There are doctors who don’t exercise!
There are policemen who don’t wear helmets!
And then there are B-Schools who don’t practice branding!
Why do the preachers of branding don’t practice it? Take the all-important facet of branding i.e., Positioning. How many B-Schools have actually positioned themselves? Here is a simple exercise. Think of any B-school; what comes to your mind when you thought of that name.
Yup, nothing!
Should B-schools position themselves? Why not? And why shouldn’t they? They are selling a product; they are trying to differentiate themselves from one another; with increasing competition and the fickle nature of their rankings that seem to change every year, they need to stand for something in the student consumer minds. Read positioning!
If everything in life – products, places and people – can and should be positioned, why shouldn’t B-Schools?
Close Up means freshness.
Goa means beaches.
Rajinikanth means style.
Isn’t the whole objective of branding to make a product positioned on a workable and ownable platform and make it preferred over the generic? Doesn’t this apply to anything? Then why not B-schools? Or for that matter anything that can be marketed and merchandised?
B-Schools have become just a glorified commodity. Like mineral water. A category patronized and purchased for its generic benefits. Just as it is in the mineral water category, the B-school category has varying image and price point levels. The top tier schools – the IIMs - form the first leg. Call it the Evian and Perrier club. What’s the difference between Evian and Perrier? As much difference as you can find among the various IIM’s!
Then you have the second-tier schools. Name them the Aqua Fina and Kinley club. How is Aqua Fina different from Kinley? The same way XLRI is different from a FMS!
And the bottom rack of B-schools is filled with dime-a-dozen - a la the Bisleris. One as good or as same as the other. How do you differentiate one B-school from the other on this rack? Exactly the way you differentiate one Chinese face from the other. You don’t; and can’t!
You might remind me about Engineering, Arts & Sciences and Medical colleges not positioned themselves either. You might ask why I don’t accuse them as well.
What right do I have to ask them to execute branding and position themselves, when the preachers themselves don’t practice it?
8 comments:
well said sir !
I read about Bridged Positioning in your blog sometime before. Would that be a suitable way to position a B-School? Or does it work only with tangible products? Could you please explain? Forgive my ignorance.
And this blog is really enriching.
Anamika: Glad you remembered something I wrote four years back. Ya, I think B-schools, or for that matter any other category, can explore bridged positioning.
Thank you for responding sir.
A last question pertaining to this post. Why do you think B-Schools fail to brand themselves? Is it because of the fact that they are not pressurized to do so? When no one else does it there really is no need for someone to take pains in doing it. Is this why they do not even consider that option and content themselves with boasting about their B-school ranks while advertising their School?
I collected a lot of interesting things from your blog especially its discussion. Many of comments in your posts, I believe I’m not alone having all the enjoyment here! keep up the great work.
The relevance of branding is when something isn't selling.
B-Schools are selling. They don't need to do more than call themselves B-Schools.
I did some work for Symbiosis. They used to get approximately 2,00,000 applicants a year at the time.
Each applicant paid Rs.200 for his or her application form.
Does Symbiosis - a Kinley or Aquafina as you put it - really need anything more than this? No wonder they have 30+ institutions all around Pune.
Hmph!!! Tell me about it! Very well said sir!
Very well said sir... cheers.
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