“Be All You Can Be” marketing
Posted: January 26th, 2009 | Author: Ron Bronson | Filed under: Higher Ed, Ideas, Marketing | Tags: colleges, Marketing, military, recruiting | 2 Comments »You are currently browsing comments. If you would like to return to the full story, you can read the full entry here: ““Be All You Can Be” marketing”.
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Every time I watch the TV ads for the Canadian armed forces (yes! we do have an army in Canada!) even I pretty much want to join up! The tagline is “Fight Fear. Fight Chaos. Fight with the Canadian Forces” and it shows the army doing great things, like rescuing people from a plane crash or catching a ship that has a cargo of illegal drugs. I think it’s because they sell the idea of actually doing something important and courageous with your life, and making a real change in the world. Higher ed is so selfishly focused: “Here’s what YOU can get out of our college/program”. Great. Not that exciting, though. The army is calling to a disciplined, brave, and selfless side of people, and is assuming that they have these qualities instead of underestimating people as purely selfish right away. Not saying that the army really ends up being that way or even that the campaigns work (I have no idea if people are actually joining the Canadian army!) or that people really have those qualities . . . just saying it’s cool to see a different approach from appealing to people’s selfish instincts. I think higher ed could incorporate something that appeals to the better qualities in people. Iv’e seen it done, but it could be done more!
Precisely. Community service, becoming a doctor or a teacher or even people who end up in careers they never expected…or instead of making it about careers, talk about “skills for life” or stories like “I came to college as a skinny kid with no ambition and simply showed up because my parents made me. Now I’m a successful x.”
Now that I think about it, I know of a school that’s done a good job of incorporating this concept.