Universities should woo with PR, not advertising
I REFER to the National University of Singapore (NUS) Business
School's television commercial in which a student in the United
States chose NUS over top US universities.
As an alumnus of one of the three main business schools in
Singapore, I have followed with interest the promotional efforts of
each business school since competition for the best and the
brightest intensified with the incorporation of the third business
school in 2000.
All of a sudden, lecturers and school administrators are talking
about 'building a brand' to strengthen their image and attract
prospective applicants.
While the intention behind the NUS advertisement is laudable, it is
a timely marketing lesson for any university aspiring to build a
world-class brand. Universities should ask themselves what is their
key selling point to their target audience. To be 'different'? To
be 'preferred around the world by tomorrow's elite'? Brand-building
has to start with the fundamentals.
Faced with more choices, applicants now have to cut through the
hype and they are savvy enough to judge for themselves with today's
proliferation of information through Internet mediums such as
online forums and blogs.
Public relations, such as publicity and word-of-mouth from
employers and the marketplace, is a whole lot more credible and
believable than any advertising. For example, graduates from my
alma mater are typically associated by employers with traits such
as 'diligent', 'technically stronger' and 'better work
ethics'.
While terms like these may not find their way into advertising
messages, such testimonials affirm what employers truly
value.
In the book, The Fall Of Advertising And The Rise Of PR, Al and
Laura Ries made references to how universities like Harvard,
Princeton and Yale have become educational brands. These
universities became brands not by advertising but 'by massive
publicity even if the publicity efforts were not
self-directed'.
The book cited examples of universities using advertising in
brand-building, the most noteworthy being Long Island's Adelphi
University. Adelphi ran campaigns consisting of full-page newspaper
ads with headlines like these:
# Harvard: The Adelphi of Massachusetts.
# Does anybody need an education this good?
# There are three things everyone should read before entering
college: Plato's Republic, the complete works of Aristotle, and
this ad.
Adelphi didn't become the Harvard of Long Island but what did
happen was that its president got fired.
Even when I was serving national service, there
was competition for talents. Recruitment ads were posted around the
camp and officers from different combat arms would make the rounds
to talk about the critical role their unit plays in the Army. Yet
what left the deepest impression on me was not what the recruitment
ads or the officers said. It was a modern version of a poem quoted
from General Sir Archibald Wavell.
'When it was victory,' remarked Field
Marshal Wavell (1883-1950), 'the Cavalier claimed it outright, the
Gunner boasted of his calibre, the Engineer and Signalman
publicised their worth, but the Infantryman stood silent with
victory at his feet.'
Needless to say, I was an infantryman.
Su Yuxiong
Shanghai, China
