University Labs Introduces Brand Health & Equity Assessment Market Research for Colleges and Universities - a First in Higher Education

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Jun 04, 2018, 08:34 ET

STAMFORD, Conn., June 4, 2018 /PRNewswire/ -- University Labs announced today the launch of industry-leading Brand Health and Equity Assessment audience perception market research, designed exclusively for colleges and universities of any size.

University Brand Profile: Visualizing and grouping like universities and brand profiles into clusters enables a better view into a university's strategic positioning to seek opportunities for changing audience perceptions with brand strategy and messaging.

University Price / Value Equation: Is the perceived value of an education from a university worth more than it costs? Visualizing respondent data for a university relative to its competitors is the best way to understand a brand's value equation - in addition to being a strong predictor of tuition discounting.

While brand perception market research is a standard in most industries and a key input into strategy formation, universities typically don't methodically measure and benchmark audience perceptions of their institutional brands or use the data to inform their decisions and strategic investments. With rapidly shifting industry dynamics, including the appointment of many non-traditional presidents — many of whom come with strong business backgrounds — universities are increasingly recognizing the need to better understand audience perceptions of their brands and their relative competitive positioning in the marketplace.

"Given that brand health is so strongly correlated to the overall health of a university and critical to its long-term economic viability, colleges and universities are now beginning to see this type of market research as critical to their missions," said Keith Rhodes, Founder of University Labs, former Chief Marketing Officer of Quinnipiac University and award-winning marketing industry veteran with 25 years' experience working with top brands. "Given the disruption expected in high education over the next 10 years, colleges and universities are seeking to better understand their relative brand strengths and opportunity gaps vis-à-vis peers and competitors to develop a stronger strategic positioning to gain advantage. We're excited to offer a new industry model for developing invaluable audience data and actionable insight on a university's brand — helping universities at a time when they need it most," he went on to say.

The exclusive market-tested Brand Health and Equity Assessment audience perception research, created in collaboration with one of the world's leading consumer market research companies, is conducted through quantitative assessment to explore university and competitive brand perceptions through the perspective of prospective students, parents and alumni. Using the data gathered through an online questionnaire conducted in a university's preferred geographic area, University Labs' develops a comprehensive assessment that includes data and insight into brand awareness and perception, conversion funnel analysis, brand image profiles, brand personality, brand equity measurement, price/value relationships, brand communications awareness and net promotor score — along with the opportunity for custom brand perception research questions. The data is then compared across audiences and competitors to enable a university their first-ever 360-degree view into how their university brand is perceived in the market.

"While universities have well-intentioned missions, compelling academic product offerings and sizable operating budgets, many are experiencing the pains of a rapidly-evolving industry. Some colleges and universities are seeking opportunities to extend and grow their brands, while many others are struggling to reverse increases in their discount rate and declining enrollment that have them on an unsustainable financial path. Understanding and tracking audience perceptions of your brand and developing strategies to address challenges head-on is critical to any university's success — no matter what your marketing challenges are," said Keith. "University marketing leadership, all the way up to and including the President and Board of Trustees, will quickly come to view this level of brand analysis as critical to delivering on their mission — like so many other successful companies already do," Keith went on to say.

For additional information on University Labs' Brand Health and Equity Assessment market research, visit www.universitylabs.com/brandstudy.

Media Contact:
Keith Rhodes
+1 203 554 9109
[email protected]

Corporate Headquarters:
700 Canal Street, 1st Floor
Stamford, CT 06902
Tel: +1 203 428 0078

SOURCE University Labs, Inc.