Focused Brand Messaging

I am in the middle of a brand positioning project for a business school. In looking at competitors' websites, I am amazed at how disjointed their brand messages are. Here are some examples:

• School A: Our students learn, intern, participate in community service, and advance their careers through a full spectrum of field-focused and multidisciplinary departments in one of the nation’s oldest business schools. By combining the resources of a large university with small class sizes and highly individualized attention, our students experience the best of both worlds. At our school, you’re part of a diverse, collaborative community. One that keeps you closely connected to classmates, professors and alumni while emphasizing experiential learning and global outreach in the international marketplace. With state-of-the-art facilities and access to university resources, our education provides the tools to help you excel in the classroom and prepare for a promising career.

• School B: Our School of Business is among the nation's select institutions to obtain accreditation from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB International) in addition to the university's overall accreditation by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. Our school is different—and that’s the way we like it. Our undergraduate business majors and graduate business programs stand out because they are designed to meet the targeted needs of the world's most innovative companies. These companies seek out employees who can think across traditional boundaries, merging solid business know-how with insight into engineering, global supply chain management, information systems and more.

• School C:  Today's business world demands a tougher kind of preparation. Get your degree from a school that offers it. At our business school, we have a curriculum grounded in analytics and economics. Our approach provides you with enduring frameworks for solving problems and making decisions in today's data-rich environment. Our expert faculty is here to coach you and develop you so that you are ready for the future of business. Our mission is to advance the understanding and practice of management through rigorous thought leadership. Our faculty will produce groundbreaking ideas having cross-functional impact on management theory and practice. Our graduates will be highly sought after for their cutting-edge solutions to complex management issues and for leading organizations to innovate, grow, and deliver world-class performance. And our school will be known for understanding the power of markets and the role of entrepreneurs in creating values and improving society. 

• School D: Since 1923, our school has built an impressive reputation as one of the best schools of business in the world. The comprehensive range of our academic portfolio, the expertise of our faculty and the worldwide success of our graduates are the primary reasons for our school's acclaim. In an increasingly global business environment, the diversity of our programs and our international reputation help ensure that our school's degree is a credential that opens doors for our graduates at any business anywhere in the world. Our mission is to advance the practice of management within a global context, through scholarly research, education and professional and community service. 

• School E: The programs at our school are known - and respected - for preparing job-ready career-focused students who possess an understanding of current business theories; the talent to maximize the practical applications of those theories; the ready-and-able spirit to adapt to a rapidly changing global economy; and the personal drive to succeed as ethically responsible managers and professionals. By the end of the decade, we will be a widely recognized college in the Northeast Region that enriches student character and deepens intellectual inquiry to prepare men and women for success in a complex and diverse global community.

So, what are some of the benefits outlined in these business school descriptions?

• Our school is fully accredited
• We are one of the nation's oldest business schools
• Our school has an outstanding reputation
• We offer small classes in a large university setting
• We provide a state-of-the-art learning environment
• We provide our students with hands-on educational experiences
• We teach business analytics
• We teach our students how to solve complex problems
• Our programs are designed to meet company needs
• We create career-focused, job-ready students
• Our students are some of the most respected by employers
• Our school's degree opens doors
• We have a superior job placement rate
• We teach our students entrepreneurship
• We prepare our students to be leaders
• We teach our students how to promote and manage innovation
• We prepare our students for a global economy
• We offer a wide range of courses
• Our students can also learn about engineering, information systems and global supply chain management
• We help our students think outside of traditional academic boundaries
• We offer our students a multi-disciplinary education

Which of these benefits really matter? Which are unique (versus 'cost of entry') benefits? Which are powerful enough to cause a purchase decision (school matriculation)? Which are clear and easy to understand? Which are supported by multiple "proof points" and "reasons to believe"? Which are strong enough to be able to stand on their own? Which can a specific school claim as its own to great advantage?

Another way to evaluate these statements is to ask these questions:

• Which of these statements seems generic?
• Which of these statements could apply to more than one school?
• Which of these statements is highly focused?
• Which of these statements is energizing?
• Which of these statements is memorable?

