What’s the swap-your-logo test? Take one of your institutional brand ads or some other key piece of creative and place your hand over the logo. Without your logo, does the ad distinctively represent your institution or could it work just as well for one of your competitors? Chances are, if you have bland creative, you can replace your logo with any institution’s logo. And that could be doing more harm than good for your institution.
Keep in mind that an authentic brand can be achieved in lots of different ways. It can come through in your messaging, tone, design and creative execution, photographic style, tagline or type treatment, but it does need to clearly and consistently represent your institution’s point of view—with and without your logo.
