Branding?

I must confess that I’m a bit mystified as to the reason why UB needed a new brand. I didn’t choose UB because of the colors, the look of its website or its logo. I chose it because of its programs, location and cost. These things matter to me much more than a logo. I didn’t choose my undergrad school because of the mascot (the eagle) – the location and programs were much more important.

The torch shape and the arrow in the negative space both seem a little gimmicky to me and not obvious enough as to what they mean. The "university of" is WAY too close to the dot in the "I"...makes it look like a bullet point or an afterthought.


How much of an impact does branding have on students? When did it stop being an educational experience and become a marketing effort? Apparently the university branding movement is gaining momentum and not a new trend. I did a general Google search for University Branding and found a really cool article on brandchannel.com called “Assigned Reading: Branding Gets Credit at Universities.”

An excerpt –

In the US, the growth in higher education branding has followed the general trend in non-profit branding, according to Hayes Roth, VP worldwide marketing at Landor Associates. “Schools have realized that this is a very competitive market. If you want more students and get more money, you need to give more point of difference.

“Recruitment directors and deans live or die by where they stand in the US News & World Report rankings,” explains Roth. “Schools literally say ‘We are at Number 32, how can we get to be Number 25?’ One clear way to do that is to communicate better, to have a story—a brand.

“Enlightened people want to have a cohesive argument for why their school is best,” Roth continues. “They need to simplify the cacophony of messages that go out. They can also reduce their costs; a single, cohesive brand story is much more cost efficient.”

(for full article, go to brandchannel.com)

Wow, am I that old or out of touch because this doesn’t really matter to me? I’m sure if I was employed by UB and my paycheck rested on the number of students that enrolled, I might be a little more interested, peppering my speech with pithy phrases like “innovative in law, business and the applied arts, ” “future of Baltimore,” and “21st-century.” But am I really going to look at UB and think “balance the seemingly contradictory?” I think that’s really bad English for a start.

While I’m not advocating that this was a really bad idea, I am saying that universities are in the business of teaching, not in the business of advertising. I hope with all these changes the President doesn’t loose sight of the main reason UB is here: to educate.