Marketing & Branding

So we're currently hiring a new Director of Marketing here at the University of Nebraska Omaha. We're actually creating an entire Office of Marketing - something we've never had before, which really amazes me considering the size of our university. So I've recently been sitting in on these interviews and some of the discussions have made me think.

One of the bigger issues that we face here at UNO is a branding issue. We don't have a brand. We rolled out with some new logos within the past year and that's been a good start but it's not enough. We need to have a defining brand that when people hear or see it, they know - UNO. Like Nike or Pepsi. Or other universities like Texas or Nebraska Lincoln. They have well known brands. This is what we lack.

It also made me think about Wartburg. Now Wartburg is obviously is a little bit of a different class than UNO because of size and private versus public, but one thing that Wartburg does right is that it has a brand. Be Orange. There were some shirts that I saw recently that the Wartburg Ambassadors were wearing that said: "Be Orange. It's a Wartburg thing" And that's so true. (By the way, can I get one of those!?) Anyone who knows Wartburg knows 'Be Orange'. They've done a great job marketing that, using it everywhere and for an extended period of time.

Before I started working at UNO, I worked as a marketing coordinator for Kruger Seeds. I really enjoyed that work too. I loved the planning and the variety. And while I was there we even were able to do some re-branding. Kruger changed their logo and came up with a brand. And while I wasn't a part of the team that presented those ideas, I was involved in some of the process. And it was really great. With their old brand, you would ask dealers what is Kruger Seeds? And they wouldn't be able to get you a straight answer and everyone had a different answer. With the new logo and the new branding, we could ask any dealer what is Kruger Seeds? They would all answer 'First Class Seed. First Name Service.' Within a year, we could see this change. It was amazing! 

Sitting in on these interviews and talking about what needs to be done here at UNO gets me excited. Talking about branding and what that means to UNO. I love it. I've forgotten how much I love that part of marketing. I will tell you that since I've been out of school for a while, I might not know as much as I would like about branding specifically and marketing, but I feel like this is something that I would maybe want to do in the future. These discussions make me want to go back and read and learn more. I want to be a part of these conversations.

I guess this post leads back to that 'age old question' of "What does Liz want to do with her life? What is her calling?" I love working in higher education. I love the work I do with students and getting them excited about going to college. But I also love marketing and branding. Am I better at one or the other? Who knows. I might say I'm more comfortable with higher education mostly because I'm doing that right now. Maybe I need to combine the two and start searching for work in higher education marketing.

Either way, this post mostly just serves as a place for me to write down some of the thoughts I've had. I guess if you have any suggestions or recommendations, I'm all ears. :)