For the next few episodes, Ken Steele returns to the Brand Chemistry™ Lab to analyze recent trends in higher ed brand identities and marketing campaigns. This week, we look at some notable brand mis-steps that have become cautionary tales for campus marketers, and the inevitable result: some very cautious, gradual rebrandings that don’t risk passionate opposition from traditional-minded stakeholders like students, faculty, and alumni. <br /> <br />Particularly for smaller, remote institutions experiencing the early effects of declining demographics, it’s critical to develop the visibility a strong brand can support. In recent years, many higher ed institutions have hired top-notch ad agencies to develop their visual identities and marketing campaigns, but there are definite risks to that approach. Branding an academic community is significantly more political a process than branding a consumer product like beer or fast food. Presidents don’t have the authority of corporate CEOs, faculty aren’t as compliant as typical employees, and students are a complete wild card. Not only does the process demand patience and plenty of consultation, but it also demands a marketer’s “A” game; a campus full of brilliant critical thinkers will quickly find any fault possible. <br /> <br />Cautionary Tales: <br /> <br />St Thomas University’s student union discovered what happens when a design for your orientation week program is actually plagiarized from a broadway musical. <br /> <br />The University of Dayton, in Ohio, launched a new brand for its Flyers athletics, which was promptly criticized by students for appearing to promote venereal disease instead. <br /> <br />The University of California system attempted to launch a new, modern icon to unite the ten campuses in the UC system. But stakeholders objected to the ugly graphic, which suggested nothing so much as a flushing toilet. <br /> <br />And the University of Waterloo undertook an extensive strategic rebranding process in 2008, only to be sideswiped at the last moment when the proposed logo was leaked online. <br /> <br /> <br />Cautious Rebrandings: <br /> <br />In part because of these prominent brand debacles, many college and university rebrandings in recent years have been extraordinarily cautious and traditional. <br /> <br />Brandon University launched a new visual identity based on their traditional coat of arms in late 2014. <br /> <br />The Université du Québec en Outaouais redesigned its visual identity last year. <br /> <br />The University of Ottawa launched a new brand identity in late 2014 that also followed a university marketing convention, in urging students to “Defy the Conventional.” <br /> <br />Finally, a different sort of caution is evident in the gradual “unbranding” of Cape Breton University. <br /> <br />Next week, we’ll look at some examples of intentionally provocative brands and campaigns, deliberately courting controversy. It happens more often than you might think, and the results can be striking.