Brand positioning is mostly about focus. Are you focusing on a unique and highly compelling benefit to the target customer? Do you offer multiple "proof points" for and "reasons to believe" that brand benefit? Is your message clear and is it compelling? 

Rebranding Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, founded in 1824, is the first degree granting technological university in the English-speaking world. Rensselaer was established “for the purpose of instructing persons, who may choose to apply themselves, in the application of science to the common purposes of life.” Since Rensselaer’s founding, its alumni have impacted the world in many significant ways, including:

• Building the Brooklyn Bridge
• Building the Panama Canal
• Inventing the Ferris wheel
• Inventing baking powder
• Inventing television
• Creating the microprocessor
• Founding Texas Instruments/creating the first pocket calculator
• Creating e-mail (including using the @ symbol)
• Managing the Apollo project that put the first man on the moon
• Inventing the Reach toothbrush
• Inventing digital photography

Yet, for all of its accomplishments, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Rensselaer was not well positioned (to prospective students) compared to its world-renowned rival, MIT, or even schools such as Caltech, UC Berkeley, and Carnegie Mellon. Many state universities (e.g., Purdue, University of Illinois at Urbana, etc.) offered exceptionally strong technical programs at significantly lower costs than private universities. Ivy League schools and other first-tier liberal arts universities were building their math, science, and engineering programs. And most states had public universities that provided respectable engineering programs. This increasingly competitive landscape left Rensselaer in a positioning “no man’s land.” I was on Rensselaer’s alumni board of directors and national admissions committee at the time. We worked with the school to conduct research to better understand the college selection process. We interviewed students (and their parents), some of whom chose to attend Rensselaer and some of whom didn’t. We explored what factors were most important in their decision-making process as well as their perceptions of Rensselaer as compared with other schools. And we conducted focus groups with alumni and businesspeople to better understand their impressions of Rensselaer.

Almost everyone who knew of Rensselaer perceived it to be a first-rate technical school. Many put it in the same class as MIT. People “in the know” were genuinely impressed with the school and the caliber of its students, its academics, and its research. But there were drawbacks:

• Rensselaer is in Troy, New York (which lacks the appeal of, say, Boston or California).
• Rensselaer is not as well known or prestigious as MIT. It does not have the same name cache.
• Rensselaer costs more than state engineering schools (though after factoring in financial aid, costs can be comparable).
• Rensselaer was known to be a “boot camp.” It’s been said that “you don’t go there to have fun.”
• The curriculum was perceived to be too narrow compared to liberal arts schools.
• The school had a lopsided male to female ratio (13:1 when I attended in the mid-to-late 1970s, and a 3:1 ratio today).
• A significant portion of Rensselaer’s students (mostly those who had used Rensselaer as a backup school to MIT and others) felt inferior to students at their first-choice schools.

Furthermore, those with no connection to the school had no impression of the school. Awareness was also nil among the general U.S. population.

These were significant hurdles. And yet, looking at the school itself, there were also a number of very strong advantages, which include:

• A rich history by alumni of major contributions to society
• A vital, engaged campus community
• A strong student leadership development program
• Innovations in entrepreneurship, with one of the first and perhaps best known business incubators and a strong student entrepreneurship program
• Award-winning innovations in educational techniques
• Thriving interdisciplinary research centers
• Programs that ranked among the best available in the world
• An increasingly strong reputation throughout the world (Interestingly, the university’s reputation was stronger in many other countries than it was in the U.S. Midwest!)

Also, the university had embarked on a significant long-term commitment to enhance the student experience, addressing everything from administrative procedures, counseling, and breadth of course offerings to quality of instruction, the male-to-female ratio, and campus aesthetics. And, gauging from student surveys over time, the efforts were producing significant results.

Here are the key insights that led to Rensselaer’s very powerful current positioning:

• Rensselaer’s students have always been serious about their chosen fields of endeavor and their studies.
• Rensselaer’s faculty, students, and alumni want to make a difference in the world.
• Rensselaer is and has been a leader in technological innovation.
• Rensselaer’s alumni, throughout the school’s history, have made major, lasting contributions to society.
• Rensselaer was emerging as a leader in entrepreneurship, especially technological entrepreneurship.
• “Technological creativity” seemed to capture the essence of the school and the spirit of those associated with the school throughout its now 190-year history.
• Rensselaer wanted its new positioning not only to capture the school’s unique competitive advantages but also to inspire its students and give them confidence. (In the mid-to-late 1970s, under George Low’s leadership, the school informally adopted the slogan, “Rensselaer: Where imagination can achieve the impossible.” For a short time after that, the school used the slogan, “Rensselaer: For minds ahead of their time.”)

