A 2007 BusinessWeek article entitled “The Dangerous Wealth of the Ivy League” reports that “… the wealth gap between the Ivies and everyone else has never been wider. The $5.7 billion in investment gains generated by Harvard’s endowment for the year ended June 30 exceeded the total endowment assets of all but six U.S. universities…”

The vaunted status of the Ivies means they rarely have to worry about filling the seats of an incoming class or the coffers of their annual funds. Unlike other educational brands, the Ivies seem virtually insulated from economic downturns and dropping application rates. Traditionally, the Ivies turn away far more applicants than other schools. Still, the Ivies compete against each other and, in some cases, against their own collective brand image. Articles and books frequently question whether the education one receives at an Ivy League school is really worth the money and agony associated with the admissions process.

While the eight schools are privileged to be part of the Ivy League, each must also pay close to attention to its individual brand. Sometimes that brand may need refurbishing, as was the case with Cornell. Several years ago, a group of students became concerned about the university’s “country cousin” status in the Ivy League. According to an article in The New York Times (“Cornell’s Worried Image Makers Wrap Themselves in Ivy,” April 22, 2006), the students felt Cornell was underappreciated. They formed a committee, “making it their mission to press the university into marketing and branding itself more aggressively.”

The result of the student push was the abandonment of the university’s modern logo—the word CORNELL in contemporary type on a red background—in favor of using the traditional school crest. “The committee also persuaded the bookstore to stock a line of vintage hats and sweatshirts that decidedly emphasize Cornell’s Ivy League roots,” said the Times article. The university’s website was revamped to be “more traditional and more elegant.” As one student put it, the image committee confirmed that “we are an Ivy League school, and it’s O.K. to be an Ivy League school.”

Cornell’s marketing makeover not withstanding, the number one school brand among the Ivies is Harvard. In his book Branded Nation, James Twitchell tells us why: “Harvard’s been around a long time. It has what in marketing is called the pioneer advantage. … But the real reason Harvard is the ruling story of American education is because it never stopped, even for a second, telling everyone that it was Harvard.” Even Harvard’s competitors cannot disparage the Harvard brand. “There isn't any doubt that brand matters and that Harvard is the prestige brand,” says Stanley Katz, director of Princeton University's Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies. “It's the Gucci of higher education, the most selective place.” (Quote from “Does Harvard ‘brand’ matter anymore?,” USA TODAY, June 6, 2005.)

Barry Silverstein has been a frequent brandchannel contributor since 2007. He has thirty years of advertising and marketing experience and is currently a freelance writer and marketing consultant. He founded and ran his own direct marketing agency and held executive positions with Epsilon, a leading database marketing firm and Arnold, a major ad agency. Silverstein is the author of three marketing books, including the McGraw-Hill book, The Breakaway Brand, which he co-authored with Arnold CEO Fran Kelly.