Brand Development and Management As A Competitive Strategy In Schools In Victoria, Australia
Author(s):
Lawrence Drysdale (presenting / submitting) David Gurr Helen Goode
Conference:
ECER 2013
Network:
26. Educational Leadership
Format:
Paper

Session Information

26 SES 13 A, Organizations, Financing and Markets

Paper Session

Time:
2013-09-13
11:00-12:30
Room:
D-306
Chair:
Lawrence Drysdale

Contribution

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.

Method

Two methods were used to collect data for this study. Over two hundred assignments collected over five years that focused on developing a marketing strategy in schools were analysed and major themes from these developed. These themes included were segmentation, promotion, product and service development, customer focus, branding and positioning, competition, strategic planning, and new markets. The assignments were part of the assessment requirements for students enrolled in a subject Marketing in Education as part of the Master of Educational Management program at The University of Melbourne. The second approach was to conduct a multiple perspective case study of four secondary schools that were distinguished because of their reputation in the market place. Interviews were held with a range of people from within the school including the principal, assistant principals, senior teachers, teachers and the marketing department. Other data collection approaches included observation through school tours and a collection of documents, marketing plans brochures and other marketing materials. Pictorial evidence was also collected.

Expected Outcomes

The study shows that branding is a key marketing strategy used to enhance the reputation and image of the school. Schools have been innovative and creative in building their brand. Typical branding activities included logos, symbols, artefacts, uniforms, publications, merchandising. Two approaches to brand development were identified. The first key driver of brand development is the school’s marketing department. This tends to occur in high fee paying independent schools that have the resources to run a marketing department. The danger with this approach is that there can be dissonance between the marketing department’s activities and the rest of the school. Teachers are often not involved in the process. A second driver is school leadership which see branding as a key role in enhancing the school’s image and reputation, and an important means of attracting resources. They see their role as a dual role - building school culture (what people feel and see from the inside), and brand development (what people see of the school from the outside). Culture building and brand development appear to be more effective if their go hand-in glove. There are important synergies when brand and culture are seen as two sides of the same coin.

References

Davies, B., & Ellison, L. (1997). Strategic marketing for schools. London: Pitman Publishing. Keller, K.L (2008) Strategic Brand Management: Building, Measuring, and Managing Brand Equity. Pearson Educational International, New Jersey. Drysdale, L. (1995). The evolution of marketing: implications for schools. Hot Topics: Australian Council of Educational Administration, 2, 1-4. Drysdale, L. 2000, ‘Promotion Orientation Versus Market Orientation’, Hot Topics Australian Council for Educational Administration, No. 2, pp. 1-2. Drysdale, L. (2001) Towards a Model of Market Centred Leadership, Leading and Managing Vol. 7 No.1 Page 76-89. Drysdale, L. (2001) Getting the Most Out of Marketing for Schools, ACEA Monograph, No. 29. October. Drysdale, L. (2002). A Study of Marketing and Market Orientation in Selected Victorian Schools of the Future. Unpublished PhD Thesis, The University of Melbourne. Drysdale, L. & Gurr, D. (2003). Market Centred Leadership, International Journal of Learning, 10, 2619-2630. Kotler, P., Brown, L., Burton, S., and Armstrong, G. (2010) Marketing 8e Pearson Australia Frenchs Forest NSW. McKay, M.M. (2001) Application of brand equity measures in service markets, Journal of Services Marketing, Vol. 15 No. 3 2001, pp. 210-221. Power, D and Hauge, A. (2008) No Man's Brand--Brands, Institutions, and Fashion Growth and Change Volume 39 Issue 1 Page 123-143. Thomas, S and Kohli, C (2009) A Brand is Forever! The framework for revitalizing declining and dead brands, Business Horizons (2009) 52, 377—386. Trout, J and Rivkin, S. (2010) Repositioning: Marketing in an Era of Competition, Change and Crisis McGraw Hill, New York. Ulrich, D. and Smallwood, N. (2007) Building a Leadership Brand, Harvard Business Review, July-August pp 93-100.

Author Information

Lawrence Drysdale (presenting / submitting)
University of Melbourne, Australia
David Gurr
University of Melbourne, Australia
Helen Goode
University of Melbourne, Australia

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