The DBU brand: A case study over the process of branding at Dallas Baptist University

Because of increase competition in higher education colleges and universities have to fight to remain relevant in an increasingly demanding market. Potential stakeholders look for institutions that have distinction and prestige. Prestige helps universities create income and a competitive advantage (Brewer et al., 2002). While the importance of name recognition dates back for centuries, branding in higher education is a fairly new, but growing field. With the increased hype about marketing and branding there is little research in the area of branding in higher education. This study aimed at uncovering some of the key factors behind creating a new brand at Dallas Baptist University.;Dallas Baptist University was the site of the study and university under review. DBU began to change the university's brand in the late 1980s and early 1990s and has worked to establish a new brand. Since the new branding campaign remains fairly fresh on the minds of many employees I managed to interview key individuals that have experience with or an understanding of the change in brand. The interviews were tape recorded, transcribed, and then cross checked through a member checking technique. Additional data from documents also received review and the technique of triangulation was applied to ensure trustworthiness of the data.;The data provided valuable findings regarding effective branding in higher education which academic literature supported. The study revealed the importance of proper financial management, the mission statement, and consistently following the mission among other factors. The findings offer great insight for professionals needing a greater understanding of how to increase brand prestige. Recommendations for other colleges and universities, as well as DBU were also included at the end of Chapter Five. As higher education continues to become increasingly competitive, administrators with an understanding of how to increase brand prestige be in greater demand.