The new rules of university branding

Abbey Bamford reports on why universities are rethinking their brands, and what the recent wave of rebrands reveals about the changing role of higher education.

Something is happening in higher education (HE) branding. In the UK, institutions including Imperial College London, St John's College, Cambridge, the University of York and the University of Greenwich have all unveiled new identities or significant brand evolutions over the past year alone. Whispers from the design grapevine hint that other renowned institutions are preparing to follow suit.

The reality is that HE is under unprecedented pressure. Domestic tuition fees have failed to keep pace with inflation, international student recruitment has become increasingly volatile, and universities are being asked to demonstrate greater value to prospective students, government and industry alike.

Simon Manchipp, founding partner at SomeOne, says the shift is equally cultural. "Higher education is now a brutal, borderless global market," he says. "Students aren't just buying a three-year degree. They're making an emotional purchase; choosing a place to grow, to socialise and to become adults. They're buying into a brand."

Today's university rebrands have to do so much more than just polish the facade. They need to answer fundamental questions about what universities are, who they're for and why they still matter.

Heritage isn't enough anymore

For centuries, universities have been able to lean on their history as a shorthand for prestige, from their ancient architecture to coats of arms and Latin mottos. While these things still signal credibility, they’re not enough on their own to persuade prospective students in an increasingly crowded and global market.

"I don't think it's always wise to rebrand things with heritage; you're often better off looking to unleash it," says Manchipp. "Heritage need not be a mandate to be boring. It's proof of a product, organisation or service that has enduring relevance."

That philosophy underpinned SomeOne's work for St John's College, Cambridge and Christ Church, Oxford, where the agency looked for "the radical, disruptive spark that founded the place centuries ago" and then built contemporary identity systems around it.

Adam Concar, co-owner of rbl, believes universities often misunderstand what prospective students value.

"We've worked with universities that were convinced students chose them because of their heritage and historic architecture," he says. "When we spoke to students, that wasn't necessarily true.”

"The point is you need someone to come in with a fresh perspective and ask, 'What is this really about?' rather than relying on assumptions," Concar adds.

Heritage clearly isn’t the problem. Irrelevant heritage is. Universities need to really dig deep to uncover what still makes their history distinctive, then find contemporary ways to bring it to life.

Brand completes the sale

For decades, university marketing revolved around course listings, league tables and glossy prospectuses, but they're no longer enough to secure a student's place. "Students now prioritise their course over everything else," says Concar. "If it's the right course, the university goes on the shortlist.

"Once they're on that shortlist, brand completes the sale. Students start asking: 'Am I going to feel comfortable there? Am I going to fit in? Will I be challenged? Will I be supported?' That's where brand adds real value to the decision-making journey."

Of course, universities compete on academic excellence, but students increasingly choose based on something much harder to quantify.

Emma Perrett, strategy consultant and founder of Industry Unlimited, says that changing student expectations have fundamentally altered the role of brand. "This is the most researched, most sceptical generation yet. They trust proof over claims and peers over institutions."

We’re living in an age where AI can increasingly deliver knowledge on demand, so universities have to sell something different. "No one's buying what you'll teach them. They're buying what you'll make them capable of,” Perrett adds.

Academic excellence is now the bare minimum, with students and parents increasingly expecting evidence that university will prepare them for life beyond graduation. Where employability was once a bolt-on marketing message, it now needs to be the natural outcome of everything they do.

Imperial College London's head of brand, Abby Bolt, agrees. "Higher education is now a truly global market," she says. "We're no longer just competing for students, but for talent, funding and partnerships." That means universities have to communicate not only who they are, but the impact they have through research, innovation and collaboration. "Authenticity isn't a nice-to-have anymore; it's a necessity."

So many universities are moving beyond talking about courses or campuses. The real attraction comes from selling an experience and ultimately a vision of the person a student might become.

The rebrand starts after launch

Universities are sprawling organisations made up of faculties, research centres, students' unions and thousands of staff. Rolling out a new identity is as much a change management exercise as a creative one.

"University rebrands can live or die on the empowering and embedding across the organisation," says Ed Pearson, brand and content manager at the University of Birmingham. "We've seen so many rebrands launch with huge fanfare and not carry through into the day-to-day."

He believes that consistency doesn't come from policing templates, but helping colleagues understand why the brand exists. "You have to take people with you on the journey," he says. "It can't be one line in an internal comms email. By implementation, colleagues should be excited about the project and see how it supports and elevates their work, not write it off as another 'painting the front door' exercise."

Bolt says the challenge with Imperial wasn't creating a more flexible identity, but encouraging faculties to see it as an enabler and not something restrictive.

"People rightly feel a strong sense of ownership and pride in their own areas," she explains. "Academic reputations aren't built on how something looks, but on years, often decades, of hard-earned credibility." So, instead of imposing uniformity, Imperial positioned the refreshed identity as "a framework that helps people communicate their work more effectively while still allowing room for individuality."

Wiedemann Lampe reached the same conclusion while working with the University of York. "Designing the internal process is just as important as designing the visual framework," the team says. "That's often where the greatest value lies."

The success of a university rebrand isn't measured at launch, but in the thousands of everyday decisions made long afterwards.

Beyond brochures and prospectuses

It’s clear now why university brands are changing, but so too is the way they're brought to life.

Not so long ago, prospectuses, polished campus photography and a handful of corporate films did much of the heavy lifting. Today's prospective students, however, are encountering universities through TikTok, YouTube, Instagram and countless other digital touchpoints long before they ever attend an open day.

Tom Staniford, founder and creative director of Gusto, believes this has fundamentally changed the role of storytelling. "A decade ago things felt much more corporate because content was much more stats-oriented and 'authenticity' was a student giving a soundbite to an interviewer off camera. Thankfully, the storytelling we're producing now is much more sophisticated and emotionally complex.

"They're not just referencing the world's leading universities anymore. They're looking to Netflix, pop culture and household-name brands."

That doesn't mean bigger productions are always the answer. Staniford sees the sector splitting into two distinct approaches: highly produced cinematic campaigns and raw, student-led content.

"It's very easy to go deep on facilities, facilities, facilities," he says. "Then comes social life, then 'here's what you can do afterwards'. None of these are wrong, but what I'm interested in is showing how university has transformed students and what they now feel capable of."

Competing for the future

The recent wave of university rebrands really isn’t about following design trends, but about the state of HE itself.

Institutions are navigating financial uncertainty, changing student expectations, global competition and rapid technological change. Against that backdrop, brand has become a way of articulating purpose and demonstrating relevance more effectively.

Wiedemann Lampe says, "A university is essentially selling a version of the future." At a time when that future feels increasingly uncertain, it makes sense that institutions are investing in brand to help them clearly communicate the impact they offer.

That doesn't mean every university needs a dramatic rebrand. As Manchipp says, you might just need to unleash what’s already there and express it in a way that resonates today.

When you boil it down, you don’t need the oldest heritage or the boldest visual identity. You just need to be able to answer, with clarity and conviction, the question every prospective student is asking: Why this university, and why now?