I was captivated by the recent article in BusinessWeek entitled: "Brand U: Marketing the Alma Mater. When mainstream business magazines with the quality reputation of BusinessWeek write about the marketing of higher education, I get excited. This was especially true in this instance as it was the second in a proposed series on the business of education. (Isn't it amazing how many of our schools teach business administration and marketing and how few have traditionally applied it?) I love the fact that it is being addressed in such a prestigious business magazine! However, I have a few issues with the article that tells me that the field is not as mainstream as one might like.

Marketing colleges and universities is indeed an area on the rise but it is not something that was a "foreign notion" two decades ago. The first Symposium of Marketing for Higher Education began twenty years ago (it is still the largest conference in the world strictly focused on marketing in higher education.) The Journal of Marketing for Higher Education is twenty years old. This journal is an application based journal, (rather than purely academic or theoretical), that focuses on the topic. There have been thousands of participants and readers of these two outlets that understood the value of marketing for some time. Early adapters of marketing have resulted in some amazingly well executed strategy on college campuses (TCU and DePaul come to mind).

The article also tends to focus on branding as something that is communication based. The focus of brand guidelines has long categorized marketing efforts as the work of "logo police" rather than integrated efforts across campus. Branding manuals have their place but these should reflect the true brand of the institution that is based on the essence of the school and the promises it makes to its constituents in action as well as words. The brand is more than 'thousands of touch points available on the internet," it is represented by thousand of touch points with every faculty and staff on the campus.

When these articles reflect the nature of marketing colleges and universities from a services perspective I will know the field has arrived. As most of our readers already know, you should not market an institution of higher education the same way you would an IPOD. You would not know that from this article.

Brands "transcend" logos and marketing "transcends" branding. Soon we should see articles that capture the broader and deeper qualities of the field...but in the mean time.....thanks to BusinessWeek for bringing us one step closer.

-- Tom Hayes