Enhancing data collection methods with qualitative projective techniques in the exploration of a university’s brand identity and brand image

Louise Spry and Christopher Pich

This article focuses on assessing the capabilities of projective techniques, in gaining a deeper insight into complex university corporate brands.

Introduction

Branding is increasingly being utilized to help provide universities with a competitive edge and attract prospective students (Stephenson et al., 2015). In this respect, universities and colleges are turning to branding as a means of differentiating their offerings (Jevons, 2006) as in the UK education sector where competition has increased (Pinar et al., 2011), and where public universities are seeking to rely less on state funding (Chapleo, 2015; Furey et al., 2014). More specifically, a corporate brand can alleviate universities from a complex set of multi-faceted features (Hemsley-Brown & Goonawardana, 2007) which include among others, accreditation, tuition fees, positions...

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