ABSTRACT

The issue of product and brand especially in the way these two terms are used by non-brand communication individuals have always been a source of debate, to many average consumers they are the same in as much as they can point to an item on display and have it after payment whether they call it product or brand. But for marketing and brand communication professionals, product and brand are not the same because product comes first and after a period of nurturing and support by integrated marketing communication efforts it then becomes a brand. A product is an idea that is designed to meet the yearning and needs of the consumers and it remains so until it is accepted. This acceptance will be made possible if the product is able to prove itself to the level that her market promise is fulfilled. This is when the product will be able to develop emotional bond and feelings with consumers. Feelings is emotional, and when it is combined with communication efforts in support of a product then it transcends into a brand. Branding is the effective way of using colour, logo, symbol and slogan built around a product and organization to create good impression for both the product and the organisation. Positioning is a marketing concept that help identifies the position of a brand in the mind of a customer, and this is determined by the way the brand has been continuously presented to the customer. Marketing communication tools like public relations, advertising and sales promotion are used to promote goods, services and institutions to the identified publics. Each of these tools can be used at a time or simultaneously in other to achieve maximum result. Just like product, a university can also be viewed as a product that can be transformed from product to a brand using the necessary brand communication tools. This paper examined how Veritas Unversity as a product have made progress in becoming a brand vis-à-vis how other identified universities internal and external communication efforts has taken them to a brand position; it examine the efforts of Veritas university Abuja make progress from a product status to that of a brand and what to do in order to attain a strong brand status.