Brand Champions

The World of Educational Branding

Last summer I had the pleasure of presenting on this topic at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology-Zurich in Switzerland. Like many institutions of higher learning, this world-renowned research university is considering a branding initiative. European brand guru, Peter Lux and I were invited to Zurich and asked to facilitate a dialogue about whether this school should brand itself.

As many of you know, branding found its way onto the educational landscape in the mid 1990s, and is a now taking place on most campuses around the world. Even the K-12 marketplace is now embracing branding. However, most schools have limited their brand building efforts to logos, taglines and advertising. These approaches have been met with mixed results, often falling short of expectations. 

If prestigious institutions like the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology- Zurich are understanding the need to develop long-term sustainability plans through branding, then other colleges and universities, as well as K-12 schools, should not only get in the game, but think about the approach they take to building their brands. If not, their ability to compete will suffer.

Aligning Verbal and Visual Identities in Toronto

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of working with design and communications professionals at the 2007 University & College Designers Association International Conference in Toronto.  To open the conference, I facilitated a three hour session on branding with designers and communicators representing colleges and universities from throughout Canada and the United States.

The focus of our dialog was on assessing how effective schools are in communicating their institution's mission, vision, values and goals, and how closely aligned the school's visual identities are with their verbal identities. As you might suspect, findings ranged from close alignment in some cases, to significant gaps in others. We found that most schools do an effective job of integrating their marketing communications, but that mission, vision, values and goals are under utilized as guides for visual communications. We also found that most schools lack a consistent verbal identity.

I want to thank those who participated. It was a great experience for all of us. Because much of my work is centered on helping organizations develop their verbal identities, it was an important reminder for me the role visual communications plays for developing a holistic brand. I hope I was able to do the same in helping visual communicators understand the critical role verbal communications plays, and that all communications should be driven by our core values.