Empowering Vocational High School Principals in School Branding Strategies Through Ethical Celebrity Endorsement in the Digital Era

Abstract

This community service study seeks to strengthen the strategic capacity of vocational high school (SMK) principals in building sustainable school branding through ethical celebrity endorsement in the digital era. The expansion of digital media has transformed educational competition, requiring school leaders to implement innovative branding approaches beyond traditional promotional practices. Nevertheless, many SMK principals still possess limited digital branding competencies, restricting their ability to manage institutional communication strategically and consistently. The program applied a participatory action approach through structured training, collaborative workshops, intensive mentoring, and systematic evaluation involving principals, vice-principals, public relations staff, teachers, and students from partner SMKs. The findings indicate significant improvement in participants’ understanding of digital branding, successful development of comprehensive branding guidelines, and implementation of digital campaigns using prominent alumni and credible local public figures as endorsers. Increased social media engagement and more positive public perception confirmed the program’s effectiveness. Key indicators, including public interaction on school social media, alumni participation in promotional activities, and institutional image perception, shifted from low or neutral to positive after the intervention. At the institutional level, the program generated formal branding guidelines, improved consistency of communication messages, and integrated branding practices into school planning processes. The study’s novelty lies in combining ethical celebrity endorsement with leadership capacity development, producing a replicable, context-sensitive, and ethically grounded branding model for vocational education institutions in the digital era.