Advancing the brand: university marketing pros give tips on how to build a brand strategy

University Business, Feb, 2007 by Robert A. Sevier

THIS IS THE ERA OF THE BRAND. STUDY AFTER STUDY indicate that institutions with a strong, valued brand enjoy opportunities that other less-branded institutions do not. For example, we can show that well-branded institutions attract:

* More and better students.

* More full- and fuller-pay students (brand equity).

* More students who will persist.

* Better faculty and staff.

* More donated dollars.

* More media attention.

* More research dollars.

* More strategic partners.

Even as we realize the value of a strong brand, it is sometimes less clear how to develop one. This article will present a quick look at why and how the brand strategies were built at four different institutions. We'll examine their motivations for developing a brand strategy, the obstacles they encountered and overcame, and the insights they have for individuals and institutions that are considering a similar undertaking.

University of Maryland

A decade ago the University of Maryland faced two distinct challenges that could be addressed, at least partially, through a brand strategy. "First, the university needed to build awareness of Maryland's momentum and dramatic changes in quality," recalls Terry Flannery, assistant vice president of University Marketing and Communications. "Most stakeholders' perceptions were a generation out of date. Building awareness in our regional environment was complicated by significant identity confusion between our institution--the state's flagship university--and others in the university system. Moreover, there was no comprehensive or integrated system for identifying all the outstanding parts of the university in relation to the whole."

Each school in the system--and each unit at the university--identified itself in its own way, so there was no sense of the collective quality of the institution, she says, which would have created a "halo" effect from which all could benefit.

"Second, six of seven stakeholder audiences expressed little appreciation or support for the research mission of the institution, a mission that was vitally important to the university's future," Flannery says. "Most perceived the idea of becoming a top research university to be at odds with our educational mission. Research was seen as potentially undermining what they believed should be our top priority--undergraduate education. As part of our strategy, we needed to show that these components of our mission were not mutually exclusive and were, in fact, inextricably intertwined. In order for our audiences to grow in support and loyalty, we needed to develop understanding and awareness of the research mission, and underscore its impact on undergraduate education and other societal benefits."

Flannery notes that establishing a brand and encouraging internal audiences (especially faculty) to focus on and reinforce a limited number of strategic messages or brand values meant that they needed to give up some individual and departmental autonomy. "Obviously, there was some resistance to this idea," she says. To help build the case, Flannery's team documented the lack of recognition of excellence across the institution (which most internal audiences already recognized when it came to their own program), which they linked to a failure to use a small number of memorable, authentic, strategically chosen messages and graphics.

"Once we provided a rationale for supporting a branding program, many were willing to give up a degree of autonomy if it meant they would get more recognition and awareness in return," Flannery says.

The University of Maryland also had to overcome the tendency to develop an approach that made it seem more like other institutions--when you are on the way up, there is a desire to prove you fit in. From the standpoint of many stakeholders, Flannery says, "There was comfort in messages that established our belonging to a group of other top research universities. But from a branding standpoint, that would have been a colossal waste. It took courageous leaders, willing to take risks, to support original approaches that reinforced our distinctiveness, not our similarities.

"President Dan Mote, for example, wanted no beakers, lab coats, or filtered beauty shots of the campus in our public service announcements," Flannery adds. "He wanted something so unique that people would remember it 10 years hence. And they have."

Determining whether a strategy is effective is a key step in maintaining long-term commitment. When they began the process more than 10 years ago, Flannery says, Maryland ranked second or third in terms of audience awareness, and there was significant confusion with other institutions' names and missions. Now research shows Maryland ranks first among public or private institutions in Maryland and the Greater Washington--Baltimore region by a wide margin--20 percent over the second-ranked institution, according to a recent poll.

It is important to note, too, that they deliberately chose to concentrate their resources on regional branding first, before widening the focus to selected national opportunities.