Brand strategy and value creation in higher education

How universities effectively capture and articulate the breadth of value they create has been in discussion for several years, reflecting longstanding concerns with the way higher education is perceived by the public, government and the media. University leaders and representative bodies, including Universities UK, HEPI and Advance HE, are fully engaged in how best to tackle this, given the significant challenges the sector faces.

Yet on the face of it, little appears to have changed, and measurements ‘that don’t reflect the value universities create’ (Adams, 2018, p. 10) continue to dominate how HE institutions position themselves. Whilst rankings may remain a necessity within the sector and financial pressures make certain metrics unavoidable, Adams (2018) suggests that no university is going to succeed purely through defining their value in this way.

The Government’s Post-16 Education and Skills White Paper brings this issue into even sharper focus: ‘the higher education sector is independent and autonomous, and it is not for government to impose these changes. We will actively encourage each provider to be clear about the role they are playing, their unique strengths, and where they can build stronger collaborations with other providers.’ (Department for Education, Department for Work and Pensions & Department for Science, Innovation and Technology, 2025, p. 49)

The paper sets out a clear expectation that institutional leadership must share the responsibility for realising the Government’s ambition, an expectation that was reinforced by the Minister for Skills, the Rt Hon Baroness Smith of Malvern, at the Advance HE Governance Conference in December. Institutions will be encouraged to define and demonstrate their purpose and value. Specialisation and collaboration aren’t optional. But how will leaders approach the need to specialise and identify their university’s ‘unique contribution’? Clearly, it requires a comprehensive strategic response, but not necessarily new thinking. Advance HE, supported by a sector steering group, published a discussion paper on Measuring What Matters (Advance HE, The Association of Heads of University Administration, Committee of University Chairs, Guild HE & Universities UK, 2024) exploring institutional performance and the importance of evidencing and communicating value creation. This work encouraged institutions to learn from within and outside the sector and offered reflections on value creation through the lenses of strategic development and performance measurement, with ‘reputation management as a golden thread throughout’. (Advance HE, AHUA, CUC, Guild HE and UUK, 2024, p.8). 

Kim Ansell, Senior Consultant from Advance HE commented, ‘Higher Education providers understandably have a short-term focus on financial sustainability, in year finances and ‘big-ticket items’ such as pensions in the current climate. But governing bodies and executive teams will need to think far beyond keeping a tight rein on the purse strings to navigate a strong and sustainable future’.

Within this context, there is a strategic development tool that is frequently underutilised or misapplied in higher education yet is entirely designed to distil organisational purpose and enable it to be communicated effectively, thereby driving reputation intentionally rather than reactively. This tool is brand strategy. 

Adams (2018) proposed a range of ways in which institutions may consider and measure their value beyond the financial, including matters of brand and reputation. Yet whilst reputation appears to be widely acknowledged as important in higher education, the concept of a brand - the sum of expressions by which an entity intends to be recognised (Hertioga, 2018) - seems to sit uncomfortably with anyone who isn’t a university marketer. Why?

Developing a brand is a means through which you deliberately define, articulate and communicate your value. The power here isn’t just in the brand itself, but in the thinking that gets you there. Whether you use the word brand or not, the integrated strategic thinking that defines a brand will help university leaders define their institutional purpose and focus and is one of the most powerful ways to proactively manage organisational reputation.

This thinking rests on clearly understanding the audiences you want to influence, and how to connect what you do with what they want, whether that be Government, students, partners or stakeholders. A clearly defined brand is a distillation of the breadth of value within your organisation. One might even say it’s a kind of value creation statement (Adams, 2018) in itself. It enables institutions to address the Government’s challenge that ‘too many providers with similar offerings are chasing the same students and there has been insufficient focus on each institution's core purpose’ (DfE, DWP & DSIT, 2025, p.48).

Yet our experience suggests that brand has a perception problem in higher education. Oft quoted, the great brand thinker Jeremy Bullmore said ‘brands are fiendishly complicated, elusive, slippery, half-real, half-virtual things. When CEOs try to think about brands, their brains hurt’ (Roach, 2020). This is despite the body of evidence suggesting that brands are one of the most valuable tools a business possesses (Roach, 2020). And perhaps therein lies the rub. Business.

Within universities – purpose-driven, not profit-driven organisations – a brand can be perceived as a reflection of all that has gone wrong in HE, where an increased focus on marketisation and commercialisation may compromise the primary purpose of research and education for the public good. In comparison, reputation management feels legitimate given the need for any not-for-profit to exert its influence in the public affairs sphere.

But the concept of brand is misunderstood. It does not belong to the private sector, even if it’s been used to great effect by businesses within competitive markets. In our daily lives, the idea of a brand may commonly bring logos and TV advertising campaigns to mind. But these are some of the products of a brand, not what a brand is. 

A brand distils and encapsulates the different ways that an organisation creates value for all its stakeholders. And it demands that the organisation remains true to that brand and avoids short-term thinking, perhaps the most challenging task of all. Adams (2018) argues that universities need to think in an integrated fashion to define their value. Yet in universities, brand is often siloed in paid-for marketing activity, never to be united with those working to make challenging strategic choices. Recent research suggests that university marketers themselves see the lack of leadership engagement in brand development as a limitation (Barthram, 2025, p. 2). Now would be the time for university boards and leaders to recognise that brand strategy has a role to play. It might not answer every question, but it will certainly answer some of the most important ones the Government has raised.

Merry Scott Jones is a partner at Firehaus and a Doctoral Candidate and Associate Tutor in Organisational Psychology at Birkbeck, University of London. Her research examines the interaction of social activism, political discourse and organisational diversity and inclusion practices. She was formerly a Global Director at J Walter Thompson and Head of Digital Transformation Strategy and Policy at the Ministry of Justice.

References

Adams, C. (2018) Let’s talk value - How universities create value for students, staff and society. Advance HE

Advance HE, The Association of Heads of University Administration, Committee of University Chairs, Guild HE & Universities UK. (2024). Measuring What Matters - Shaping future understanding of institutional performance for value creation and strategic decision-making in 2024. Advance HE

Barthram, N. (2025) Universities should be the most exciting brands in the world. So why aren’t they? Education Marketer & Firehaus. 

Department for Education, Department for Work and Pensions & Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. (2025) Post-16 Education and Skills [White Paper] Crown.

Hertioga, C. (2018, April 13) Branding Fundamentals | Part 1: What is a brand? [Article] LinkedIn

Roach, T. (2020, November 12) The brand: the most valuable business tool ever invented. The Tom Roach