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Brand personality in higher education: anthropomorphized university marketing communications

Author

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  • Richard Rutter
  • Fiona Lettice
  • John Nadeau

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.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard Rutter & Fiona Lettice & John Nadeau, 2017. "Brand personality in higher education: anthropomorphized university marketing communications," Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(1), pages 19-39, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:jmkthe:v:27:y:2017:i:1:p:19-39
    DOI: 10.1080/08841241.2016.1213346
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    Cited by:

    1. Adéla Fajčíková & Hana Urbancová, 2019. "Factors Influencing Students’ Motivation to Seek Higher Education—A Case Study at a State University in the Czech Republic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-14, August.
    2. Parves Sultan & Ho Yin Wong, 2019. "How service quality affects university brand performance, university brand image and behavioural intention: the mediating effects of satisfaction and trust and moderating roles of gender and study mod," Journal of Brand Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 26(3), pages 332-347, May.
    3. Faiz Muhammad Khuwaja & Waheed Ali Umrani & Sanober Salman Shaikh & Ammar Ahmed & Sanaullah Shar, 2019. "University Markor: A Context-Specific Scale to Measure Market-Orientation in Universities," SAGE Open, , vol. 9(2), pages 21582440198, June.
    4. Baştuğ, Sedat & Şakar, Gül Denktaş & Gülmez, Seçil, 2020. "An application of brand personality dimensions to container ports: A place branding perspective," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    5. Päivikki Kuoppakangas & Kati Suomi & Paul Clark & Chris Chapleo & Jari Stenvall, 2020. "Dilemmas in Re-branding a University—“Maybe People Just Don’t Like Change”: Linking Meaningfulness and Mutuality into the Reconciliation," Corporate Reputation Review, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 23(2), pages 92-105, May.
    6. Sánchez-Chaparro, Teresa & Soler-Vicén, Miguel Ángel & Gómez-Frías, Víctor, 2022. "Be good and look good: Communicating the triple bottom line through corporate websites," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 136-145.
    7. Richard Rutter & John Nadeau & Fiona Lettice & Ming Lim & Suwaid al Shamaisi, 2018. "Place branding of seaports in the Middle East," Place Branding and Public Diplomacy, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 14(3), pages 197-212, August.
    8. Hulya Bakirtas & Vildan Gulpinar Demirci, 2022. "A structural evaluation of university identification," International Review on Public and Nonprofit Marketing, Springer;International Association of Public and Non-Profit Marketing, vol. 19(3), pages 507-531, September.

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