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Brand architecture in higher education
Journal of Brand Strategy,
7
(1),
84-91
(2018)
Abstract
With increased competition and other market forces affecting higher education, branding has emerged as a strategic imperative for colleges and universities. Brand strategy in academia faces many inherent challenges, however, including institutions’ wide-ranging missions and a seemingly inevitable ‘house of brands’ scenario across complex organisations. The larger the institution is, the more complicated these challenges become. The traditional ‘house of brands’ and ‘branded house’ approaches to brand architecture developed for the corporate sector do not translate seamlessly to academia. In response to the multipronged missions of colleges and universities, this paper proposes a new concept for higher education brand architecture: a multidimensional branded municipality, using cities as a more appropriate parallel for higher education institutions.
Keywords: brand architecture; brand strategy; university branding; marketing; higher education
The full article is available to subscribers to the journal.
Author's Biography
Rob Zinkan has been with Indiana University since 2002. He currently serves in a system-wide role as associate vice president, Marketing, where he leads Indiana University’s full-service internal marketing agency; works to develop, champion and deploy the university’s brand strategy; and acts as marketing liaison to the flagship campus leadership and marketing community. Previously, he worked at the campus level as vice chancellor for external affairs at Indiana University East and assistant dean for advancement at Indiana University–Purdue University Columbus (IUPUC). He earned his bachelor’s degree from Wabash College, his master’s degree from Xavier University and his doctorate from Creighton University. He currently serves on the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE) Commission on Communications and Marketing and hosts the webcast Marketing Live on the Higher Ed Live Network.
