Copenhagen Business School

Spring Semester 2014-2015

Master of Science in Brand and Communications Management (Cand. Merc.)

________________________________________________________________________________
EXAM IN
POSITIONING AND CREATIVE STRATEGIES FOR INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS
Higher education campaigns in the US: the case of the University of San Francisco
________________________________________________________________________________

Hand-in date: May 3rd, 2015

Individual Home Assignment
Giorgio Natali
CPR Number: 010492-3909
Coordinator: Larry Percy
Number of Pages: 10
Number of Characters: 22674

INTRODUCTION
University branding in the US is a strategic managerial issue for institutions to express what they
stand for and their differentiation points (Jevons, 2007, p.466). Universities often hire CMOs to
brand the institution and agencies to create campaigns to deliver a differentiating and compelling
position (Ad. Age, 2013). With the premise that a university can be branded, as a service is actually
identified and differentiated from competitors (Keller, 1993), the brand in analysis is the University
of San Francisco USF henceforth.

1. BRAND ADVERTISING STRATEGY AND EXECUTION

USF hired the agency Hub Strategy to create a print campaign in 2012. The
chosen ad [Appendix A] shows a green rectangle with a text in white capital
letters, on a black and white background with a garden and a gate. At the
bottom of the page, the ad displays USFs logo and full name, on a green
background. The sentence, Become wildly successful without becoming a
jerk no one likes Change the world from here, states a clear message,
namely the benefit of attending USF (i.e. becoming successful and socially
approved).
1.1 Target audience analysis and likelihood of resonance
The target audience for Universities ads comprises all those involved with the decision taken by a
student for his own future, as explained within the Behavioural Sequence Model (Percy et al., 2012)
[Appendix B]. However, the core target with the final say on the choice is the student itself. Thus,
acknowledging that family and friends can have a very high influence, only the category of students
is analysed in this paper. In terms of Rossiter and Percys buyer groups (Percy et al., 2012), a student
may belong to three categories, depending on his position in the education cycle. Table 1 shows
possible audiences of universities ads.

The specific audience for USFs

TABLE 1
Target Groups
Future
Undergraduates

Rossiter-Percy's Buyer Groups

New Category Users

New Category Users

Future
Graduates

Favourable Brand Switchers

Other Brand Switchers

Emphasis

Description

Category
Special case : students
awareness,
moving towards new stage
Category attitude of the education cycle.
Category
For those who are not sure
awareness,
about continuing after their
Category attitude Bachelor.
Students at a certain
University with an attitude
Brand awareness,
about it, but not sure if they
Brand attitude
will continue in that
University or will change it.

ad

may

include

students

moving in the education cycle

considering

continuing

the

studies, strongly motivated to

become successful. It is unclear
whether the ad addresses
Undergraduates or Graduates

to-be: the jargon may be suitable to future Undergraduates, while the success idea to more mature
future Graduates. As the profiling is not specific, both groups are assumed to be the target audience
of the ad: they will be mostly New Category Users, encouraged to take a step towards a highinvolvement purchase, namely attending USF.
The ad is deemed relevant and resonant for the identified audience: students may recognize it as
addressing themselves because of a strong fit between the receiver and the message (ibid.;
Schiffman et al., p. 302). USF indeed reflects students aspirations, appealing to the values that
motivate their behaviour (Solomon et al., 2009).
1.2 Positioning strategy and benefit focus
Having elicited the likely target audience, USF can be analysed for its positioning strategy by means
of its ad. Adopting the general model by Percy (2012), two questions need to be answered about
USF: What is it? and What does it offer?.
As for the first question, USF links the category need to the brand in a differentiated way: as it does
not hold a strong market position, given the 4726 higher education institutions within the US
(National Centre Education Statistics), it would not make sense to position itself centrally. Rather,
as displayed in the ad, USF focuses on benefits differentiating itself from competitors, both
expressed as becoming successful and driven by a social approval motive. USF is thus a university
where students can pursue a degree to become successful in life.
Regarding the second question, the ad links the benefit to the brand by positioning USF as useroriented, clearly addressing the reader as the focus of the message. Percy (2012) supports the idea
that this type of positioning is suitable for situations where social approval plays a role: the ad by
USF conveys this feeling as well, stating the negative consequence of not attending USF. As for the
2

