Category — 100 Days at NC State

The most powerful force on the college campus today is the student body.  Individually they do wonderful things. Together, they do amazing things.  That interaction with students is what drew me to higher education.  It’s hard to explain to my friends who are still in the corporate world, but there’s just something about the passion and concern these kids have for each other, their university and the world around them.

Not long after I started work here at NC State (41 days on campus, don’t ya know) I was approached by a group of students from the College of Management. They were taking a marketing class and wanted to do a research project on the NC State brand.  We talked and the group agreed to do a couple of focus groups and a survey around the university’s television commercials. I’m not going to spoil it here with the results of their focus group sessions, but do want you to take a look at the survey.

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I’ve spent a lot of time recently talking with students about NC State, social media, Founder’s Day…that kind of stuff.  Grounding myself on State, Raleigh and college life in general.  Also got to meet Mr. & Mrs. Wuf.  Good stuff.

I heard that “social media is not a fad” from many of those I talked with.  Not that this surprised me, but kids today have grown up around social media and its now just part of their everyday life.

Of the 30 or so I talked with, 100 percent were big users of Facebook.  Have it on all day.  Check in every hour.  First thing I check out after my alarm goes off in the morning…and that alarm is the cell phone sitting next to the bed.  Mashable says that 98 percent of today’s college students have Facebook accounts and that 95 percent of them use it everyday.  I heard nothing that would lead me to believe otherwise.

But to be effective, social media have to be, well, social!!!  “The one way message does not resonate well with this audience, ” one senior told me.  “You’ve got to actually talk to people on Facebook or Twitter.  You can’t just talk about what you’re having for lunch, or what movie you’re going to see.  If you saw Twilight, tell me what you thought about it, and don’t just tell me it was the best movie ever made.  Why was it the best movie ever made.  Did the werewolves scare the hell out of you. Did the vampire story make you think about your own life, or about your family.  What.  Why.  Talk to me.”

So what I am hearing is pretty straight forward, this isn’t a monologue, it’s a dialogue.

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Seems like every day I hear about a new hero at NC State. On the NCSU homepage today, there’s a profile of North Carolina Professor of the Year, our very own NC State physics professor Robert Beichner. Bob’s the driving force behind the SCALE-UP project, which has caught on at more than 100 schools across the country. He also heads up the university’s STEM Education Initiative, and his approach to education is one of a kind.

Not to mention, his students love him.

Check out the story below.

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I don’t generally stray into the mainstream, but comments by Lou Dobbs yesterday were embarrassing to journalists everywhere.  And yes, as a former newspaper and magazine reporter, I still feel a kinship to those who work in the profession.

Here’s what Dobbs said about his recent departure from CNN and his $8 million payoff;  “I tried to accommodate them as best I could, but I’ve said for many years now that neutrality is not part of my being.”  Then why, Lou, did you pretend to “report” the news on CNN?  You didn’t report, you reported your opinion about the news.  Just because you’ve said that neutrality is not part of your being does not make what you did right.  I believe it’s just another dagger in the heart of objective journalism everywhere.

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Lots of debate about advertising around the office lately. Do we do traditional print and broadcast, non-traditional Web banners at places like Yahoo or with Google Adwords, or even more non-traditional Facebook ads and new applications to go along with them.  Our goal, to create a passionate group of disciples for NC State University.

I’ve always believed in trying something new and am leaning toward being very non-traditional.  Right now we need to focus on our family, so to speak, and that means talking to our alumni, their families and friends.  Also reaching out to those here on campus (students, faculty and staff) and in the Raleigh area.  How do make the advertising scream with passion?  That is the question.

So, maybe we don’t look at it as advertising.  We create an integrated marketing communications program.  You know, some advertising to drive traffic, but instead of the ordinary, we send ’em to a Facebook fan page for NC State.  We create a couple of tabs on the page to take people down a level or two to academics, the arts, athletics, that kind of thing.  The ole drill-down menu, if you will.

