How to tell if a Brand Idea is actually doing its job

A practical gut-check-guide for senior university marketers

If you’ve been around university branding long enough, you’ll know this moment well.

The agency or in-house team presentation is polished. The thinking sounds smart. The room is nodding. And yet… something in your stomach isn’t quite settled.

Is it bold enough?
Is it true enough?
Will it last longer than this meeting?

That uneasy pause is usually where brand ideas live or die, especially in universities, where the pressure to be distinctive often collides head-on with the pressure to be acceptable.

This isn’t a guide on how to create a brand idea. You already know that bit. This is about how to assess one properly, without defaulting to personal taste, the anonymity of a committee, or fear dressed up as rigour.

But first, a quick reset: what is a Brand Idea?

A brand idea isn’t a slogan. And it definitely isn’t just a visual look and feel. The simplest way to think about it is this:

A brand idea is the central unifying concept that expresses who you are, why you exist, and what you believe, in a way people can actually feel.

I tend to describe it as a platform.

The foundations, your purpose, position, values and strategy, sit underneath, largely out of sight. The brand idea sits in front of the curtain. It’s the bit people experience. It’s the platform that everything else climbs on to: campaigns, narratives, events, behaviours, tone and choices.

If it’s working, it doesn’t just communicate strategy. It activates it.

My first test: is it true?

OK, this sounds obvious, but it’s amazing how often it gets blurred.

“True” doesn’t mean factually correct. It means the idea is rooted in the strategic work you’ve already signed off. If you peel back the language, can you clearly trace it back to your purpose, persona and positioning, the reality of your culture and the lived experience of your students, staff or researchers?

A brand idea can be beautifully written and still fail this test.

If you find yourself saying, “We could grow into this”, pause. Growth is fine. Fantasy isn’t.

Truth is what gives an idea credibility inside the organisation and resilience when it’s tested later.

The second test: is it exciting enough?

This is where things get uncomfortable.

Most university brand ideas fail not because they’re wrong, but because they’re too acceptable.

Exciting doesn’t mean shock. It doesn’t mean provocation for its own sake. It means distinctiveness with emotional energy. A strong brand idea should make you feel a slight intake of breath. Not panic, just “wow, that’s interesting”. If the reaction in the room is polite agreement, that’s a bit of a warning sign.

And here’s the tricky bit. Excitement, even surprise, isn’t just about rational difference. An idea can be true and different and still feel flat. What you’re really looking for is something that connects emotionally, not just intellectually.

That emotional spark is what gives the idea momentum beyond the first campaign.

Why this is particularly hard in higher education

Universities sit close together culturally. They share language, structures and ambitions. So the line between “boringly safe” and “uncomfortably wrong” can feel thin.

The key shift is this: don’t judge the brand idea as a single execution. Judge it as a platform.

Ask yourself:

• Can this be dialled up or down depending on the audience?

• Can it stretch across recruitment, research, reputation and internal culture?

• Does it open doors creatively rather than close them?

An idea that feels “too much” in one execution might be exactly right once you see how it can flex.

Does it have legs?

This is the question senior marketers are often best placed to answer. You either know what “legs” means in this context, or you don’t.

Legs aren’t about longevity through repetition. They’re about extendibility. A strong brand idea should survive leadership changes, outlast visual trends and inspire multiple campaigns without collapsing into sameness.

One practical trick: take the idea and quickly sketch out two, three, four future campaigns. No polish. Just instinct.

If nothing interesting emerges, the platform is probably too thin.

Can it create fame?

“Fame” can feel like an awkward word in universities. But it matters.

Not fame as ego. Fame as talk-ability.

Ask yourself:

• Would this platform lead to work people actually talk about?

• Would someone repeat the idea in their own words?
  Would competitors feel a twinge of jealousy, like you’ve marked out a territory they now can’t use?

Distinctiveness in our sector often comes down to execution, focus on a particular audience and bravery, not total originality. That’s fine. What matters is whether the idea gives you permission to stand out consistently.

Separating taste from judgement (this really matters)

Here’s a question I come back to again and again when reviewing work:

Why shouldn’t I like this? Not why don’t I like it. Why shouldn’t I.

If the answer is “It makes me nervous”, “It feels unfamiliar” or “We’ve never done anything like this”, that’s fear talking, not judgement.

If the answer is “It doesn’t fit who we are”, “It contradicts our culture” or “It undermines trust”, that’s a legitimate concern.

That distinction is subtle, but it’s one of the most important skills senior brand leaders can develop.

The quiet role of intuition

Good intuition isn’t guesswork. It’s pattern recognition.

There’s no escaping it. At some point, this becomes a judgement call.

But good intuition isn’t guesswork. It’s pattern recognition, built from experience in the sector, with audiences, and with ideas that actually live in the world. If you know universities well enough, you can usually tell when something is genuinely interesting, not just dressed up to look that way.

Trust that. Test it. But don’t ignore it.

Final thought

A brand idea isn’t there to make everyone comfortable. It’s there to give your institution a clear, confident way to show up, again and again, in a crowded and increasingly sceptical world.

If it’s true, exciting, emotionally alive, built to last and brave enough to create a bit of noise, you’re probably closer than you think.