benefits themselves, the core one expressed by USFs ad is the success likely to stem from education
at USF, other than the social status approval. These benefits are important to the student and may
be credible in terms of delivery (Percy et al., 2012).
As benefits are expressed differently across ads (ibid.), how USF emphasizes them must be assessed.
The ad focuses on the subjective claim that USF can make students successful and grant a good
social status (c), preventing negative situations to happen, for a feeling of social approval (e+). USF
understands its target audience as positively motivated and it employs a subjective feature to
emphasize the emotional consequences stemming from the service. However, the second part of
the ad may be also interpreted and perceived as negative, as students may be worried about their
future and peoples judgement of their choice. The overall positioning may thus suffer: the issue will
be discussed in the last section of the paper.
1.3 Communication objectives and brand awareness-brand attitude strategies
USFs communication objectives can be detailed on the basis of the ad. Category need is the first
essential objective to be reached and well established, as it stimulates primary demand (Percy et
al., 2012). The need must be sold in particular to the audience of New Category Users: the category
benefit expressed in the ad makes students aware of the importance of attending USF for their
future studies, considering the service alongside its brand benefits.
The second objective is brand awareness. When the need arises and options are identified, USF
needs to be seen as part of the category. In this case, brand recall is needed as the category need
occurs first and is followed by the identification of USF as a way to satisfy the need. This calls for the
theory of encoding specificity by Tulving (2000), suggesting that a retrieval cue in the message can
be recalled if the information was encoded at the time of learning. For recall to happen, USF must
be associated to the need in the students memory throughout the ad. The learning of associations
between the brand and the need is strengthened by the declarative statement addressing the
audience, for a better identification.
The third objective of the ad is a positive brand attitude towards USF. The strategy pursued for this
is affected by a number of factors. First, brand attitude is managed according to the target
audiences nature: it needs to be created for New Category Users, while maintained, increased,
changed or modified in case of New Category Users with an attitude (created by influencers) and

Favourable or Other Brand Switchers (with an

attitude towards USF). USFs ad tries to turn the

Low

audience to a positive attitude emphasizing its

benefits, relating to both the cognitive and

High

Involvement

Motivation
Informational
Transformational
(negative)
(positive)

USF

emotional components of attitude. The former

concerns the audiences beliefs, turned into benefit

by the ad, while the latter reflects the motivation driving the choice, in this case positive with the
aim of success and social approval. Combining such motivation with the previously discussed degree
of involvement (high for the high perceived risk), the attitude strategy followed by USF in its ad is
High-Involvement Transformational, as in Rossiter-Percys grid (Percy et al., 2012). According to the
strategy, the message of the ad should be credible, liked and accepted as satisfying the motivation
for purchase. The benefit and status motive are stated clearly in the ad, supporting that USF can
satisfy the audiences needs. However, the degree of credibility, likeability and emotional
authenticity of the ad are questionable: given the considerations about the possible negative
perception of the social approval motive, the execution may not stem in a positive attitude from the
audience, at the expense of the ads effectiveness.
When brand attitude is positive, brand purchase intention can be an objective, as to increase the
likelihood that the audience will apply to USF to satisfy its needs. The message on the ad is a way to
achieve such objective as well.
1.4 Processing the message: creative tactics and execution
To understand how the target audience processes the message, creative tactics and execution of
USFs ad are analysed with likely responses of the audience (i.e. attention, learning, acceptance,
emotions) (Percy et al., 2012).
Attention initiates the processing of the message, stimulating awareness and attitude depending on
the execution of the ad. Two types of attention exist: reflexive, shortly paid by those not belonging
to the audience, and selective, when the audience understands its interest in the ad (ibid.). In USFs
ad, brand awareness occurs for a peculiar verbal execution, turning attention into selective as the
audience recognizes itself as the target of the message (i.e. resonance). The logo and full name of
USF in particular also help with this. If the audience can relate its motivation to the category of the
ad, as it is likely to be for USF, brand attitude may be developed. Overall, USFs ads creative units
4

