The university branding game: Players, interests, politics

In this article, we argue that university branding can be understood as a political game. Analyzing a new university created in a merger, we demonstrate how branding is characterized by different interests among players with different means to influence brand development. We suggest that university branding is a fundamental question of organizational purpose, connected to identities and (dis-)identification of internal and external players in a particular socio-cultural and societal context, not a mere marketing and communications exercise.