Many choices, one destination: multimodal university brand construction in an urban public transportation system

Abstract

Amidst global competition in higher education, colleges and universities adopt strategies that mimic and adapt business practices. Branding is now a widespread practice in higher education; multimodal advertisement is a manifestation of emerging branding strategies for universities. While the visibility of brands in higher education has grown substantially in recent years, its empirical study has lagged. This article reports on the findings from a study that employed social semiotic and multimodal analysis to explore text and visual rhetoric as brand construction strategies in publicly displayed university advertisements. After analyzing photographs representing advertising campaigns from 16 different universities displayed in an urban public transportation system, I suggest that universities construct their brand identity through messages that emphasize multiple choices and convenience, but construct success primarily according to corporate standards and values.

Keywords:

• branding
• higher education
• intertextuality
• social semiotics
• multimodality

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. Given the context of the study in the US, I utilize the expression “People of Color” to refer to individuals of African, Asian, Hispanic, Latina/o, Native, or Mixed racial or ethnic heritage.