Brand personality in higher education: anthropomorphized university marketing communications

Rutter, Richard, Lettice, Fiona ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1304-4435 and Nadeau, John (2017) Brand personality in higher education: anthropomorphized university marketing communications. Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, 27 (1). pp. 19-39. ISSN 1540-7144

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Abstract

While the university prospectus is recognized as an important marketing communication tool for higher education recruitment strategies, it has become overlooked as many researchers have focused on other communication channels, such as social media and websites. Although focus has been placed upon Higher Education Institution (HEI) brand differentiation, little is known about the similarities and differences between institutional marketing communications utilized to build their brands. This research seeks to explore and analyze the prospectuses of the top 10 HEIs in the UK and to draw comparison between their relative positions using a brand personality lens. While the brand personality trait of sincerity was common for all of the HEIs, there was clear differentiation on the basis of other traits, demonstrating that brand personality deepens our understanding of HEI positioning. Two main brand personality groupings were evident among the top 10 institutions: excitement and competence.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	uk higher education,university brand management,university branding,university marketing communications,brand personality
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Norwich Business School
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Innovation, Technology and Operations Management
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	22 Mar 2016 09:32
Last Modified:	12 May 2023 00:03
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/57798
DOI:	10.1080/08841241.2016.1213346

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