Watching the Dilution of a Brand
Kuala Lumpur--Watching dilution of the international school brand is like viewing a train wreck in slow motion. There are more than 6,400 self-identified international schools, up from 4,100 in 2007 and exponentially more than the handful that existed decades ago (source of data: ISC Research, a consultancy based in the UK, as reported in the International New York Times). The vast majority of these new schools are in Asia and have few or no international students, begging the question of whether a school can truly be "international" and only admit local students.Regardless, we think the field is experiencing brand dilution in much the same way as Montessori schools. There is no trademark or brand protection for the Montessori name--it is essentially in the public domain--and well-established elite Montessori schools suffer from sharing a brand with the countless mom and pop Montessori preschools operating in houses or storefronts.Brand extension--sharing a valuable identifier with a new product (think extending the Coca Cola brand by introducing Diet Coke)--works when the new product is of comparable quality and cache. It inverts to become brand dilution when the extension degrades the original brand. We see this happening already in East and Southeast Asia, and suggest that it will soon spread to other regions and markets. The Montessori experience suggests that by the time one's brand dilutes, it is often too late to mount an effective defense.
As expatriate demographics shift world-wide, traditional international schools are becoming more dependent on a more diverse array of students, some of which are from the host country. The international school brand is the bedrock of this sector of the private education industry, and dilution hurts the ability of legitimate and strong schools to differentiate themselves from the others. Finding and pursing strategies of brand defense should be a priority for every regional association of international schools.