This paper investigates the use of ‘brand’ as a key strategy for enhancing the reputation and image of schools in Victoria in order to be competitive in the marketplace. Brand development is an important component of marketing strategy. The literature of marketing shows that branding has become a major focus in both for-profit and not-for-profit organisations around the world. There is now evidence of this trend in the marketing of schools. With growing competition between schools and school systems marketing has become a key strategy.

The Research Question:  Why and how have schools focused on brand as a key marketing strategy to enhance competitiveness in the market place?

Objectives:

• To what extent have schools accepted marketing as a strategy to increase their competitiveness?
• How has the concept of ‘brand’ been adopted, developed and managed in schools?
• Who and what are the drivers of brand development?
• What are the key branding strategies that schools have developed?
• How effective has a branding strategy been in enhancing schools reputation, resources and enrolments?

 Framework

A brand is a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them, intended to identify the products or services of one organisation or group of organisations and to differentiate them from those of competitors. It includes both tangible and intangible activities. ‘Branding is an attempt to strategically "personify" products and to encapsulate a balance between different economic values: quality, utility, symbolic, and cultural worth’ (Power & Haug, 2008).

All brands have a history, a personality, strengths, flaws, family trees, emotional values and genes; however, central to a brand’s essence is its identity which is surrounded by benefits, attributes and emotion. The brand’s essence draws on the soul or core of the brand that sets the organisation and its offerings apart from all others in the category.

Within a school setting, we can say that brand is the image, reputation, product/service offerings as it is experienced by the school’s various audiences. It is created by stories, images and associations. There are various levels of brand. The depth of emotion and feeling of brand is called ‘brand equity’. This measures the depth of meaning of the brand for organisation’s (school) audiences. It occurs when the consumers or stakeholders have a high level of awareness and familiarity with the brand and hold some strong, favourable, and unique brand associations in memory.  Brand management is the process of creating, coordinating and monitoring interactions that occur between the school and its stakeholders.  

Publication of national testing results, government policy, lack of resources and constraints on funding, international comparisons of student outcomes and fight for survival by some schools have resulted in significant competition. This paper shows how and why schools have engaged in brand development and brand management. It explores evidence from case study analysis of four large secondary schools in Victoria, Australia and analysis of data from over two hundred assignments from Master of Education students studying marketing in education.

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