MODEL FOR CO-CREATING STRATEGIES TO SUPPORT BRAND MANAGEMENT AT
A PUBLIC UNIVERSITY THROUGH DESIGN THINKING
Brand management; Public university; Design Thinking
The brand, the most protected Intellectual Property asset in the world, is used to visually represent services, products, companies and institutions. Since this distinctive sign is attributed with the values, positioning and reputation of the entity it represents, it deserves special attention in its management. Therefore, this study aims to study strategies to support brand management in the context of a public university: the University of Brasília (UnB). The Communications Secretariat (Secom) and the Intellectual Property Center (Nupitec) are the sectors responsible, respectively, for managing the communication of the UnB brand and for registering the technologies developed by members of the university community as UnB Intellectual Property assets, including institutional brands. Individually, according to their attributions, they carry out awareness-raising actions regarding the protection of the visual standard and Intellectual Property of the UnB brand and other institutional brands. However, there are still no actions that reconcile the skills and responsibilities of these sectors in the management of institutional brands. Furthermore, due to the size, heterogeneity and diversity of the university community, this management becomes even more complex. As a way to solve this problem, this work proposes a model for co-creating strategies to support the management of institutional brands through the creative process of Design Thinking and in partnership with university employees, which can be adapted and used in another public university or public agency with characteristics similar to UnB. To achieve this purpose, a qualitative methodological approach of an applied and inductive nature is used, based on generalization from the observation of the specific case of UnB. To support the implementation of the proposed model and provide guidance for good practices related to brand protection, a Teaching Material will also be prepared in the form of a practical digital guide. Therefore, it is expected that this work will contribute to making the partnership between Secom and Nupitec viable in the management of institutional brands and disseminating the culture of protecting institutional brands among members of the university community.