[erlang-questions] Off-topic question about Universities

[Joe Armstrong]

I went to a very entertaining lecture about branding.

One of the big-name brands (I won't repeat it here) wanted to
establish a YouTube presence - they were getting zero love on
YouTube and were worried about this - they wanted some impact on
"social media".

So they hired a creative-director, a team of script writers and actors
and made a
90 second video - this cost several million dollars and was shown and
approved by top management.

After a month or so they were horrified to see that only 30K people
had viewed their video.

In the post-mortem they just didn't get it - how come some crazy kids
with no media
training, no creative director, no experience could make videos that
10+ million people viewed?

Herein lies the problem - the corporate mindset wants "presence on
social media"
- I see this a lot but don't really understand what it means.

I like Twitter - for example - one of the best things are the rapid
witty interactions that take
place - there can be a Tweet storm lasting 30 seconds - seeing the
Tweets statically, somewhat later and out of context misses the point.

Certain politicians, businesses and corporate entities feel they have
to have a Twitter presence - so
they blast out meaningless bullshit - which is actually a very funny
self-parody - it's like the
companies who make websites with regulated user forums and FAQs

FAQ: 1. Is your product really as awesome as you say it is?

  Yes - in fact it's even better - all our users are very happy with
the product.

FAQ 2: I really love your product, for the money it's really good value.

   Yes - we are committed to delivering outstanding value to the customer, ...

And then there are real product forums - where the users bitch about
their problems :-)

I'm sure the University of Otago could excel with a branding exercise:

Q1: Is the University of Otago a great place delivering outstanding
value to it's students?

A1: U of O is committed to providing outstanding value to all our
students - we excel in
providing world class education and training led by our superb teams
of internationally renowned teachers. We are committed to ....

Cheers

/Joe







On Wed, Jul 5, 2017 at 3:51 PM, Fred Hebert <mononcqc@REDACTED> wrote:
>
> On Tue, Jul 4, 2017 at 9:20 PM, Richard A. O'Keefe <ok@REDACTED>
> wrote:
>>
>>
>>  The University logo is the most prominent visual aspect of
>>  the overarching University brand. Continuity and consistency
>>  of logo use is the most valuable asset a brand has.
>>  This is what builds recognition and awareness for an organisation,
>>  it is the foundation on which the visual identification of
>>  the University is built.
>
>
>
> A lot of other comments are correct in that in terms of overall brand, the
> logo is not necessarily doing much in the case of a university. Logos are
> deadly important in industries related to fashion, since in that case,
> clothing is not copyrightable, but by plastering your logo on garment, you
> make the design protected by trademarks instead. No such thing really
> happens in universities, and as mentioned before, publications or alumni
> play what I'd believe to be a much bigger role.
>
> In terms of visual branding though, the logo tends to come with a specific
> style and a limited set of colors; the style and those colors will usually
> be those that are chosen to pick the colors and influence the design of
> everything related to digital media (website, watermarking, mailing lists,
> ads, etc.), print media (fliers, forms, business cards), or general
> advertisement.
>
> So when it comes to a visual identity, the logo is often a linchpin that
> impacts all the other aspects of the identity. Maintaining continuity in
> style and/or color schemes means a lot less work needs to be re-done in
> other aspects of the overall marketing plan. Whether that work is impactful
> or not on the actual brand, or whether it is its "most valuable asset" on
> the reputation of the university is very arguable, but it is a significant
> amount of work (with a significant amount of money attached to it)
> nonetheless.
>
> To me it sounds like the Vice-Chancellor is overplaying the importance it
> has on reputation and brand as a whole, but the treasurer could reasonably
> make the case that it is very important when it comes to branding-related
> expenses.
>
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