Come January 20th hate will have a new home. It’s called the White House. Not every person or even the majority of people who voted for Donald Trump is hateful, but haters do love him. They see a guy who is now leader of the free world, and they believe that deep down he’s just […]
Like their corporate counterparts, higher education needs to leverage strong marketing and branding, embrace authenticity to deliver real competitive advantage.
Too often, a college or university approaches a brand development exercise unprepared for the journey ahead, and unable to fully realize the rewards at journey’s end. We offer a 5 point checklist to ensure a better experience and outcome at every step. 1. Know Your Motivation A strong, clear and authentic articulation of your brand can accomplish great things. It […]
Director of Branding Ed Macko explores the importance of head and heart in building a brand.
I enjoyed a rare two-hour sit down recently with an entire marketing and communications team at a major university — and we never once talked about story. They, like many of you, spoke of feeling beleaguered by the demands of an unending news cycle, a tumbleweed website and the torture drip of “next in line” requests […]
I’m an average guitar player. Some might say very average. But I can play in a support role to almost anyone. Why? Because I have enough basic knowledge about music theory that if someone says to me, “We’ll be playing this is in the key of C,” I know that I’ll be safe playing a […]
Why, despite our best intentions and efforts, can we all make bad decisions? Social scientists point to the phenomenon of “cognitive bias” — a scholarly and polite way of saying that we should not so quickly and easily believe everything we initially perceive or think. The more complex the set of choices and decisions, the […]
As of yesterday, August 24th, Amazon had listed 24,393 books on brand marketing ready for you to read (have fun). Al Reis has 22 Immutable Laws of Branding. Jack Trout emphasizes differential. And I recently saw a brand glossary from a nationally-known, prominent marketing firm that contained more than 50 brand terms and descriptors. Oh […]
We recently met around the conference table at Elliance to discuss the pros/cons of pursuing an RFP opportunity — a major state research university wanting to sharpen its brand focus and tell a better capital campaign story in order to raise a nice round $1 billion dollars. Needless to say, with that kind of money […]
As the world of higher education settles in after a frenzied first few weeks of new faculty introductions, last minute dormitory re-assignments and opening football weekend, there is that lingering question: what should we do about our brand? Whether you’re stuck in avoidance or racing headlong toward action, it’s worth considering a pause. Maybe past […]