are executed for a 1.0 attention index, given the one full-page size and the engaging headline
(ibid.). The unusual and unexpected wording makes the ad more likely to catch attention (Myers,
1994), turned into selective as the audience may engage in reading the whole text (Wearing, 1973).
A limitation applies, namely the lack of pictures, which would be effective for holding attention.
Whenever selective attention takes place, learning follows. Brand awareness is usually achieved as
the brand is linked to the category and will come to mind when the need arises. For brand attitude,
instead, the key is acceptance of the message, which will be only remembered if perceived true and
credible (Percy et al., 2012). Overall, various creative tactics can be used to facilitate the learning of
the message. Applying psycholinguistic concepts, the words in USFs ad are familiar and informal.
They are unexpected (wildly, jerk), but still ordinary, for an easier processing (Loewenthal,
1969). These are however not concrete: a different choice would make the ad more effective (Percy
et al., 2012). As for the sentence structure, the statement is simple and easily understandable, with
emphasis on the first part as focus and benefit of USF, and declarative, for a greater involvement of
the audience. Once again, not using pictures does not benefit the ad in terms of effectiveness. All
of these factors have an impact on the audiences acceptance of USFs ad (ibid.).
Another response, key for a high-involvement transformational strategy as USFs, is emotions. In
short, the target audience needs to feel emotional authenticity and identify with the ad (ibid.). In
USFs ad, emotional emphasis lies on the positive end state of social approval stemming from the
service. The mediating effect of emotions on the processing of the message can make the attitude
towards the ad and the brand more positive. However, the lack of pictures makes the emotional
component ineffective: with no embodied emotions, the audience may not identify with the ad. The
topic will be discussed in the recommendations.

2. COMPETITIVE ADVERTISING ANALYSIS

2.1 University of Maryland
The agency Carton Donofrio & Partners created a print ad for the University
of Marylands Business School (UM) in 2013 [Appendix C]. It displays a
collage of pictures of professionals in Washington D.C. and its train station,
the logo and a sentence Before they were managers, leaders and
executives, over 30,000 D.C. professionals had another title. Alumni.. A
small footnote reports: With 30,000 alumni in the D.C. area, a degree
from Smith provides a tremendous edge in accelerating your career.
The target audience for UMs ad includes Undergraduates and Graduates
to be, more specifically students interested in business and management,
aiming at a successful life and career in D.C.. These should understand the message addresses them,
stemming in full resonance for the ad, mirroring their aspiration and motivation for attending a
university.
UM positions itself with the ad in a differentiated way, expressing the expected outcomes of
attending UM and linking the category need to the brand (Percy et al, 2012). To associate the brand
to the benefits, UM has a user-oriented positioning, focusing on the career paths of alumni who
have accomplished their goals. Given the positive motivation for purchasing the service, the benefit
focus of the ad is on the emotional consequences (e+) of the sense of belonging and self-realization,
supported by objective data of alumni working in D.C. (a).
As for the communication objectives, the category need is sold in the ad as the audience
understands that becoming students at UM will lead to a successful career in D.C.: once the need is
aroused, recall brand awareness is reached as UM is linked to the category need in the memory of
students (ibid.; Tulving et al., 2000), strengthened by the emphasis on the word Alumni. In terms
of brand attitude, the data support the benefits of UM education and the positive motivation driving
students is addressed with the success and community of UM Alumni. Given the high-risk decision,
the strategy pursued is high-involvement transformational: the data convey credibility to the ad and
the word-picture interaction engages the audience to perceive it as emotionally authentic. Students

