrinking financial support from governments and forecast declines in the college-going population have combined to exert tremendous pressure on institutions of higher learning. Branding as a strategy has become more popular as a way of differentiating an institution from its competition, but the complexity of higher education makes branding an even more difficult task than in traditional, commercial contexts. This paper describes the process adopted by a particular state university in the USA to navigate the branding terrain. Armed with research evidence, the university defined a brand position and implemented it through creative executions that resonated with diverse stakeholders. The paper suggests that the branding process, by taking several factors into account, generated a successful branding campaign measured in terms of receptivity to communication messages, but still does not answer the difficult questions about the role of branding in higher education.

Keywords:

• brand strategy
• higher education branding
• brand image

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank President Robert Carothers for initiating the branding efforts, the members of the Steering Committee for their guidance and co-operation, and Forge Worldwide for their creativity and insights. Special thanks are due to Professor Daniel Sheinin of the Marketing Department and PhD students Syagnik Banerjee and Adriana Boveda for their assistance in statistical analysis of the pre-campaign survey.