In this case, a D+ is a failing grade

The photo to the right illustrates Drake University’s recently developed marketing campaign. According to this blogger, the marketing folks at Drake created the D+ positioning for this campaign because they wanted to ensure it “caught target audiences attention” and “stood out from the rest”. There’s no doubt that they’ve met those key objectives (in spades).

Sorry, but this is a moronic positioning for any type of higher education institute. When I first spotted it, I actually thought it was a joke. But, the D+ positioning supports what the University refers to as its unique and compelling advantage over other competitive schools (i.e. D=Drake and + is all about being superior and providing real opportunities to students). OK, the meaning behind this campaign is just fine. But, didn’t anyone with half a brain think for two seconds about how end users would first react when seeing that visual next to the university name and logo? Especially considering the obvious point that higher education brands and academic grades are intrinsically tied to one another.

I guess it could have been worse. If Drake University actually had the name Frake University (instead), then the campaign would be highlighting an F+.  That would nicely equate the Drake experience to pure failure. Sorry, I couldn’t help myself…

There are some obvious rules of thumb that smart marketing professionals think about as they develop new campaign positioning statements or slogans. The first is that words, phrases, pictures and visuals all typically have multiple meanings when used in various contexts. Used within any marketing or communications context in a higher education setting, D+ means something close to failure. It’s really hard to miss that one. But, understanding that quite often a phrase with multiple meanings might not be so blatantly obvious, it’s important to research, analyze and then scrutinize that phrase to ensure it won’t (at worse) offend a specific audience, or simply not resonate with others.

Because universities are fairly bureaucratic organizations, I would think that any new campaign would need approval (before going live) from a host of committees or trustee groups. Going through all of these channels again typically increases the chance that someone with any sense would challenge how D+ might be perceived by high school parents who are wondering whether they should spend a few hundred thousand dollars over four years on this school or another private university.

I’ll use a gun metaphor to put this campaign in perspective. In my mind, its positioning can’t even be considered a misfire. Instead, it feels more like someone loaded up a semi-automatic and put his/her face in front of the muzzle while pulling the trigger just to make sure it would work. There’s no doubt that the marketing professional(s) who helped Drake create this campaign should be taking a bullet right about now…

Comments

[Steve]

Adelphi should adopt the campaign.

[Joe Kovacs]

Your post reminds me of a conversation I had with a member of my marketing team the other day. She was showing me the draft of an ad she wanted to run in a trade publication and it took me about 10 seconds to connect the message of her visual to our firm's brand. The copy she created also did not immediately reflect the key values we promote in our markets.

She wasn't happy with my comments; she tried explaining how this meant this, and that meant that. The problem was, however, that even though her intentions may have been thought out, the impression they left in the final ad did not reflect what she was striving for. It was time to go back to the drawing board.

Similarly, I find the Drake marketing campaign baffling. As you note, one would think committee approval necessary to implement such a campaign, and the review process might have created an opportunity to put this puppy to rest, as it were. My immediate impression upon seeing the D+ image is--Is this the grade Drake is proud of? Does this represent what students (and families) can expect from Drake? Thanks for blogging about this unfortunate decision on the part of the university. Your point is an excellent one.