Spending as much time as we have at Keating Associates examining and managing our clients' brands and branding programs over the years, we've learned a lot about academic brands.

We've observed five major trends that will continue to drive academic brands and shape institutional branding programs in 2007.

1. Presenting an authentic and relevant vision of ‘student experience' is the single most important communications trend in academic marketing communications over the last few years. This experience encompasses many facets:  the outward expressions of the brand (identity, image), the benefits and features that differentiate the brand from its competition (positioning), the feelings and associations of the brand (emotional contexts), and the code and core values that the brand represents. Conveying student experience will continue to dominate academic marketing in 2007.

2. Colleges and universities will remain keenly aware of the power and value of their brands. Moreover, most are committed to developing their brands for the long haul, and have become increasingly sophisticated marketing managers. So, too, are many institutions approaching brand management systematically and with greater, more concerted, attention to the ‘science of branding' than in the previous years.

3. Integrated Marketing Communication programs are no longer rare but are becoming the rule at marketing-savvy colleges and universities.

4. In addition to a focus on traditional brand components such as graphic identity, print, and broadcast media, many colleges and universities recognize that brand communications and branding programs in digital media (web, email, streaming video) are a strategic necessity, and no longer marginal marketing communications activities. 2007 will see an explosion of ambitious and experimental digital media programs and projects.

5. Branding programs are increasingly conceived not only to influence external audiences (traditional intent) but also to organize the advocacy of internal constituencies: faculty, staff, administration, and stakeholders. ‘Living the brand' and representing its promise to institutional audiences is a priority task of individuals in marketing-driven institutions.