Literature Review # 4: College Branding: The Tipping Point

In “College Branding: The Tipping Point” Forbes writer Roger Dooley discusses the increasing importance of college branding in the higher-education market. Dooley discusses that in a market of nearly 4,000 institutions of higher learning fighting to keep their doors open annually, branding in American higher education has become a necessity. University marketing, like many other industries shows direct correlation to Darwin’s theory of “survival of the fittest”. Dooley writes, “... the key difference in who survives won’t be the academic output of the faculty or the amenities available to students. It will be a factor seeming unrelated to the schools’ mission: branding” (Dooley). This difference is the only way to note for the ways that all these institutions can keep their doors open. 

While the strategic branding for each institution varies, survival of the institution is completely dependent on the needs of the population they are intending to attract, and the relationship that population is able to build with that brand.  For example, there are universities known on the national level that can be identified by their big sports names and impressive academic buildings. There are specialty institutions whose brands rely on one particular factor or offering that they have. In addition, there are regional and local school brands that are popular for low tuition costs and short travel time and can be identified for features that lend to such like commuter spaces.

With universities and students facing increasing financial concerns about attending university including potential cuts in federal student aid, decline in state support, and rising tuition, institutions must assure that their brands are featured. Dooely notes that successful brands incorporate “[the building of] an identity that transcends the physical campus”. He goes on to write, “Brand building isn’t the clever wordsmithing or artistic logo design. The entire institution needs to live the brand”.

Dooley also notes that “colleges and universities that build great brands will be far less constrained by physical limits”.

This particular article will add to my paper because it addresses the reasons that is necessary for universities to build the brand. From this point I will explore how components of branding such as athletics, work to put the brand first as opposed to the students attending the educational institution.

Dooley, Roger. "Why Ignoring Social Media Complaints Is a Huge Mistake." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 5 Feb. 2013. Web. 12 Dec. 2014.