Archive for October, 2009

I’ve had an exciting last few weeks in some respects.

I’m sure we can all relate.  As always, there’s the drudgery of the routine requirements of work, albeit from time to time mixed with the sheer exhilaration and excitement of a new finding, or discovery.  One of these experiences for me, and I have to admit (gloat?) I’m fortunate enough to have the opportunity to have several exciting developments cooking so to speak and in part, this is our new marketing, brand and communications developments.

For me, I have the opportunity to be ‘leading’ and also discovering at the same time. I say lead in apostrophes as there are several people doing some very heavy lifting around me and it’s not all about me, but I digress, so let me elaborate on the content - the reason for the blog.

I have mentioned in a previous formal communication that we selected www.loud.com.au as our new creative agency. 

What I may not have mentioned there is that one of the reasons we selected them was for their work on the ING ad campaign since inception, recommending and using Billy Connolly - love him or hate him but imagine:  a Dutch owner, a bank formerly known as Mercantile Mutual, rebadged as “ING”, with a Scottish personality to support a new Brand to be launched, in Australia.  I’d like to be the Executive in the room when they were pitching this one.  I’ll leave you to your imagination as to why it was - and is - successful 9 years later.  ING as a brand is a leading financial services firm in Australia, coming from ‘nowhere’.  LOUD continues to support this client in its success.

LOUD has also provided provocation to us in the form of ideas in the creative sphere for UNE’s own digital marketing initiatives.  Check out www.votemypet.com.au.  Thinking people will realize the power of this social networking campaign which bridged the divide between virtual and physical environments, and resulted in hundreds of thousands of customers lodging their details with the client, Bayer, willingly.   Some of you may have attended the launch celebration of our Future Students Team, a dedicated group of 3 personnel capitalizing on our RightNow Customer Relationship Management (CRM) d-base capabilities where I explained more about this facility for lead-capture of prospective students’ / customers’ details.  Anyway, to keep it simple, at the end of the day it’s all about ‘lead-generation’ and the ability to design sufficient awareness to capture a prospective student’s contact information so we can remain in touch with the ‘customer’ throughout their lifecycle of purchasing what promises to be, frankly, an expensive and intensive service: higher education.

You may recall my earlier blog centred around Web2.0 and this is where we need to differ: we can’t aimlessly capture 100 million students’ contact details to spam them with UNE information.  The talent is in the nexus of providing what’s meaningful to the student with what we need - and that’s what we’re doing in the Future Student’s Team and in the design of the forthcoming Student Recruitment Campaign commencing 9 November, 2009.
Now all this said, what’s exciting recently is to see previews of the new creative messaging that is being proposed for UNE.  This will be profiled and launched 9 November at the all-staff forum involving the Chancellor and myself.  While I can’t reveal the details just yet as in part it’s just not ready, what I can share with you is this: there are elements which we have had to grapple with such as:

• How do you ensure you have the prospective students’ attention year-round, not just prior to Open Day or start of semester enrolments…not dissimilar to a rush to the “Closing Down Sale” equivalent?
• How do you avoid sounding just like every other university spruiking their proverbial carpets to compel the unwitting consumer into purchasing their higher education experience at the last minute? One local University’s ads are so horrible, but so predominant, I have commenced referring to them as the ABC Chaser’s Surprise Spruiker-equivalent - (see also http://video.google.com/videosearch?q=abc+chaser+the+spruiker&rls=com.microsoft:en-au&oe=UTF-8&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=le7eSsrTAYLQsQP0y4HdDw&sa=X&oi=video_result_group&ct=title&resnum=4&ved=0CBkQqwQwAw#) . I suggest to you that volume does not equate to quality, but we do need to respond. And, I’ll leave you to determine which university this refers to….
• How do we ensure there’s sufficient emotional engagement with the prospective buyer (consider: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e50YBu14j3U) as this is a major purchase, not a one-off transaction; it’s an emotional and rationale purchase.

In all, despite the challenge (for new enrolments in 2010 no less 2012 when we move to, in effect, a voucher system = payment on demand), these are exciting times.  What LOUD have encouraged us to remember is that it’s important to ensure that the customer’s recollection of UNE “reverberates” long after the Surprise Spruiker (the advertising) has left the building.  Therein lies our challenge.  See what you think 9 November at the launch of our new Student Recruitment Campaign which encapsulates all our 2008 and 2009 research on Branding, only partly personified by our new logo.

This edition of the UNE Voice will be my last as Vice-Chancellor and CEO of UNE with my retirement effective from the end of October.

As you are aware, Professor Graham Webb will be Acting Vice-Chancellor until my successor is in place.   Although the end of the academic year is fast approaching there are many issues requiring on-going attention both at UNE and in the Higher Education sector.  For example, vital legislation such as the Higher Education Legislation Amendment (Student Services and Amenities) Bill 2009 and the Education Services for Overseas Student Amendment (RE-REGISTRATION OF PROVIDERS AND OTHER MEASURES) Bill 2009 will be debated in the next sitting of Parliament.  Both have potential resource implications for UNE. 

In other areas, UNE’s Governance Discussion Paper has recently been endorsed by Sir Laurence Street and its implementation is underway.  UNE will also host a meeting with the Australian Government in late November to begin negotiations in respect to UNE’s Mission Based-Compact and possible structural adjustment funding.  All of this is on top of the day-to-day running of the University.  The professionalism and dedication of Professor Webb, and all members of the Senior Executive will undoubtedly guide UNE through these and a myriad of other issued during the transition period and provide a firm base on which the new Vice-Chancellor will be able to build. 

It has been an honour to serve as the 11th Vice-Chancellor of UNE.  From my initial arrival at UNE in February 2006, throughout significant internal change in 2007, and during the hardships of last year I received great kindness and support from the University as well as the wider New England community. Both Ann and I are enormously appreciative of this on both a personal and professional basis and I offer my heartfelt thanks for your support. I also wish to acknowledge the great support and encouragement I have received from the Chancellor, Richard Torbay, whose energy and enthusiasm for UNE is unbounded.

I wish the University all the best for a prosperous and harmonious future and am looking forward to saying my personal farewell to you all at drinks on the 29 October.