Learning from Academic Branding: Exploring Institutional Enhancement, Visual Identity, and the Role of Football as a Catalyst for University Brand Transformation

For colleges and universities, athletic programs can provide a visible form of national exposure and lead to the formation and maintenance of favorable brand images (Toma, 2003; Toma & Cross, 1998). Effective brand management strategies can have a significant effect on institutional objectives such as recruiting student-athletes, facilitating development opportunities with alumni and other stakeholders, and soliciting corporate partnerships (i.e., Clark, Apostolopoulou, Branvold, & Synowka, 2009; Lee, Miloch, Kraft, & Tatum, 2008). Through athletics, universities establish a sense of significance and distinctiveness for the institutional brand image (Toma, 2003), and successful athletics programs have the potential to develop institutional brand identification by creating divergent perceptions (DiGisi, 2004). Brand strategy deficiencies impede marketing efforts and limit opportunities for brand differentiation. Framed in university branding and stakeholder theory, this study employs a single case study methodol-ogy examining the rebranding of a select university and its athletic program and benefits gained by the school following an institutional rebrand.