Ownable Brand Ideas: Higher Ed Marketing Done Differently

Generating ownable brand ideas can spark from unique qualities hidden in plain sight — not taking the little things for granted. 

What may seem like an odd quirk could set your university apart.

Good branding is crucial for higher education institutions because it helps differentiate them in a crowded market. 

Identifying ownable brand ideas, as we’ll explore in this post, allows you to stand out by highlighting your school’s unique strengths and values. 

It’s not just about attracting prospective students; it’s about creating a cohesive story that resonates with all stakeholders, including students, parents, alumni, and donors. 

Effective branding builds credibility and fosters a sense of community, making people feel proud and connected to the institution. 

It also ensures that the message stays consistent across all touchpoints, which is essential for long-term success. 

Despite its importance, it can be very difficult for higher ed marketers to find truly ownable brand ideas.

Sometimes, you need an outsider with experience who can get the conversation started and completely transform your school’s brand.

That’s why we had a chat with Brian MacDonald, the co-founder & CCO at Zillion on The Higher Ed Marketer podcast. 

After working with big consumer brands, Brian wants to bring higher education institutions to the same level of branding focus.

In this episode, we tackled finding distinctive brand ideas. Here are the highlights of that insightful conversation. 

The Challenge of Distinctive Branding in Higher Ed

Branding in higher education is uniquely challenging due to the similarities between institutions. 

Physics is physics, whether you’re studying it in New York City or rural Utah. French literature is the same whether you study it in Chicago or Los Angeles. 

There are so many ways in which universities are similar that they tend to mask the ways in which they’re distinctive. [However,] there are a lot of ways in which universities are distinctive from each other. 

The key is to uncover and highlight the unique aspects of your institution that set it apart from others.

These are brand distinctives that you “own.”

Three Types of Ownable Brand Ideas

Of course, there are different ways in which you can say that you “own” a brand idea. 

Brian introduced the concept of three types of ownable ideas that can form the foundation of a strong brand:

1. Legally Ownable: Unique aspects that only your institution can legally claim, such as patents or proprietary programs. Legally, you’re the only one who can say this in your marketing.
2. Credibly Ownable: Attributes that your institution can claim more credibly than others due to unique strengths or achievements. In other words, if other people try to claim this particular attribute in their marketing, they don’t have the credibility that you have when you say it.
3. Uniquely Stated: Distinctive messages that, while not unique in content, are unique in expression. Think of this as a trademark slogan or phrase that you defend legally to maintain that unique expression like Nike’s “Just Do It”® tagline. 

For most higher education institutions, the focus should be on credibility. 

As Brian noted, “Most higher education brands fall into that second category about credibility. And looking for and establishing that credibility becomes the key part of building a brand in higher education.”

Building Credible Brand Ideas

One reason that higher ed brands fail to stand out is that they are using the same words as their competitors.

Yet even using the same language, some brands are setting enrollment records. How does that happen? 

Brian walks us through the reason behind this similarity in branding language, and how you can build brand ideas with the secret ingredient of an ownable brand idea: credibility.

The English language is a finite resource. There are only so many words. So, a lot of universities tend to start using the same language to build brand ideas around. 

But in a lot of cases what they’re not doing is finding the reasons behind those words. 

[For example], when the University of Wisconsin was looking to launch a $4.2 billion capital campaign, they looked for a brand idea. The brand idea developed for them was this notion of being “boundless together.” 

That [brand idea] came from [the fact] that the University of Wisconsin Madison is the only land grant university in the United States where all of the schools and colleges of the university are physically co-located on one campus. This notion of being “boundless together” came from that notion, this co-location. 

That [co-location, which allows for greater collaboration,] is how you explain that a university in a relatively small midwestern state – not a big population, not a huge industrial base, primarily agricultural – how this university became the school that penned the Social Security Act, founded National Public Radio, [and] how they produced generations of people who have been iconic leaders in the United States. 

The fact of that [co-location] has driven everything that’s happened there.

Now, other universities have used [those] words. The University of Toronto built a campaign around the idea of boundless. But to my mind, it didn’t go [anywhere]. 

It was just [a] word. It was a feeling. 

[Even so,] they did well with it. They raised a lot of money. But to my mind, it didn’t have [a] reason behind it. 

It was a rallying cry, but not one that brought people into the meaning of it and why they were saying it and why it was true of them and not of anybody else.

Credible brand ideas are inspirational in language and in meaning. 

There are only so many inspirational words in the English language. 

In fact, I’ve come across helpful “cheat sheets” for poets and copywriters with lists of inspirational or motivational words that have been proven to elicit emotion in readers. 

There’s nothing wrong with strong, emotive copy!

However, credible brand ideas that last across generations and speak to all stakeholders across demographics must find their origin in something that’s only true for you.

Building Comprehensive Brand Ideas

Brian emphasized the importance of developing a brand idea that speaks to all stakeholders, from 17-year-old prospective students to 70-year-old alumni. 

A lot of institutions tend to look at their branding as admissions branding [which means] that the sole goal of the brand is to bring in more students.

But what we always try to do is to look for an idea that speaks across all the different audiences. 

How do you develop a brand idea that can speak to a 17-year-old or a 15-year-old prospective student and a 70-year-old person who might donate a building or $100 million? How do you come up with an idea that makes this place a place that the staff and faculty want to go to work every day? 

It has to be the same idea that works with all of these people because these are all people who are drawn to a specific community. 

What a prospective student is looking for is not what a donor is looking for, but yet you want to create these lifelong customer journeys. 

You don’t want [alumni] to feel that, “Wow! It’s not the same place where I went to college anymore. Why would I give them money?” 

A strong brand idea should be flexible enough to speak to different audiences while maintaining a consistent message.

“Universities are probably the sole example of a one-time purchase conferring a lifetime of connection,” Brian explained, “You want a brand idea that outlives a whole lifetime of connection.”

Ownable Brand Ideas that Set You Apart

Branding in higher education is a complex yet vital task that requires a deep understanding of what makes your institution unique. 

As Brian shared with us, effective branding goes beyond surface-level messaging to uncover and highlight the unique strengths and values of an institution. 

By focusing on credibility and engaging diverse audiences with a consistent brand idea, universities can build strong, authentic brands that resonate widely and foster lifelong connections. 

Embracing these strategies will not only attract prospective students but also engage alumni, donors, and staff, creating a cohesive and compelling brand presence that stands the test of time. 

For a deeper dive into these insights, listen to the full episode of The Higher Ed Marketer Podcast with Brian MacDonald.

There really is so much more for you in the podcast itself! Don’t miss out on these insights into…

• Unique selling propositions and brand ownership
• Building brand credibility
• Finding strength in your brand’s detractors
• How to tailor your school’s narrative

And if you would like help finding ownable brand ideas for your school, contact us today and ask about our Caylor Solutions branding services!

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Featured image by Standret via Adobe Stock