Here's an interesting Q&A with higher education marketing guru Bob Johnson, who has been studying, writing about, and lecturing on student recruitment practices since the early '80s and now consults with colleges and universities, all over the United States.
In it, Johnson talks to Linda L Briggs from Campus Technology about new ways in which technologies such as online student recruitment videos are being used to connect with students and parents - and how students use technology to find colleges and universities. Johnson also discusses why putting excess effort into a school's home page isn't necessarily the best use of online marketing funds.
Having worked with over 30 institutions, from small colleges to the most prestigious UK universities, Spectrecom are the UK’s leading producers of student recruitment videos.
Following on from yesterday's blog entry, here's a student recruitment film from Appalachian State University that became an Internet phenomenon in 2005.
Unfortunately, the 2' 17" second PowerPoint-style slide show of images around the University's campus, cut to an original song claiming that the school is "hot hot hot", inadvertently played into the stereotype that people from Appalachia are unsophisticated and out of touch. An editorial in the Appalachian State student newspaper criticised the video, calling it "so ridiculously tacky one cannot help but laugh when watching it," adding, "The jingle is horrible, the lyrics are absurd and the pictures make Appalachian seem like an institution stuck in the 1970s."
However, the video was not actually an official project and in the wake of the response is no longer used by the University. It was originally created for the Appalachian Family Caravan tour by Chancellor Kenneth E. Peacock and then posted to the University's website. Peacock described the video's role in promotion:
"It was used primarily for the Appalachian Caravan, taking it out with us on the road to show that Appalachian is a great institution and it’s hot in many ways. So in order to understand fully that video, you almost had to be at one of those Caravan events. I think they took it off the Web site because, without it being a Caravan event, it’s confusing. People don’t really understand what the message is with the song. It was all done in fun, to go and energize our alumni and say here are some things that are happening on campus, holding up the highlights of faculty, programs, accomplishments of students, and say ‘You know why this is possible? It’s because Appalachian is hot. It builds all around that whole theme."
Take a look at the video and see what you think?
For quality student recruitment films with proven results, get in touch with Spectrecom. Having worked with over 30 institutions, from small colleges to the most prestigious UK universities, we are the UK’s leading producers of student recruitment videos.
In 2009, one of the world’s foremost Universities, Yale in the United States, decided that it was high-time they replaced their decade-old student recruitment video, which had become stale and outdated. According to Andrew Johnson, a Yale graduate now working in the admissions office and the creator of “That’s Why I Chose Yale";
“Students in the previous video were rollerblading around campus, others were wearing baggy shirts and high-waisted jean shorts. The fashion sense of the people in the video was noticeably different, distractingly different. What’s more, three of the people interviewed in the video had died and some of the professors had left the university.”
“In creating the video, we hoped to showcase the energy and community on campus in a novel way,” said Johnson. “We decided on a musical because we felt it would be entertaining enough to keep people’s interest, while also showcasing the vast reserve of willing undergraduate talent on campus.”
But Johnson’s videos was met with a mixture of derision and acclaim. And the 17-minute continues to divide opinion - either people love it, or they hate it.
It’s definitely attention-grabbing and will undoubtedly go some way to eroding Yale’s perhaps undeserved stuffy image, but there’s a very fine between self-deprecating tongue-in-cheek satire and silliness, which isn’t always easy to get right. Take a look at the video and see what you think.
Our creative team have just delivered a new student recruitment video for The Institute of Psychiatry. Click on the image above to take a look.
Opened in 1923, The Institute of Psychiatry is the only postgraduate institution in the United Kingdom devoted solely to the study and practice of psychiatry and related disciplines. It became a school of King’s College London in August 1997 and currently shares the same site as the Maudsley Hospital. The Institute is “devoted to establish the best possible care for people who experience mental health problems.”
Click on the link above to watch a little behind-the-scenes "making-of" video showing Director Steve Lennon and two of Harlequins' players making sure they get the "Big-Hit" right.
You'll be pleased to hear (or maybe not) that no traffic wardens were injured in the making of this video.
By Christiaan
