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| The Cram Quarterly
Fall 2007 F E A T U R E Real-world marketing lessons |
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A logo with no direction home The logo of Northwest Airlines has degenerated recently into something awful. In the old logo, a clever design reveals both an “N” and a “W,” as well as a compass pointing to the northwest. The simplicity of the solution is sheer typographic poetry. In the new logo, however, the compass is not so clear and the prominence of the letters “NWA” is confusing, since everyone refers to them in the shorthand as “Northwest.” Also note the clunky type and how the overlapping gray circle looks busy over the black type. The lesson: Northwest may be trying to look less regional with their new logo, but the approach is weaker than the original and way too confusing. Sometimes it’s better to start from scratch with a brand new logo rather than applying a Band-Aid to an old one that covers up the original meaning. |
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Judging a meal by its cover What does the photo on a frozen food box have to do with college marketing? It’s simple: Covers make a promise about what is to follow on the inside. The Lean Cuisine cover above promises artfully arranged turkey with crisp celery and plump cranberries, accompanied by fluffy potatoes. However, what you actually get on the inside is, well, less than savory. The lesson: If your website’s home page or the cover of your viewbook do not represent the reality of their content, then audiences may feel disappointed at best, deceived at worst. Don’t leave them with a bad taste in the mouth—choose a cover photo that shows your true campus and real students. Fanciful flight Billing themselves as “New Zealand’s fourth most popular folk-parody duo,” the band Flight of the Conchords appears in a new series on HBO. We tuned in last week and loved the zany humor and acoustic guitar music of band members Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement. We were also struck by the precision of the band’s name as a “brand identifier.” The name is a quadruple play on words—the condor (bird), the Concorde (supersonic jet), concord (agreement between persons), and chord (simultaneous tones played on a guitar.) The band’s name fits like a glove because it is a potent reminder of the duo’s witty lyrics and clever banter. The lesson: A few thoughtfully chosen words can tell us volumes. And these are words to remember when we name campaigns or write institutional taglines. Better no words at all than words that lack substance. |
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The whole truth As gas prices spiral steadily upward, we’ve become increasingly baffled by the dogged use of the 9/10 of a cent fraction on the cost per gallon. Forty-two years ago, when gas was 34.9¢ a gallon, the adage “a penny saved is a penny earned” made more sense even though the marketing device fooled no one. But today, with fuel costing upwards of $3.29 per gallon, the fraction of a penny is utterly meaningless. So why do gas stations persist in using it? There is no federal or state law requiring that gas be sold in fractions of a penny. We conclude that oil companies continue the practice because they benefit from creating a misleading perception about the price of tea in China and the gas you pump into your tank. The lesson: Consumers are people, too. They’ll appreciate you for being up front and open in your communications with them—whether you’re a big oil company or a college admissions office. –GCF StaffT E C H T I P S Dumber than a bag of hash marks |
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Guaranteed smarter
F E A T U R E Featured website: Mount Holyoke |
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Address www.mtholyoke.edu Background Located in South Hadley, Massachusetts, Mount Holyoke is a highly selective women’s college, one of the Seven Sisters (the female version of the once male-dominated Ivy League). In spite of its religious-sounding name, the college is nondenominational. Its 2,100 students enjoy a 10:1 student to faculty ratio; a 700,000-volume library; a $36-million, state-of-the-art Science Center; recently expanded and renovated music and art buildings; a first-rate sports and dance complex; an Equestrian Center; and a golf course. Assessment When GCF’s survey respondents visited Mount Holyoke’s website, they liked the powerful photo on the home page (which communicates a strong sense of place), the ease of navigation, and the color palette. Launch date The website launched in 2005. The site was a favorite of our survey respondents that year as well. Process According to Patricia VandenBerg, Executive Director of Communications and Strategic Initiatives, Mount Holyoke’s website is a result of cooperation and teamwork. She co-chairs the web team with the college’s Chief Information Officer. Other members include communications, IT, development, and admissions personnel. The team hired an outside firm to do the bulk of the programming, but the visual work was done internally. Goals The web team agreed that the key priority of the website should be prospective students. Maintaining the college’s application pool requires addressing two challenges: the fact that Mount Holyoke is a women’s college, and the common misperception that the institution is religiously affiliated. They determined that the Web is their most powerful marketing tool, so it has to consistently work well for the College. Accordingly, the site targets prospective students and their parents. There is an internal home page that was created to meet the needs of faculty and staff as well. Design VandenBerg credits her talented team of writers and designers with having coordinated the website’s look and tone with printed admissions materials. The Web consultants hired by the college served more as mentors and strategists than designers. Site maintenance The Web team continues to meet once a week and reports to senior staff. This way, team members are able to address challenges and updates on a regular basis. Mount Holyoke does have a content management system, although VandenBerg says it could work more smoothly. As it is, making changes takes some work, especially if the home page is involved. Insights The “Experience My Point of View” feature has worked well for the College, as has the frequently updated News and Events section. When choosing features for the news, VandenBerg and colleagues try to include stories that will appeal to the online audience. VandenBerg advises other web administrators to remember that it’s not about what they like—if prospective students are the audience, then the website should appeal to prospective students. She finds that frequent testing—even just informal focus group testing—keeps the college website on track. –Brenda FosterN O T E W O R T H Y MySpace versus Facebook
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