Getting the branding right for one's university will make a difference to student recruitment, and probably to wider perception in the community. Everyone in higher education knows, and most people outside it know, that reputation is "everything" to universities. In this article, the author draws a distinction between "branding"--which is what people come to think about a university as a result of what it does and what its staff and students have achieved over the years; it is slow to change and comes from inside--and "branding work," which can come from the outside, can make a marginal difference in some cases, but usually has little impact on the things that matter. (Contains 2 tables.)