Brand management is an essential element of every business, alongside innovation and intellectual property. While university brands might be less prominent or recognized when compared with industrial and commercial ones, they have extrinsic social value in education and economic value in research and development. Positive images of a university brand would enable it to maintain and sustain its prestige, reputation and goodwill.
"How would a university like its brand to be perceived and experienced by its stakeholders? What kind of relationship would a university like to be associated with innovators and entrepreneurs?" A university's brand orientation impacts on whether it would deploy an enduring brand management strategy to segregate among global competition and to build strong fellowship.
To strategize, a university needs to identify its core values like its vision and identity, and have them communicated via the brand. The goal is to align values and build brand credibility, as only trustworthy brands would have loyal fellowship. To achieve a university's goal, its brand management team should exercise due diligence when granting licences to others to use the university brand, including its trade marks.
In the global dynamic environment, managing a university brand is like safeguarding the institution's identity and asset. No one may (whether intentional or not) pass off projects, goods or services not connected with or not permitted by the university as those of the university. The role of a university's brand management team is to create, capture and deliver the most brand value to the university!