SimpsonScarborough: Intelligent Marketing for Higher Education

I blogged about Ben Fold's a capella project on college campuses across the country.  I still think is really cool.. and now there is a documentary on the project on YouTube.  Enjoy!

-Teresa Valerio Parrot

See this article on Inside Higher Ed's site today on the role of housing officers during a crisis.  I appreciated the coverage of John Buck's presentation at ACUHOI--his comments and experiences align with one of my experiences. Any crisis incident or communications plan has to be scalable to include those offices that are front-line communicators and leaders for students.  This can include housing officers, the registrar, admissions officers and the director of financial aid.  In times of a crisis you want assistance from all who can help, but most importantly from those who can react and at some later point tell the story from a first-person account.

-Teresa Valerio Parrot

I love this article in yesterday's New York Times about how campuses are getting creative about generating summer revenue. Monmouth University made some extra cash by letting a bridal magazine do a photo shoot on campus. Manhattanville College earned $25,000 for letting Martin Scorsese shoot some scenes for an upcoming film. And, many colleges are generating extra revenue from the typical camps and summer programs.

I've always boasted about how lucky I am to spend so many of my days on college campuses. They are generally lovely places to work and live. Seems like a win-win to me for corporations, in particular, to use the space when it's most unused (summer) allowing the institutions to generate much needed revenue. And, should marketing these "assets" fall into the marketing department?

Things that make you go hmmmmmm...........

-Elizabeth Scarborough

Campus Technology has a great article that walks readers through a text messaging response to armed robbery suspects fleeing to Napa Valley College.  It was interesting to see what the college thought worked well and read the anecdotes of how the availability of technology aided and hurt the response. 

Interestingly, the suspects entered the campus library to blend in and found an advantage: "students, who were able to use the library's computers, were sharing information among themselves--including the assailants--in real time, which meant the suspects knew what was going on outside."  Thankfully the suspects surrendered and all ended well.

For your next crisis tabletop drill, make sure you discuss more than just sending out a text message to the campus--talk through the possibility of sending out more than one message and incorporate complications like those Napa Valley College faced.  If nothing else, it will help you to prepare for the complexity of an actual crisis.

-Teresa Valerio Parrot

I don't know where Jessica Terry is going to nursing school in the fall, but if you have some scholarship dollars left over for the coming academic year, I'd try to scoop her up!!

-Teresa Valerio Parrot

This is too funny not to share...

MTV has announced that they will be filming their 23^rd season of The Real World in Washington, DC.  If you aren't aware of the show, it was one of the original reality series in which (approximately) college age students from a variety of backgrounds are brought together to live in a house and have their lives filmed.  The highlights of each season would make any parents blush.

Here is the ultimate news... rumors suggest that the home for the Real Worlders is about three blocks from our office, and less than two blocks from the headquarters of ACE and a whole host of higher education associations.

It is enough to make me giggle to think of our two worlds colliding!  Might make me tune into the show J. 

-Teresa Valerio Parrot

Many of you probably saw the article in Ad Age last week which covered higher education marketing and branding. If not, you should check it out.  You can use it to help your institution understand that the concepts of marketing and branding are now widely accepted inside and outside of higher education. Good fodder for those of you who are still "fighting the good fight" to help your institutions realize that your marketing department should not be thought of as an internal Kinko's.

-Elizabeth Scarborough

I can't help but follow up to my entry from earlier this week re. the U.S. News & World Report rankings presentation given by Catherine Watt of Clemson University.  Here is the most recent media coverage:

• Part 2 of the Inside Higher Ed piece (suggestion--read the comment sections for both IHE articles)
• Coverage in The Chronicle (see below)
• AP coverage in which Watt is called a "rogue Clemson University staffer"
• Reaction from Bob Morse on his USN&WR blog. I liked this quote from the blog: "We realize we can't control how this information gets used in the higher ed community, but the rankings are not meant to drive the mission or any other strategic goals that a university may be trying to attain. It's up to the Clemson University community to decide whether rising in the college rankings is a goal it ought to pursue."

Click here to read the official Clemson response. [Update- this hyperlink on the IHE website no longer works.]  The Chronicle reports Clemson's response as denying the claims made by Watt.  The "accusations are "outrageous" examples of "urban legends" that have surrounded the university's campaign to reach the top 20 of public research universities."

PS-- I've been emailing back and forth with a number of people about this story.  We all wonder if Ms. Watt has tenure in her faculty position...

-Teresa Valerio Parrot

Need something fun on a Friday? If you are on Facbeook then you probably have seen the proliferation of quizzes you can take.  Some of them focus on current events or measurements of IQ, some are silly like "which type of Starbucks drink are you?"  My Facebook friend Kent Barnds recently posted that he took the quiz, "which Augustana administrator are you?" If you want something fun to do on a Friday, look it up.  Apparently, I'm "W. Kent Barnds." 

Note to self... need to buy a bowtie...

I wonder if my alma mater has a quiz. If so, I'm hoping for a trivia one J.

-Teresa Valerio Parrot

Some of you may remember the early computer game (and PBS television show), "Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?"Recently I have had the tremendous good fortune to travel to very interesting countries and universities as part of my job and role in advancing the success of higher education institutions through marketing strategy, research and branding. I love this part of my job, as I truly believe I learn as much from my travels as I may teach.

In April, I had the opportunity to visit Brisbane, Australia to work with a client, Queensland University, and attend a conference of Australian Universities where I gave a key note. There are so many interesting developments happening in the Australian market that are driving the schools to adopt even more customer-focused processes and programs. Competition is heating up, and some of the schools are creating some very cool marketing initiatives. Beyond our own client, Queensland University, another school that is garnering a lot of attention is Melbourne University. I was so impressed with their presentation and marketing efforts that I recommended Patrick Freeland-Small, their Vice Principal of Marketing and Communications, to the AMA committee to present a key note address at an upcoming conference. I am happy to report that Pat has been asked and accepted the invitation. I am sure you will love what he has to say as well.

In May, I was privileged to serve as co-chair for CASE's Institute for Integrated Marketing and Branding with Terry Flannery of American University. Once again, I learned a lot from my colleagues that served as faculty (Terry, Joe Hice, Deborah Wiltrout and Tracy Syler-Jones) as well as the participants themselves.

I am now in Maastricht, Netherlands, working at the University of Maastricht and having a wonderful time learning about the Dutch culture and their system of higher education. Thankfully, through the miracle of modern technology (yeah for Skype!), I can keep up with the office and clients back home.

When I return to the states I am heading first to Mexico City for a conference planned by Universidad Panamericana (a three-day adventure) and then off to Lima, Peru for a similar event.

The more I travel and interact with other higher education professionals from around the world, the more I understand the global impact of higher education and the role we play in advancing its mission. I am truly blessed to be part of this effort and am thankful for whatever I can contribute.