Every year I study with interest Business Week's 100 Best Global Brands issue. Coca-Cola, IBM, Google, Toyota, Disney, Intel, etc. They all vie for the top slots. Deservedly so. But last weekend I was in Providence, RI with my wife and daughters. We were visiting family at RISD and took the prospective student tour at Brown. While doing the obligatory visit to the Brown bookstore (Brown logoed everything was for sale!) I realized there are some global brands conspicuously absent from the list.
I would argue that Harvard deserves consideration on Business Week's list. As the oldest university in the nation it's certainly "Built to Last." Put the Harvard name on anything and there's instant credibility. In fact many of our top U.S. colleges and univers
ities have brand values greater than Prada or from the title of this blog, say Nescafe.
ities have brand values greater than Prada or from the title of this blog, say Nescafe.
I second your suggestion, Jamie.
ReplyDeleteThis brand is globally recognized with positive associations. 'Harvard' is an instant marker for excellence, tradition, leadership and high standards (yes, also elitism and selectivity -- not necessarily negatives in a Best Global Brands context).
After all, when wags describe U-M as 'the Harvard of the Midwest,' they're not making light of the Massachusetts campus.
BizWeek isn't alone in wearing blinders, though. Universities themselves generally resisted brand-focused marketing until this decade, as Fast Company blogger Kevin Randall wrote last month:
"It has taken a while for branding to seep into the world of higher education. Traditionally universities and colleges have not been staffed by professional marketers. There has been a revulsion toward the concept of Customers." [http://bit.ly/TStdO]
--> But look here now: Preppy clothing with the brand name Harvard Yard is due to hit national department stores in February under a 10-year licensing deal with the university.
Green and crimson -- a smart combo.