Banet-Weiser, S. & Truss, A. (2023) #WeAreTogether: University Branding in the Time of COVID and Black Lives Matter. In E. West & M. P. Mcallister (Eds.), The Routledge Companion to Advertising and Promotional Culture (2nd ed). Routledge.
“That is, in ‘uncertain times,’ universities must contend with crises—whether these be internal to a specific school or a national or global crisis—and university administrators are charged with management of the brand and the university’s reputation. What this kind of management entails varies. In the following pages, we analyze some of the ways Western universities attempt to maintain their brand and reputation during times of global crises. Specifically, the 2020 arrival of both the global COVID-19 pandemic and the global reckoning on racial justice posed significant challenges to universities across the world. Both the pandemic and the global visibility of #BlackLivesMatter forced into bold relief the deficit of care networks in all institutions, including the university. Not only did universities have to immediately “pivot” (a word that practically became part of the brand in itself) to online platforms because of national and global lockdowns, but universities also had to generate a response to the heightened visibility of #BlackLivesMatter movements as well as to their own institutionalized racism and racist histories. Of course, the adjustments universities made during this time were not only technological but emotional, psychological, and social—these were global crises that among other things generated massive anxiety and rage. That is, they had to maintain their brands affectively.”