UW, Bothell Brand Audit

1
UW, Bothell Brand Audit

• Sandeep Krishnamurthy
• March 2001

2
Brand

• A brand is the identity of a product or service.
• It represents the essence of the product, its
  personality.
• The brand stands for something in the mind of the
  consumer.
• Not all brands are equally strong.

3
Indicators of Brand Strength

• Awareness
• Brand Image
• Strength of Brand Associations
• Favorability of Brand Associations
• Uniqueness of Brand Associations
• Consumer Attitude

4
Associations could include-

• Product Attributes/Benefits
• Sony VCR has a feature nobody else has.
• Product Memories/Experiences/Images
• We always have Sunny Delight for breakfast.
• Feelings/Beliefs
• Tide is the best detergent
• Hyundai is a bad car
• Product Folklore
• We always have Coke for Thanksgiving dinner.
• Kids in our family always go to UW.

5
Benefits from Strong Brand

• Better targeting- appropriate students
  self-select
• Easier recruitment of students
• Greater loyalty from students, alumni,
  faculty/staff
• Less vulnerability from competitors actions
• Less vulnerability from crises
• Greater community cooperation

6
What did we do?

• First half of class focussed on branding theory.
• Second half focussed on project.
• Students were assigned to stakeholder groups and
  were asked to audit these groups.
• Focus on awareness, perception, credibility and
  communication effectiveness.

7
A Comment

• This projects focus was on qualitative/explorator
  y research.
• We make no claims of statistical
  generalizability.
• We recommend using this data as a stepping stone
  to conduct future survey research.

8
What we Found

• Relationship to UW, Seattle unclear
• UW, Seattle is a natural comparison point.
• General public does not get the concept of
  tri-campus university.
• They think of us as a branch campus and hence,
  are somewhat uneasy about coming here.

9
Recommendations

• New logo-
• UNIVERSITY OF W ASHINGTON
• Bothell Seattle Tacoma
• Font equality.
• Training and communication of UW,S advisors and
  counselors
• Present UW,B as an alternative EARLY- not when
  the student does not make it. Positive
  reference.
• Joint recruiting at community colleges.
• Area-based targeting?

10
What Students Like About UW, Bothell

• Parking is easy.
• Facilities are new and high-tech.
• New computers.
• Professors are approachable and student-friendly
• Professors here, they actually teach. If they
  look at you eyeball-to-eyeball and if you are not
  getting it, they present it in another way.
• Team-approach to learning.

11
What Students Miss at UW, B

• Social Interaction
• No clubs, interesting activities
• No gym(why cant they use IMA?)
• No cafeteria- YET
• Limited Program Offerings
• Announce new programs EARLY.
• Low morale
• They are insecure about the value of their
  education.
• They tell everyone they go to UW and not UW,
  Bothell.

12
Thoughts on Cascadia

• We better market to CCC students. They are not a
  gimme.
• No transfer program
• CCC students have not thought about what credits
  will transfer- may assume all will.
• CC students generally leave their campus to
  attend 4 yr. college- will CCC students have a
  sense that going to UWB means staying home?

13
More Thoughts on Cascadia

• Faculty/staff worried about excessively close
  relationship to CCC. e.g. Complaints about CCC
  link on our website, academic standards.
• What needs to be done
• Transfer program
• Communication effort directed at CCC students and
  UW,B faculty/staff.
• Sit in class program.

14
Web Activity

• Link to UW, B on www.washington.edu has worked to
  raise awareness- BUT NOT KNOWLEDGE.
• Faculty members(especially- but also others)
  complained about the quality of our website
• DOES NOT COMMUNICATE KEY ATTRIBUTES.
• Hard to locate information, not updated
  frequently, poor integration with UW, Seattle,
  white space.

15
Other Recommendations

• Visit the campus program in summer and spring-
• Open to general community.
• Run by student volunteers.
• Barbecue?
• Sell UW, Bothell merchandise at all UBS stores-
  i.e., Seattle and Bellevue.
• Direct mailing of class catalogs to households on
  Eastside and Northside.
• Information booths at CC and other regional
  events.
• Promote successful Bothell graduates.
• Emphasize any professors that teach on both
  campuses to show Bothells credibility.

16
Branding Challenges

• With most groups, awareness has been achieved-
  the challenge is to gain credibility.
• What is needed is a clear and coherent message
  that resonates with all stakeholder groups.
• Major work needs to be done on our website if it
  must appear credible.
• Survey research.