Thursday, March 27, 2008

Reaching an Audience of 8

Here's a story that caught my eye:

To woo academic recruits, college makes them stars Philadelphia Inquirer 03/27/2008

Gone are the days when a simple acceptance letter was enough. Now Wilkes University in Pennsylvania is courting eight high school seniors into matriculating at the school by making them rock stars through TV ads, commercials and pizza boxes all featuring messages tailored specifically to these eight students. So far they're undecided on where they will go to college and Wilkes is hoping this tactic will be enough to sway these students into enrolling. Maybe the ads on MTV will do the trick.

Not only is Wilkes trying to reach these students, but the tactic is intended to raise the school's profile among other mid-level Pennsylvania schools. Interesting.

I appreciate their creativity, but I really hope this method doesn't become the norm.