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Was feeling a bit cranky after a long day of travel yesterday and a long day of presentations today.  Got me thinking about a conversation my buddy Ron Sachs and I had a few months back.  Ron is an old fashioned newspaper guy.  He was the editor of the Florida Alligator student newspaper before it was independent.  At the time I was a frosh trying to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up.  Ron helped steer me in the direction I traveled.  Ron knew what he was going to be.  He was going to be a serious investigative journalist.  He did that and now he runs one of the most powerful issues management companies in Florida.  He deals with politicians and bureaucrats on a daily basis.  He influences major public policy decisions.  He helps mold young, and old, minds. And Ron will tell you, even with all this new technology,  it’s never easy.  To this day, Ron loves newspapers and he loves a good conversation.  And he’s worried.  Does Web 2.0 signal the end of interpersonal communications.

Based on that conversation and my desire to be truly objective with all this social media stuff (I’ve been accused of being a cheer leader, don’t ya know) I have created a presentation around the concept.  I’d like to test it on you all, so check it out and let me know what you think.

DarkSideWeb20

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Traveling this afternoon to Tampa where I’m presenting to a group of judicial and law enforcement PIO’s from around the south.  Should be a good group and my topics — crisis communications and how Web2.0 is changing the face of public relations — are fun topics.  If only I didn’t have to travel on Delta Airlines through Atlanta.

Fine out of Raleigh, despite the mini hurricane.  Got to ATL early and actually boarded the plane early.  Then sat, and sat and sat on the tarmac.  50 minutes in all.  I had to laugh when the pilot came on when we had finally reached the end of the runway and said we’re number 3 in line.  Like we didn’t notice the 20 planes that took off before we became No. 3.  As we rolled down the runway and lifted off I counted the jets in line.  Yep 20.  You have to wonder when things get too big. Couldn’t the airlines see this coming?  Couldn’t ATL see this coming.  You gotta wonder what people are/were thinking.

On a positive note, the volunteers continue to roll in for our State COMM strategic communications planning process.  I hope to provide some more framing around our tasks next week, but I couldn’t be more excited about the response.  We’ll get this ship turned and when we do, I’m going to ask everyone to take a bow.  The passion and commitment to NC State is phenomenal.  This university, this state, owes you all a debt of gratitude. Ah, but yeah, now we have to deliver.

So from sunny Florida here’s number

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My staff had to set me straight this afternoon.  I posted the names of people we’d like to ask to participate on our Strategic Communications Planning sub-committees before I reached out to them.  Yikes.  Nothing like being drafted for service and finding out about it on a blog.  Not good.

But, since the names are out there already, how ’bout it guys.  Uncle Wuf Wants You!  Can you participate.  We’ll understand if you can’t, just let me or Lauren Gregg know.  Also, I’d like to include the alumni voice in the process.  We’ve got the  alumni association well represented, but I’m talking about grads who want to contribute.  Send names and suggestions too.

So, making matters worse, or maybe better, here are the lists of sub-committees and suggestions for membership. [Read more →]

First meeting with the State COMM Steering Committee went well today.  Almost everyone attended and there were several interested parties sitting in as well.  Everyone is welcome, so don’t be shy.

We talked about the goals and objectives of the Strategic Communications Plan and went over a list of potential sub-committee members. With almost 60 volunteers, the committees are chocked full of experience and passion.

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Our first meeting of the State COMM steering committee is Tuesday and I’m looking forward to working with everyone as we develop a strategic communications plan for NC State University.  Lots of work to do but before you know it, we’ll have a plan that makes sense for the university and for all the units within the university.  No, we probably won’t actually develop the unit plans (that would take too long) but we’ll have a framework everyone can work with.

As part of the communications plan, we’ll also focus on refining the North Carolina State University brand.  Who we are. What we stand for.  That kind of thing.  This will happen later in the process, but the work we do in the early stages will help us develop the understanding and awareness of who we are, in our eyes and in the eyes of our key audiences.  I plan to use a lot of the work we did at the University of Florida as thought starters and to provide ideas and direction.

When I was at Harley, a branding consultant walked us through a lengthy process on the way to understanding who we were.  You’d think it was easy.  Harley-Davidson.  Big, heavyweight American motorcycles with lots of chrome, and a unique sound.  Right!  Nope.  The process helped us focus on what/who we really were; a dream.  “We fulfill dreams through the experiences of motorcycling…”

As I’ve said throughout my career, I believe branding is an investment in the future; it is an investment in the company’s future ability to compete with other companies in the same industry for the consumer dollar.  On the higher education side, branding is the university’s future ability to compete effectively for students, faculty, staff, and funding. [Read more →]