So, Rensselaer’s tagline—”Why not change the world?”—was born.

Confident? Yes.

Aspirational? Yes.

Inspirational? Yes.

Accurately reflecting the school’s strengths and those of its alumni? Yes.

An invitation to like-minded individuals and organizations to “come join Rensselaer in its quest”? Yes

Effective in recruiting an increasing number of highly qualified students? Yes.

Rensselaer’s entering freshman classes are the most qualified and talented in the last few decades. Each class seems more qualified than the one before. As one measure, the Class of 2005 arrived on campus with an average SAT score of 1307, 25 points over that of the previous class.

And in the three years between 2005 and 2008, applications went from 5,500 to 11,000. In 2013, more than 16,100 high school students applied for admission to Rensselaer and the average SAT critical reading and math score for the admitted group averaged 1408. And, the most important question: Are students satisfied with Rensselaer and its recently articulated positioning? Yes.

Today, Rensselaer is thriving. In early 2001, it received a gift of $360 million—the largest single gift (at that time) ever made to a university. In 2004 it built a $82 million Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies to expand its research portfolio; in 2008 it built a $200 million Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center to showcase its world-leading electronic arts program; in 2009 it built a $92 million East Campus Athletic Village; and in 2013 it established its $100 million Computational Center for Nanotechnology Innovations (CCNI), featuring the seventh most powerful supercomputer in the world.

© 2015 Brad VanAuken, reprinted from Brand Aid, second edition

College & University Brand Benefits

Brands promise relevant differentiated benefits. Those benefits can be functional, emotional, experiential or self-expressive. Further, brands can promise shared values. Brand value is the ratio of the bundle of relevant benefits divided by the cost (time and money) of acquiring those benefits. To conduct quantitative brand positioning research, one must first identify all of the potential benefits delivered by the brand. As an example, here is a partial list of potential benefits delivered by college and university brands:

• Prestige
• Intellectual stimulation
• Challenging one's assumptions
• Broadening one's knowledge and understanding
• Being exposed to people from different backgrounds and cultures
• Personal growth
• Career training
• Job placement
• A rich social life
• The ability to compete in a particular sport
• Forming lifelong friendships
• Increasing one's income potential
• Increasing one's social status
• Independent living
• Living in a different geographic region
• Living in an aesthetically pleasing environment
• A pedigree
• Becoming a part of a large professional network
• A safe space to experiment
• A time to try new things
• An adventure
• Being in an environment in which people share your values
• The ability to explore different areas of interest
• Learning from world-renown experts in your intended field of study
• The ability to conduct research in your intended field of study
• The ability to take on leadership roles
• The ability to study abroad

A skilled brand researcher will be able to determine which of these drive brand preference and college or university selection. 

Measuring A College or University's Brand Equity

Someone recently asked me how one should approach measuring a college or university's brand equity. Here is what I told her.

We would use the same approach outlined in the article I wrote whose link you attached to your question. However, here are some additional considerations for universities:

