Marketing Context and Branding Content of Private Universities in Chile and Mexico

Abstract

This chapter analyzes the relationship between marketing context and branding content of six private universities in Chile and Mexico. Conditions for placement and promotion of HE and institutional efforts to design a marketing identity vary according to the degree of privatization, diversification, and segmentation of higher education systems. Therefore, while in Mexico branding content is embedded in a low regulated framework for private sector, Chilean HEIs branding rests in a deeply institutionalized market environment. However, through a web content analysis, we identify three similar branding orientations in private universities: strengthening reputation, building reputation, and catching-all. Branding targets high, middle or low-income audiences by highlighting symbolic values, economic messages, and institutional features to influence audience’s perceptions and mobilize economic decisions of current and potential users/customers.

We are thankful for the support of the Internationalization and Academic and Scientific Mobility Network (RIMAC), the CONACYT Networks Project, no. 260402, and the Program of Post-Doctoral Scholarships of the Coordinating Committee of Humanities of the UNAM. Elena Torres, Research Assistant at the Department for Educational Research of the Research and Advanced Studies Center (DIE-CINVESTAV) and Fanny Urrego, Professor at the School of Psychology in the Department of Health Sciences at Universidad Panamericana, collaborated in the gathering and processing of data.