Volkswagen, Nike, University of Dayton (?!>), Apple…
February 15, 2010 • 10:21 am • POSTED BY lhendler
Something you may or may not know about us is that we have carved out a bit of a niche in University marketing. Essentially, we believe that if more universities took cues from how consumer brands market themselves (since in many ways they are), as opposed to thinking of themselves as strictly academic institutions (which they also are), they will be more successful. For us, higher education branding offers a myriad of challenges, considering the number of audiences a college or university must engage, the multitude of communications channels the brand can effect, and the unprecedented competition in the marketplace.
After all, if we are talking about recruiting potential undergraduate students who are 17 year-old seniors in high school—they are constantly bombarded with marketing messages and vehicles that are awesome, innovative, unheard of, crazy, and interactive strategies from all different types of companies and industries, many with monster budgets. Most universities are also situated within 50 miles of at least ten colleges, and are competing with hundreds of other universities on everything from academics to financial aid packages. How can a university position itself in this type of cultural landscape in a meaningful way? Something tells me sending a brochure with headlines such as “Our Campus-Your New Home” is not exactly going to send the kids a-running. These kids are committing at least four years of their lives, and student loan payments for significantly longer, to their college choice.
So, similar to consumer brands, one way a university can break through is by looking at its brand as a University-wide asset and ensuring its messaging and tone appeal to all of its key audiences (e.g. prospective undergraduate and graduate students, parents, guidance counselors, alumni, donors, etc.) and engage them with relevant and compelling content and imagery. This helps ensure they don’t let themselves off the hook with the same old “three in a tree” (infamous shot of three students on campus, with three distinctly different ethnicities), status quo.
The Chronicle of Higher Education, the most respected news publication in higher education, recently sat down with one of our favorite university presidents for a podcast. Dr. Daniel Curran, President of the University of Dayton, is a strong proponent of branding and shares a similar vision of branding universities as we do. To this end, Dr. Curran and the University have recognized the necessity of strong branding and marketing in the Strategic Plan, which sets forth a vision for the University.
“5.1: COMMUNICATE AND MARKET MORE EFFECTIVELY THE QUALITY OF THE UNIVERSITY’S DEGREE PROGRAMS, ITS RESEARCH AND SCHOLARSHIP, ITS RESIDENTIAL LIFE, ITS DISTINCTIVE COMMITMENT TO INTEGRATING LEARNING AND LIVING AND LIVING IN COMMUNITY, THE CHARACTERISTICS OF MARIANIST EDUCATION, ITS ENGAGEMENT WITH THE REGION, THE NATION AND THE WORLD AND ITS FOCUS ON THE FUTURE.” (Strategic Plan: Five Common Goals)
We salute you, Dr. Curran.
Take a listen to the podcast here.
