Kevin - Site Remix

So yeah, I changed the site a little. It's surprisingly easy. Tomorrow night I'll trim a lot more stuff. Don't worry, I won't delete anything, but I'll make the archives and stuff invisible so that when people come to the site, it'll just be a message saying to go to Dane's site. I may also make the site look more like Dane's so people don't feel like they've been redirected somewhere else entirely. But I figure this site won't have enough content to really qualify for being marked, so those marks will go into our other stuff.

Kevin - UW Ad Campaign

Yeah, that campaign bothers me too. I just think it's a dumb quotation that everyone uses when they want to seem like a cool visionary. I see it in online discussions all the time when someone is proposing a dumb idea, or talking about how they're outcasts because they "see things differently."

But I think Waterloo's most effective advertisement will be its rankings in Maclean's Magazine. I think I remember someone telling me that it was the president of UW that suggested the "best comprehensive university" category because he knew we would win it, and we weren't winning any of the existing categories. If that's ture, then that's very shrewd marketing.

Melissa noticed a subvertisement on the bus yesterday

I was on the bus yesterday and there was a sign that read: CHASTITY! The choice of the new generation.

Underneath "chastity" in black marker was the word "sucks" and the tag line was transformed into "the choice of the religious agenda". If only I had a camera...anyways, I had a giggle. Since this class I'm noticing stuff like this a lot more.

Melissa asks: What’s with UW’s 50th Anniversary campaign???

This marketing document should be of interest to my fellow students in this course as it contains UW’s positioning statement, style guide, and strategy for the 50th anniversary: http://anniversary.uwaterloo.ca/documents/50guidelines7.pdf

It’s the kind of document that says a lot without really saying anything. For a school that prides itself on “innovative culture”, I wonder about whether the branding actually reflects the attitude. Personally, I don’t think this ad campaign is effective or innovative at all. The copy: “the spirit of “why not?”? C’mon?? Seriously!??! That’s all they could come up with? That sort spirit evokes disturbing images within me. Like scientists creating bombs or virus strains, kids pulling the legs off of spiders or stomping frogs to see which way the guts will come out. Basically, for me it makes me think of people doing things just because they can in an immoral sort of way. I understand they mean it in a George Bernard Shaw way, but it leaves some much room for personal interpretation. What’s worse is the hideous image for the campaign. It certainly does not correspond with the text. I’m sorry if I sound traitorous, but what does the mace, staff, specter thing have to do with anything?

On page 7-8 of the pdf file, you can see the lengths in which they have gone to launch the campaign. Money spent on items such as pins, podcasts, stickers, balloons, all letterhead and envelopes, etc. and ad nauseam. I only imagine the end price tag, but whatever was spent, it was too much. They could have done something much more effective to celebrate the school’s 50th anniversary. I bet that as a class, based on everything we have learned, we could have come up with an idea far better to invest resources into. But that’s just one person’s opinion. What do you have to say?

Do you like this ad campaign?
Do you think the qualities in the distinguishing traits section (Connected to the world, Future oriented, Innovative, High quality ) represents our school accurately?
How much of your decision to come to UW was based promotions and marketing efforts?