D+ Education

[pmcd9]

This news story instantly reminded me of Good old Whiteman College.

[Doc]

I'm going to keep laughing because otherwise I'm going to think about how much someone was paid to come up with that slogan and I'll start crying.

Whiteman college was pretty funny though.

[Asherdan]

Drake, trying to justify money already out the window is (sad)funny. But Witty-Men is funny as hell.

[fanta]

Money spent on Marketing is not money out the window.  Without marketing, no one knows you're there, so you go out of business.  This D+ campaign has a viral component to it - news media and message boards are spreading it for them, for free.

It is true that prospective students are bombarded by lots of marketing, so it's hard for one college to stand out from another college in the marketing arena.  Marketing is pretty much gimmicky, designed to catch a person's attention, much like a barker trying to draw the attention of passers by to some restaurant, much like some guy in a plush dog costume outside of a pizza joint, holding a sign and waving to the cars driving by.  If a customer gets the message from the guy in the dog costume that the pizza joint uses dog meat, then that customer is probably reading too much into the marketing message.  Likewise, if a prospective student, or anyone in the world for that matter, equates Drake with sub-par academic performance because of the D+ message, then those people are probably relying a little too much on the marketing message.  Is this going to keep you from getting hired into some job in the future?  Some employer is going to look at your resume, and think "oh, this guy is from that D+ university."  Well so much the better - because that's the kind of employer someone with a college degree is probably seeking to avoid in the first place.  Likewise, that's the kind of student that colleges are better off avoiding in the first place -- the student who emphasizes form over substance. 

This message of criticism of this D+ marketing campaign really evokes what Fareed Zakaria was talking about here:  Fareed Zakaria Criticizes Media Attention On Obama Oil Spill Emotion --  Sorry I forgot which touamb user originally posted this clip, and I can't seem to find the original post via searching.

[Arachno-capitalist]

I want to disagree with fanta, but he's right about part of it. Dartmouth's new ad campaign gets the message out.

[pmcd9]

He's right that it gets the message out but he's wrong if he assumes that anyone other than the more dimwitted among us would actually use this as criteria for not choosing this school.

Sure it's funny and perhaps a bit embarrassing for the school, but it doesn't really reflect on the quality of instruction provided.

[KeithHernandez]

Maybe he thinks there are more dimwitted people than you do?

[wombat]

Is anyone else here old enough to remember when universities were too dignified to have ad campaigns?

[Nabubrush]

Yeah, not to get all "get off my lawn" but those were the days. No big pharma or booze on tv, no ads at all at the movies. Jesus can a guy get a minute without being sold to?

It sucks that most schools have to pitch to stay competitive (and are still losing money hand over fist).

[Choop]

well nabu them kids ain't gonna leave themselves behind

[KeithHernandez]

If I have a code it is this:  Never use a lawyer who advertises on t.v.

[Arachno-capitalist]

I actually wish my school would advertise more, if only to encourage more young men to go to college. But the death of the american man is a topic for another day.

[fanta]

He's right that it gets the message out but he's wrong if he assumes that anyone other than the more dimwitted among us would actually use this as criteria for not choosing this school.

Yeah, now that I think about it, that was a simplistic argument on my part.  Intelligent and educated people might well be turned off by this D+ brand.  But it's just a brand!!!!!  It doesn't change the quality of the education you get there. 

Another possibility is that intelligent and educated folk might be indifferent themselves to this brand, or they might even like the brand, but they might still avoid the school out of worry that *other* intelligent and educated people might shun the brand.

It's sort of like everyone worrying that everyone else might perceive that the emperor has no clothes, but in fact the emperor is clothed!

So what's more important in a brand - how people perceive the brand, or how people perceive that other people will perceive the brand? 

[littlefallsmets]

Is anyone else here old enough to remember when universities were too dignified to have ad campaigns?

College sports used to fulfill that role solely, yeah.

[jaydub]

College sports used to fulfill that role solely, yeah.

Canned for writing that before I could.