Brand building is not the preserve of the private sector. And there couldn’t be a better time to embrace it.
The question of whether brand building sits as comfortably in higher education as it does in the private sector is a reasonable one.
But the answer is in how your audiences behave in complex choice-landscapes.
Telecoms, fashion, automotive and entertainment may not seem as complex as HE, but they all have audiences (internal and external) with a complex range of needs and requirements, and a broad selection of ways to meet them.
Brand is pivotal to the way they make choices and how the organisations develop and deliver their offering.
Many in the HE sector have described brand (and in particular differentiation and/or distinction) as a ‘sea of sameness’. This represents a huge opportunity. Brand salience will get you into a consideration/evaluation set – even tipping the balance at the decision point.
Confusion around the term 'brand'
Of course, confusion around the term 'brand' doesn’t help. Too often, it’s conflated with advertising or a logo change. In reality, your brand is the sum of what you stand for, how you behave as an organisation, and what people believe you can help them achieve. In uncertain times, it is a powerful lever for trust, relevance and leadership.
“Your brand is the single most important investment you can make (in your business).” wrote Steve Forbes.
There are multiple reasons why so many successful national and international organisations invest in brand building:
Differentiation in a crowded landscape
Building trust, credibility and loyalty
Long-term growth and lower recruitment costs
Guiding internal alignment and decision-making
And it's not the preserve of the private sector. It can benefit all organisations.
Universities don’t need to abandon their values to build powerful brands.
On the contrary, the strongest university brands today are those rooted in mission, brought to life with creativity and delivered with discipline. They are brands people believe in – and that’s what drives reputation.
The fact is that universities are viewed as brands, whether you are actively building one or not. On the basis of a phrase often trotted out regarding brand – “It’s what people say about you when you're not in the room” (Jeff Bezos) - then whether you have developed a strategy with brand intent or not, people will develop a view. And a view not of your making if you have no intent.
So the challenge is to take control of that narrative and express why your brand matters to your advantage – before the market does it for you.
And that almost certainly won’t be to your benefit.
Brand as strategic infrastructure
Brand is not surface polish but strategic infrastructure. It has many roles, but one is that it provides a clear centre of gravity in a complex, pluralistic organisation. It brings purpose to life, aligns teams, and builds salience in the hearts and minds of students, staff, and society. And, done properly, it can achieve this without compromising academic rigour, research standards, institutional integrity, or the university’s civic role.
In fact, why would there even be tension between your purpose and vision regarding these core elements and your brand? That’s the entire point – how you show up in the world should be a symbiotic relationship with the brand you are building.
Brands are built over time. Like reputation
What’s more, the much-researched and proven thesis, across sectors, is that brand building is a long-term discipline, not a short-term fix. Its real value lies in consistency, clarity, and embeddedness across strategy, behaviour and communications
That’s why universities must approach brand as part of their operating model, not as a vehicle to jazz up their marketing campaigns. A well-articulated, consistent and salient brand that demonstrates value over time will reduce its recruitment costs (and increase retention).
While I’m here, I’ll pose this little question too. Where does reputation end and brand begin? Just ask the Red Cross, Volkswagen, United Airlines, Nike and even the Captain Tom Foundation.
The reasons for a disconnect with the concept of brand may be manifold, and understandably, an academic career path that has never intersected with brand building as a discipline will be one contributor to that. But it's time to reconsider the caricatures. Brand, done right, is not a betrayal of higher education’s purpose or an individual institution’s role within it. It’s an articulation of it.
And above all, it’s a leadership asset, not just a communications tool.