The University of Iowa and Iowa State University are in a tense battle for space in the airports. In fact, you see college after college buying space in airports. In my experience, it is not the best media buy.
Colleges need to reach kids (and to some extent, parents). I don’t see a lot of kids in airports. I see business men and women, older people traveling south or to see grandkids, couples flying off for vacation, and then sprinkled around are few kids—most under the age of 15—but not many.
What I do see are a lot of college professors, fundraisers, administrators and athletic recruiters flying out of airports. And since they are flying, everyone else must be flying. An administrator gets tired of seeing the competition at the airport and so the battle for space begins.
First Iowa State put up a wall graphic in the jet bridge of American Airlines. I always thought it was bad placement because you are so close to the graphic you can’t read it. Now, not to be out marketed, the University of Iowa has a new graphic. Do either of these work? Who knows? My guess is most people don’t look to see them. We do know the media buy is based on ego and anger rather than solid metrics.
Just because your competitor is buying a medium does not mean you should buy it. To quote my father, “Would you jump off a cliff just because your friend did?” In fact, you should do some zigging to their zagging, and make good decisions based on your plan, not your competitor’s plan.
My name is Louis Laurent, president of ZLR IGNITION, Iowa State University’s advertising agency. On behalf of my client I am requesting an apology for your ill-informed opinion regarding our airport advertising. First, you have no clue as to who we are targeting and why. Forty percent of ISU’s student base is from out of state or out of country. Many of those students and parents fly in. ISU 38% growth in enrollment has necessitated growth in faculty who also fly in to visit. Universities are dependent on the generosity of donors They too fly. Not to mention the policy makers who fly on their business. We have had many compliments on social media about our airport advertising and positive comments from prospective faculty. Did I happen to mention a 38% increase in enrollment since the Enjoy the Adventure campaign launched? Ill informed criticism has never endeared any client to do business with you and my bet is that you burned bridges with every university marketing department you featured and demonstrated how little you know about higher education marketing with the ones you didn’t. And then to suggest that they are stealing ideas defies any marketing sense at all. So if you wisely decide to apologize to my client, you have my email. I’ll forward the appropriate contact information or better yet arrange a meeting where you can apologize face to face. I look forward to seeing this comment on your blog.
Louis, thank you for your comment. There are two large Iowa university banners across from each other in a jet bridge in Cedar Rapids–maybe 5 feet apart. I’m still smiling about it. I’ll be happy to share your comment with any client now or in the future. I appreciate the advertising lesson. From your comments I’m beyond all help. My partner, and ISU grad would probably agree. Yet, I’m not convinced by your argument. I still believe it is a poor media placement and I continue to question airport advertising for colleges and universities. Hey, we all make mistakes–sometimes two in a row.
You can question what you wish, it’s your blog. Had you called the universities and asked them why they do what they do you might have had insight that would temper your opinion. I’m not sure what you accomplish when you criticize potential clients for the decisions they thoughtfully make without knowledge of why they made them. But hey! Knock yourself out.
Gentlemen, settle down. Everyone is entitled to their opinion and can advertise where they wish. The only way to truly settle this argument is to devise a way to truly measure the effectiveness of such advertising. Television, radio, malls, airports, web, billboards, print, email are all advertising mediums used by colleges & universities. Certainly airports reach specific audiences but let’s admit it is not a primary venue for 14-18 year olds.