are thus likely to accept, like and believe the ad. The favourable brand attitude stemming from this
can help with brand purchase intention.
The message on UMs ad can be processed by the audience for the ads creative execution. Selective
attention is easily caught due to the high degree of resonance, as stated above. The creative
execution (full-page, four-colour ad) supports this, with a 1.0 attention index (Percy et al., 2012).
The sentence is admittedly long and may not be read fully. However, the focus is on the key points
(i.e. Alumni, 30,000). Combined with the pictures, the ad can catch and hold attention. When
the audience is engaged, the message is learnt and likely accepted. The use of data ensures of UM
alumnis bright careers in D.C., which is fundamental for high-involvement decisions as the choice
of a university. To further guarantee learning and acceptance, the statement is simple and easily
understandable, despite not declarative. The pictures are consistent with the message and
concrete, representing mangers daily life. Overall, emotions may likely come into play: as a key for
high-involvement transformational strategies (ibid.), the ad conveys emotional authenticity and a
sense of belonging to the future alumni community. The pictures also engage students with
embodied emotions, as they can identify with characters for a future similarity: in terms of the
VisCAP model, it is thus easier to process the UMs ad because of its optimized effectiveness (ibid.).
2.2 Suffolk University
Suffolk Universitys (SU) print ad was created by the agency DeVito/Verdi
[Appendix D]. It is divided in three parts: the top one features the sentence
We offer a degree program in rocking the boat on a blue background; the
central shows a girl at a graduation ceremony; the bottom one has a picture
of another graduated girl and a text with the logo of SU. The text, shortly,
states that SU students do not want to make money, but to make waves
and it introduces the career paths of Law students.
The target audience comprises Undergraduates and Graduates to-be who want to rock the boat,
highly motivated to promote a change in society and particularly interested in Law. The ad can
resonate with students in general, due to the first statement and the picture, but it may be difficult
to reach students interested in Law, as they would need to engage fully to read the text. However,

because of the high-involvement choice and the risks implied, even these students may try to collect
as much information as possible, thus likely reading the text.
SUs positioning with its print ad is differentiated and user-oriented, linking the category need to
the brand and emphasizing the academic paths and possible outcomes of students. The benefit
focus of the ad is clearly driven by positive motives: the subjective characteristics of the brand, a
degree rocking the boat (c), leads to the emotional consequence of a way to change society (e+).
The communication objective of category need is sold in the ad as it is implied that a degree at SU
will help people make innovations in society: attending university is thus recommended. Recall
brand awareness is the next step, as students link the need to the brand in memory, retrieving the
cues from the ad (i.e. the picture and SUs offer) (Percy et al., 2012; Tulving et al., 2000). Then, a
positive brand attitude can be stimulated as the ad highlights the benefits students seek to satisfy.
According to the high-involvement transformational strategy for attitude, authenticity and
identification are necessary (Percy et al., 2012) and well represented in SUs ad: the picture reflects
a future similarity for the audience and the text explains likely career paths. The last objective, brand
purchase intention, may thus be achieved.
Creative tactics for the ad elicit various processing responses. Attention, specifically, can become
selective, as the message resonates within the audience. However, a limitation concerning students
interested in Law may apply, if not fully engaged to read the text. Nevertheless, the headline is
catchy and may potentially attract attention. As this occurs and the audience learns essential
information, SU gains recall awareness and positive attitude. The creative execution of the full-size
four-colour print ad supports that it can catch and hold attention, even due to the headline and the
pictures. The former specifically forms a pun: while it may require time to be processed (ibid.), the
rocking the boat concept reinforces the benefit, combined with a simple and comprehensible
statement to facilitate the learning. The picture is consistent with the message: large and concrete,
it represents a situation a student can identify with in his future. This calls for a likely emotional
response from the audience, key in high-involvement transformational strategies (ibid.). Emotional
authenticity and embodied emotions are strengthened by the engaging pun and the picture itself,
where the girl is an ordinary student, similar to the target audience in the future: this optimizes the
effectiveness of the ad.

Table 2 summarizes strengths and weaknesses for the three print ads analysed.

TABLE 2

University of San Francisco

University of Maryland

Suffolk University

Unexpected words (jargon)

Sense of belonging and

networking.

Engaging pun.

Declarative statement

Concrete picture Concrete pictures identification (focus: student's

identification (focus: career).
life).

Strengths

Degree of emotional
authenticity, no embodied
Non-declarative statement. Non-declarative statement.
emotions.
Credibility/acceptance
Weaknesses
issue.
No pictures - identification.
Few colours used.
Sentence - Headline issues.

3. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR NEXT GENERATION ADVERTISING

Given the insights on other universities ads, USFs seems to have weaknesses damaging its
effectiveness. Therefore, there is room for improvement on a number of points. The following
recommendations are based on the analysis of USFs ad and competitive insights from UM and SU.
3.1 Message and positioning
The message of USFs ad emphasizes the wildly successful benefit and the social approval motive.
All three ads in analysis convey a general idea of success, even though appropriate benefits should
be selected to distinguish a brand from its competitors (Percy et al., 2012). While UM approaches
the audience with the idea of belonging to the community of alumni in D.C. and SU supports the
promotion of a change in society, thus differentiating themselves, USF takes a risky approach.
Becoming successful for USF means being socially approved.
The emphasis, confirmed by the size of the words, is on the first part of the message. A first problem
here is the size of wildly. While it informally means extremely, the word may be conceived in its
savagely definition, representing a threat to the institutions reputation. However, because of the
overall informal tone of the ad, the headline can still attract attention. The second important issue
is the second part of the message, potentially perceived as negative: USF plays on the social approval
motive to convey a sense of fear and anxiety about the social status of the audience in the future.

The overall positioning and perception of the audience about USF does not benefit from such issues.
A proper differential advantage should be conveyed through the ads message leveraging on USFs
qualities and benefits, rather than on a social approval motive (ibid.). An even stronger engagement
would occur if the students were to feel positive emotions about USF. Despite a unique execution
of the ad, in line with the strategy, USF should focus on a positive benefit, as its competitors do.
3.2 Execution and creative tactics
Most of USFs ads issues relate to its creative execution. The main problem is the lack of pictures
and colours. As supported in the competitors analysis, images catch and hold attention, facilitate
learning and leverage embodied emotions in the audience, optimizing the ads effectiveness.
The only colours present are green, black and white, while the only picture is the background, not
representing anything familiar. USF is recommended to include a picture, with wider size and
colours to guarantee that attention and learning are stimulated. In particular, UM and SUs ads give
relevant insights on what should be represented. For a high-involvement transformational strategy,
emotions are key to elicit a positive response to the ad (Percy et al., 2012). If a person were in the
picture, the audience would identify with the emotional portrayal of the ad, feeling it as emotionally
authentic and credible enough to accept the message. A realistic setting (e.g. graduation ceremony
as for SU, daily life as for UM) and a smiling character will make the audience elicit an emotional
response with a Duchenne smile or personal identification, biasing the cognitive processing towards
the ad with positive embodied emotions stemming from the execution (ibid., Drewnicky, 2014;
Messinger et al., 2001). The reader would feel part of the situation and project himself in a similar
future one, reducing Shearmans liminal space between the viewer and the picture (Percy et al.,
2012).
Overall, the choice of a picture with a credible character, similar to the audience in the future and
in a concrete situation, will facilitate acceptance of the message and strengthen the effectiveness
of USFs next print ads.
CONCLUSION
To sum up, different advertising strategies for American universities have been analysed. USFs
weaknesses support that universities blindly think of the false maxim that any publicity is good
publicity (Bunzel, 2007), while the lack or misuse of creative elements in ads can damage a brand.

10

REFERENCES
1. Bunzel D. L., Universities sell their brands, Journal of Product and Brand Management, Vol.
16 Issue 2, 2007, pp.152-153
2. Drewnicky A., Body Language Common myths and how to use it effectively, 2014
3. Jevons C., Universities: a prime example of branding going wrong, Journal of Product and
Brand Management, Vol.15 Issue 7, 2006, pp.466-467
4. Keller K.L., Conceptualizing, measuring, and managing customer-based brand equity,
Journal of Marketing, Vol.57, January 1993, pp.1-22
5. Loewenthal K., Semantic Features and Communicability of Words of Different Classes,
Psychonomic Science, Vol.17, 1969, pp.79-80
6. Messinger D.S., Fogel A., Dickinson K., All smiles are positive, but some smiles are more
positive than others, Developmental Psychology, Vol.37 Issue 5, 2001, pp-642-653
7. Myers G., Words in Ads, 1994, pp.30-45
8. Percy L., Rosenbaum-Elliott R., Strategic Advertising Management, 4th Edition, Oxford
University Press, 2012
9. Schiffman L., OCass A., Paladino A., Carlson J., Consumer Behaviour, 2013, p.302
10. Solomon M.R., Duke Cornell L., Nizan A., Launch! Advertising and Promotion in Real Time,
2009
11. Tulving E., Craik F.M., The Oxford Handbook of Memory, 2000, pp.98-103
12. Wearing A.J., The Recall of Sentences of Varying Length, Australian Journal of Psychology,
Vol.25 Issue 2, 1973, pp.155-161
SITOGRAPHY
1. Carton Donofrio and Partners Official Website (available at: www.cartondonofrio.com)
2. DeVito/Verdis Official Website (available at: www.devitoverdi.com)
3. Hub Strategys Official Website (available at: www.hubstrategy.com)
4. Morrison M., Why Higher Education Needs Marketing More Than Ever, Advertising Age,
October 2013 (available at: http://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/higher-educationmarketing/244820/)

