I think 'branding' is basically smoke and mirrors.  What is the new President doing to actually improve the product on which the University is being evaluated?  "The school’s data are near or at the bottom compared to other Association of American Universities members, and UO is in danger of getting kicked out of this prestigious group of research universities it joined in 1969 based on then ground-breaking scientific research."   Unless this gets fixed, who provides the 'puff pieces' for the media is totally irrelevant.