Source: Alamy

Back to their roots: universities should make the most of their unique assets

Universities that are not top of the league tables are marketing themselves like a teenage girl who ¡°spends all her time wearing a wardrobe that doesn¡¯t suit her body shape¡±, a?branding consultant has said.

They need to be honest about their ranking position rather than using meaningless statistics such as ¡°we¡¯re 93rd in the country for the quality of coffee in the student union bar¡±, argued Rebecca Price, partner at the recently founded agency Frank, Bright & Abel, which partly focuses on higher education.

Speaking to Times Higher Education, she said that universities were generally ¡°very poor at communicating their offer¡±. Higher tuition fees had driven institutions to ¡°chuck statistics¡± at applicants rather than communicating the uniqueness of their ¡°ethos¡±.

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The use of statistics was ¡°fine if you¡¯re top of the tree but most aren¡¯t¡±, Ms Price added.

She recounted a project she had worked on to rebrand London South Bank University. The institution, which often finishes near the bottom of domestic university rankings, had constantly been ¡°apologising¡± for this fact, Ms?Price explained.

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In 2012 it was rebranded as ¡°¡®the brighter choice¡¯ ¨C not everybody¡¯s choice, not the first choice, but the brighter, smarter choice for those in the know¡±, she continued.

Universities were trying too hard to emulate their rivals, Ms?Price said, when there was ¡°always a story to tell¡± about their differences.

¡°It¡¯s a bit like¡­the teenage girl who¡¯s got black hair and brown eyes who longs to be blonde-haired and blue-eyed, and spends all her time wearing a wardrobe that doesn¡¯t suit her body shape,¡± she explained.

¡°Universities¡­like that teenage girl need to get to the point where they realise: ¡®Look love, you may not be blonde-haired and blue-eyed, but you¡¯re lovely, and this is how you¡¯ll make the best of it¡¯.¡±

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It would be ¡°vacuous spin¡± for universities to pretend otherwise, she said.

But Lynn Grimes, director of marketing and UK student recruitment at London South Bank, said that branding was ¡°not as simple¡± as focusing less on statistics and more on an institution¡¯s atmosphere.

¡°Some students want to know facts about employability and student satisfaction, perhaps at different points through the decision-making process,¡± she said.

Frank, Bright & Abel started work in June and has seven staff. Ms Price said it was working with a private ¡°start-up¡± that would ¡°hopefully¡± become a university, and also with a Russell Group institution, which she declined to name.

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david.matthews@tsleducation.com