Protecting Harvard: Words to Sue By?

Dave_Berry · 08-05-2009, 08:55 AM

"Slogan Trademarking Efforts Raise Eyebrows" -- "The most famous university in the world ... is applying for trademark rights on [the] phrases "Managing yourself" and "The world's thinking."" Huh?

Protecting Harvard: Words to Sue By? - ABC News

Roger_Dooley · 08-05-2009, 09:28 AM

I think Harvard is being smart. Even though "Harvard" is already the best known brand in higher ed, they are attempting to sculpt the perception of that brand with some proprietary taglines. I've been thinking/writing about college branding lately, and it's a topic that every school will need to address in some way in the coming years.

Dave_Berry · 08-05-2009, 09:46 AM

I can see how "Just do it" relates to Nike's world, but "The world's thinking"? Guess I'll have to wait to see Harvard's commercials on Monday Night Football. :-)

House of London · 08-05-2009, 10:05 AM

Haha. Harvard will never have commercials. Nor will Columbia, Brown, Stanford or MIT. Remember, thats what makes schools exclusive. You have to come to them. They don't come to you. By making commericals, it shows desperation.

mazatl · 08-05-2009, 10:06 AM

i hope harvard is not planning on advertising or 'branding'. i think that would ultimately be bad for its reputation. maybe the slogans are for advertisements for the extension school?

Roger_Dooley · 08-05-2009, 10:13 AM

All colleges and universities have a brand, whether they make any effort to shape it or not. Harvard has exceptionally strong branding, but they clearly feel it is important to manage that brand despite its strength.

The colleges that really need to think about branding are those that have lower name recognition and, to most students and parents, have no known characteristics that distinguish them from other schools.

Of course, branding efforts have to mesh with reality. A company that wants to brand itself as having great service will fail if their service is actually quite bad. The same goes for colleges.

anb · 08-05-2009, 10:13 AM

Forgive my ignorance, but what does "Managing yourself" mean in the Harvard sense?

Hanna · 08-05-2009, 10:23 AM

Very likely it's a phrase that will be used by the Business School, maybe for one of their executive or certificate programs. There's just one brand-protection office that does the work for every arm of the university.

schrizto · 08-05-2009, 11:20 AM

Lol those phrases suck.

Tyler09 · 08-05-2009, 11:36 AM

Stanford has commercials....

YouTube - Stanford University commercial

rsxwheeeeee · 08-05-2009, 11:38 AM

Quote:

Haha. Harvard will never have commercials. Nor will Columbia, Brown, Stanford or MIT. Remember, thats what makes schools exclusive. You have to come to them. They don't come to you. By making commericals, it shows desperation.

WRONG, Stanford does have commercials. You'd know this if you watched excessive amounts of college football, as i do.

(I was gonna post a youtube link, but I couldn't find it. It had an interview or 2, and a bunch of flyover shots)

kmccrindle · 08-05-2009, 12:09 PM

I just wish if Harvard were going to go to the trouble to trademark a slogan it would trademark a grammatically correct or coherent slogan. The world's thinking? What the heck is the world thinking, Harvard? Don't cha know that a contraction also means a shortening of the word IS? Or are you suggesting that the "thinking" of the world belongs to you via an awkward possessive? Did y'all know that thinking is not a noun? Did you perhaps mean "the world's thinktank?" I mean, holly craptastic anglais, batboys!
And how very Americanna to lose great gobs of money (via endowment) and then throw a bunch more away on "branding" concepts that in both brain and fun quotient are way beneath your own freshmen, or for that matter, rejects. The King Lear school of leadership! Home of the idiotocracy! Manage yourselves indeed!!!

Mustafah78 · 08-05-2009, 12:15 PM

"Managing Yourself"??

Wow, Harvard. Fail.

al6200 · 08-05-2009, 12:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by House of London

Haha. Harvard will never have commercials. Nor will Columbia, Brown, Stanford or MIT. Remember, thats what makes schools exclusive. You have to come to them. They don't come to you. By making commericals, it shows desperation.

Technically that's not true. However most advertising is done by low tier or for profit schools, even though I bet the top schools could benefit from well targeted ads.

I remember when I applied to MIT they sent me a packet that had a laughably bad illustration on the cover. It was like something that a 10 year old would scribble down. It successfully builds the perception of quality because only a school that's very comfortable with its position could produce low quality advertisements.

openedskittles · 08-05-2009, 12:46 PM

I, too, received a terrible advertisement packet from MIT, as well as several from Chicago. I ended up saving several tens of thousands in loans and going to McCombs, but UT didn't send me anything (at least not like those two) and does have a commercial. It's much better than Stanford's, though.