11

5. National Center for Education Statistics, Table 317.10, Degree-granting postsecondary

institutions,

by

control

and

level

of

institution

(available

at:

https://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d13/tables/dt13_317.10.asp)
6. Suffolk

Universitys

Campaign

Information

(available

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/suffolk-university-comes-out-swinging-in-newmarketing-campaign-2014-06-27)
7. Suffolk Universitys Official Website (available at: www.suffolk.edu)
8. University of Marylands Official Website (available at: www.umd.edu)
9. University of San Franciscos Official Website (available at: www.usfca.edu)

12

at:

APPENDIX A

13

Relevant Information
Advertising Agency: Hub Strategy, San Francisco, USA
Creative Director/Designer: Peter Judd
Creative Director/Copywriter: DJ ONeil
Designer: Paul Kagiwada
Flash Designer: Armand Tam
Copywriters: Hugh Gurin, Linda Birkenstock, Leona Frey, Jeff Feng
Director of Account Management: Annalyn Duke
Account Manager: Meghan Raab
Photography: Jason Rothman and stock
Producer: Michael Blair
Media Planners: Kelly Guyton, Chiaty Shrieve

14

APPENDIX B

Need Arousal
Who and Roles Self, Family,

When

How

Decision Stages
Evaluation of
Decision on a
Options
University

Application and Education at the Post-Education

Enrollment
University
Evaluation

Self, Family,
Friends, Academic
Advisor, Professor,
University
Recruiters and
Promoters as
influencers

Self, Family as
Self, Family as
deciders
deciders
University
Recruiters and
Promoters,
Academic Advisor
as influencers

Self, Family,
Scholarship
Sponsors as
purchasers

Home, School (UG),

University (G),
Friends'
UG: around 1.5
years before
starting; G: around
1 year before
starting

Home, School (UG),

University (G),
Friends'
UG, G: immediately
after need arousal

Home, School (UG), Home, University

University (UG, G)

Home, School (UG), University

University

UG, G: over 6
UG: within 6 weeks UG: after decision,
months after need of need arousal; 1 year before
arousal;
starting; G: after
decision, 6 months
before starting

UG: 1 year after

enrollment; G: 6
months after
enrollment

Students talk with

academic
advisors,
classmates,
professors, family
about the future;
they see ads from
Universities.

Students schedule
meetings with
academic
advisors,
professors, talk to
the family.

Students visit
Choice of the best
Universities, talk offer.
with recruiters,
ask for advice to
family, friends and
advisors. G:
evaluate their
experience in
current University.

Students attend the Students are able

program of choice. to evaluate their
overall experience.

Friends, Academic
Advisor,
Professors as
initiators (and
influencers)

Where

Identification of
Options

15

Applications are
sent and if
successful,
enrollment takes
place.

Self as user

Self as user

Almost anywhere

UG: after
completing
education

APPENDIX C

16

Relevant Information
Advertising Agency: Carton Donofrio & Partners, Baltimore, USA
Creative Director: Michael Neiderer
Associate Creative Director/Art Director: Jon Leno
Copywriters: Brand Londy, Michael Neiderer, Joe Pistone, Jon Leon
Retoucher: Chris Bodie
Photographer: Steve Belkowitz

17

APPENDIX D

18

Relevant Information
Advertising Agency: De Vito/Verdi, New York, USA
For most students, the goal upon graduating college is to make money. But for a select few, the
goal is to make waves. Thus the tremendous appeal of Suffolk University. Our commitment to
fighting social injustice and challenging the status quo in unparalleled. Two cases in point: Suffolk
Law students are active participants in court cases involving issues like housing discrimination and
civil rights. And a significant percentage forgo the private sector for rewarding careers in public
service. For more information, visit Suffolk.edu.

19