Branding in Higher Education: A Case Study from Turkey

Drawing upon the brand-building experience of a young and successful Turkish foundation university, this case study attempts to broaden our understanding of branding in Higher Education (HE). Focusing on the diverse brand conceptualizations, brand management principles and brand strategies that are deployed to circumvent barriers to successful university branding, the study’s results are expected to offer some valuable insights to the leaders of young universities in establishing and sustaining strong university brands. In order to illustrate how a young university creates, demonstrates and delivers its brand ‘promises’ to its target audience in a real-life context, some members of the board of trustees, including the founder, the president, vice presidents and advisors to the president were interviewed by the use of a semi-structured interview guideline. The data was analysed using content analysis method. The findings are grouped under three main themes: brand conceptualization, brand strategies and brand management principles. Findings revealed that how the leaders interpret ‘being a brand’ in HE shapes and drives brand management principles and brand strategies.