getting students to pay attention to crisis communications - whatever it takes!
DESCRIPTION
One of the hardest things to do is to create an authentic marketing message that appeals to students. As you know, students can see through fluff and nonsense with x-ray vision. In this presentation, I share the experiences of the UC Berkeley team tasked with getting students to participate in our campus wide emergency alerts system - WarnMe. We used jokes that would appeal to juveniles (or so we thought), bad language that would help us blend in (or so we thought) and even sex talk that would drive the point home (or so we thought). Take an exciting, laugh a minute journey through the creation, destruction, creation, destruction and third life of a legendary marketing campaign (or so we think). This presentation communicates the need to be flexible and to rethink assumptions when creating messaging targeted at students. We also share our strategies for pre-testing and fine-tuning the creative work and how we worked with campus partners to extend our reach. Naturally, all this was done with a “higher ed” budget. (This presentation was made at EduWeb 2013 by Ram Kapoor, Executive Director, Marketing & Digital Communications, University of California, Berkeley.)TRANSCRIPT
JUVENILE JOKES, BAD LANGUAGE, SEX TALK…ANY STUDENTS IN THE HOUSE?Ram KapoorExecutive Director, Marketing & Digital Communications
#HigherEdMarketing
@heyram
Eduweb Special: 2 for 1Two student marketing campaigns1. WarnMe – awareness / behavior change2. Sproul Plaza –engagement platform
Let’s talk aboutEMERGENCIES
EMERGENCIES can happen anywhere
EMERGENCIES can happen anytime
EMERGENCIES can happen to anyone
WarnMe
Campus emergency alert system36,000 students8,000 faculty & staffDefault: berkeley.edu email alert (opt-out)Alert options: Text, phone, home email
Challange
Getting students to log in to the WarnMe system and update their alert preferences to text
Step 1: LOOKING FOR INSPIRATION
Step 1: LOOKING FOR INSPIRATION
Dumb Ways to Die –Video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJNR2EpS0jw
Dumb Ways to Die – Case Study video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxZ_ZznO2ek
WHY HAS IT PROVED SO POPULAR?
WHY HAS IT PROVED SO POPULAR?
"It’s different. It’s cute as hell and it gets stuck in your head.”
“Cute, a bit silly, happy melody, soft colors, all were attributes that made people feel good while they engaged with the campaign.”
THE ULTIMATE PROOF!
Dumb Ways to Die – Teens React video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5H7FY_DSWo
Step 2:KNOWING WHAT YOU DON’T WANT
Step 3:GETTING INTO THE MINDS OF
YOUNG ADULTS
EEW!!!
WHAT DO YOUNG ADULTS LIKE?
source: xkcd.com
source: 4gifs.com
Red Vs Blue video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ag4DDjwBwNM
Harlem Shake – UGA men’s video link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QkNrSpqUr-E
BLINDING INSIGHT # 1:
“HUMOR”
CREATIVE IDEA
Q - WHEN ARE EMERGENCIES FUNNY?
CREATIVE IDEA
Q - WHEN ARE EMERGENCIES FUNNY?
A – WHEN THEY AREN’T WARN ME EMERGENCIES
100 logins / day
Hey, we got a few responses!
Illustration style?
Homework, really???
WHAT DO YOUNG ADULTS REALLY LIKE?
Philip Defranco show video link: http://www.youtube.com/user/sxephil?feature=watch
BLINDING INSIGHT # 2:
“STRAIGHT TALK”
CREATIVE IDEA
WE’VE DONE ALL WE CAN.
NOW IT’S UP TO YOU.
ARE YOU…
ARE YOU…
300 logins / day
3x response rate
Building supervisor email
Challenge: Can we reach more students?
WHAT DO YOUNG ADULTS REALLY, REALLY LIKE?
BLINDING INSIGHT # 3:“(HINT: IT’S A
THREE LETTER WORD)”
®
SSHHHH!
CREATIVE IDEA
A CONDOM CAN SAVE YOUR LIFE.
SO CAN A TEXT ALERT.
700 logins / day
Take a break, guys!
TOP TIPS
1. BE UNEXPECTED
2. BE DIRECT
3. BE RELEVANT
4. BE EVERYWHERE
5. BE FLEXIBLE
xkcd.com
Eduweb Special: Two for the price of one Two marketing campaigns1. WarnMe – Student awareness & action2. Sproul Plaza – Student engagement platform
SPROUL PLAZA
FACEBOOK APP
OBJECTIVEUtilize social media to create two-way dialogue on selected questions and topicsEngage with students where they hang outDrive the agenda and participation for future face-to-face forums
First test: The Budget discussion
PHASE ONE BUILD INTEREST / PARTICIPATIONProfile picture highlighting the Sproul Plaza App Incentives for participation
PHASE TWO PROVIDE STIMULUSBudget overview video byVice Chancellor John WiltonSubmission box for questions
Sproul Plaza kickoff video link: John Wilton, Vice Chancellor, gives a Budget 101 talk https://www.youtube.com/watchv=k5a19gjVtTs&feature=player_embedded
PHASE THREE QUESTIONS AND VOTESThe questions roll in… and get voted on by other participants
PHASE THREE QUESTIONS AND VOTESParticipants vote for their favorite questionsSome engaged users respond to others’ questions
PHASE FOUR THE WINNING QUESTIONSThe top 3 winners get $100 gift cardsAll top questions (and more) are submitted to the VC for answers
PHASE FIVE THE ANSWERSPersonal video responses to the top questions posted by VC John Wilton (in 5 days)
STEP SIX THE DIALOG CONTINUES…Continuing engagement after the first round of answers.Inputs for round two / other forums
METRICS
First test of engagement platform
Ready for next level of engagement with more topics
and other university departments
861 users.27 questions.40 total comments.175 total votes.
Total Video Views (6 videos) 1,990
Taking the app out of facebook
Finding administrators who want to engage this form of highly visible dialog
Dedicated video and editorial team
xkcd.com