1. I would target the following audiences: high school students who applied to the school in question (whether they were admitted or not and whether they decided to attend or not), parents of those students, high school guidance counselors, admissions directors at peer institutions, faculty, staff, current students at the school in question, alumni and board members.
2. We would keep track of which students were accepted and which of those had decided to attend to determine how the answers varied by each of these groups.
3. I would ask the students to which other colleges and universities they applied for admission.
4. I might have students rank order the list of colleges and universities to which they applied in order of preference.
5. I would customize the list of brand benefits to the college or university in question and to colleges and universities in general.
6. This list would include these benefits at a minimum:
• Overall reputation or prestige of the school
• Value of a degree from this school after graduation
• Quality of the student experience
• Campus amenities
• Campus aesthetics
• Food quality
• Campus housing quality
• How leading-edge the labs and equipment are
• Caliber of the student body
• Educational quality/effectiveness
• Quality of campus social life
• Desirability of the neighborhood and municipality in which the school is located
• Region of the country in which the school is located
• Weather
• Quality of the sports programs
• Variety and quality of extracurricular activities
7. I would also customize the selection of brand personality attributes to those most appropriate to colleges and universities.
8. I would have people rank program quality for each major division – liberal arts, engineering, science, medicine, law, business, architecture, etc. This could be done at a more detailed level – sociology, psychology, anthropology, etc.
9. We would identify correlations between answers to a variety of the questions and the overall reputation of and preference for the school.
10. We might ask an open-ended response question regarding why they chose this school (if they did).
11. As in all brand equity studies that we conduct, we would ask them what makes this school unique or better than the other schools that they considered (another open-ended response question).
12. If the college or university had the resources to do this, we would conduct focus groups prior to the quantitative brand equity study to build a more robust study based on qualitative insights regarding the factors that most influenced people’s perceptions and decisions. We would conduct these groups separately for each different target audience.

While all of our brand equity studies are based on our BrandInsistence system of brand equity measurement, each study is tailored to the brand in question. I hope this helps you think about how one might develop a brand equity measurement system for a college or university.

I wish you the best.

Brad VanAuken

The Use of Visuals in Branded Websites

I thought it would be interesting to highlight how colleges and universities use different visuals to communicate their distinctiveness on their websites. Here are some examples to which I would like to draw your attention:

College/University	URL	Tagline or Slogan	Visuals	Overall Message Communicated	Effectiveness of Web Site Imagery in Conveying Brand Distinctiveness
Paul Smith’s College	paulsmiths.edu	The College of the Adirondacks	Logging, a boat on a lake, students in a stream, students in the woods, measuring the circumference of a tree, rappelling, Adirondack fungi fest	Outdoors education - living and learning in the Adirondack Park	8
Reed College	reed.edu		Video featuring students and faculty talking about the philosophy of their educational approach	A unique intense intellectual education	10
Naropa University	naropa.edu	Transform yourself. Transform the world.	Tickets to see Dalai Lama, yoga pose in front of mountain, Bhutan, art studio, massage therapy, contemplative education	A place for spiritual growth and awakening	7
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	rpi.edu		Pictures of happy students interspersed with scientific and laboratory images	A fun place for students who are focused on STEM	6
Princeton University	princeton.edu		Mostly text with some very small images	A conventional educational experience	1
Oberlin College	oberlin.edu		Full screen images of a wide variety of subjects from an aerial view of the campus to a student working on a bike, a professor talking with a student and a student working in a botany lab	Imagery that draws you in to explore further	6
Massachusetts Institute of Technology	mit.edu		Each day a different image is featured on the homepage. Each image highlights research occurring at the Institute. Today, it highlights a virus that can combat bacteria.	A place where very interesting, leading-edge research occurs	10
Rhode Island School of Design	risd.edu		Full screen images with lots of color and creativity - from a richly designed fabric to a display of found natural objects	This place is all about design	9
University of Rochester	rochester.edu		Each Friday, the university features a student, faculty, staff or alum photo on its home page.	Speaks to community engagement	6

Several things occurred to me regarding the effectiveness of website imagery to convey brand distinctiveness. First was the size of the images – full bleed versus very small. In every instance, full bleed images were much more effective.  This worked very well for MIT and RISD and terribly for Princeton. Second was the consistency of images. MIT’s images always conveyed the same thing – very interesting leading-edge research. RISD’s images were also fairly consistent in conveying a design aesthetic. Paul Smith’s images conveyed a fairly consistent feeling of outdoor experiential education. Next, the use of a video instead of still images was very effective for Reed College. And students and faculty talking about Reed’s unique educational approach clearly communicated distinctiveness.  Finally, changing images such as MIT’s new image every day and University of Rochester’s photo Friday indicated a level of dynamism and, in University of Rochester’s case, community engagement.

Don’t underestimate the power of imagery in conveying a certain brand feeling and brand distinctiveness.