Advertising - how is it in your part of the world?

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by Mac Juli, Dec 3, 2020.

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  1. Mac Juli

    Mac Juli Well-Known Member

    Hello!

    I moved recently and I found a pile of (ahem) medium-quality men's magazines in my cellar. This is, of course, nothing special, but what I found interesting is that Germany's leading corresponcence school advertised there. It was a full sized ad on the flipside in every issue. I would not have thought that the audience of such magazines are the typical audience for distance learning schools or universities, but well...

    How is it in your part of the world? Any placements of ads where you would not have expected them a priori?

    Best regards,
    Mac Juli
     
  2. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Gee, I wouldn't know, Mac. ... This is obviously a trick question, to find out what kind of magazines I buy. :) I'm not falling for it! To answer the question - I think this is a very well-thought-out, logical place. I believe the message is:

    "Hey, Dude! You got nothin' to do all day but sit around and thumb through these um... fine quality art periodicals. You need to get up off your butt and get a J.O.B. But you have no education or training, so that's hard for you. We can give you that knowledge. We can teach you to be a forklift driver, a programmer, a nuclear scientist -whatever. But you gotta make that damn phone call. so c'mon. It's a Nike thing --- just DO it! "

    Yep - marketing genius.
     
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  3. Mac Juli

    Mac Juli Well-Known Member

    Hey, good point!

    On the other hand, the "medium-quality" did not refer to the quality of the journalism there. They got regularly flak from the Deutsche Presserat due to the poor (=nonexistent) quality of the content, and much simply were flat out lies. I fondly remember one article from a supposedly criminal tattoo studio where the "secret investigators" claimed that Heroin was injected clandestinely to build a loyal customer base... So, the guys that read this stuff, and many even believed this, are not exactly the standard student base...
     
  4. eriehiker

    eriehiker Active Member

    One "advertising" push that I have seen in recent days relates to Northern Michigan University's attempt to vacuum students from the rest of the colleges in the state by staying open during the height of the pandemic and broadcasting that to the world. Northern Michigan is located in Marquette, MI on the shores of Lake Superior. Michigan is an enormous state. It is 614 miles from my hometown of Monroe to both Copper Harbor and Ironwood. That is not the 800 miles of point to point distance found in Texas, but it is in the ballpark. One time, my sister and I drove from Monroe to Thunder Bay, ONT, climbed the Sleeping Giant and from the top looked back into Michigan at Isle Royale National Park - 800 miles away from our corner of the state.

    Well, anyway, NMU is attempting to attract students from the Detroit area who have gone virtual. If everybody teaches virtually, the one school that stays open gets all the kids who want in-person. This creates pressure on all of the other schools to stay open. I see this at the k-12 level because schools in my area are doing everything they can to underreport cases to the state, hide required reporting in plain sight on web pages, etc. Well, NMU is doing this by having staff, professors, etc. appear on all the local Detroit stations with a message that it is safe in the UP and people can go to school in person.

    This is completely cynical because the per capita rates in the western Upper Peninsula are significantly higher than in Wayne, Oakland, Washtenaw and other SE Michigan counties.

    https://www.michigan.gov/coronavirus/

    I would argue that Washtenaw County - UM/EMU/Concordia - is the very best place to be right now. The UP is, after all, close to Wisconsin which I would place at about the 8th circle of hell in terms of Covid destruction right now. But in advertising, appearance is everything and if people remember a nice camping trip to the woods of the UP, then they probably will buy into NMU's myth.

    I would very much prefer that NMU advertise in men's magazines of somewhat questionable repute.
     
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  5. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    As a side note - back in the 50s, as a kid, before the proliferation and universal availability of the sort of magazines Mac alludes to, I read a lot of magazines like Mechanix Illustrated because I was very interested in cars - and they ran a lot of articles on that subject.

    The back page classified ads of that type of car, DIY and popular tech magazine had an "education" section. It was usually a mix of degree mills and legit. correspondence schools, like ICS. First degree mill ads I ever saw. Years later - around 1970, maybe, I saw ads from a fellow named Dr. John Bear, for books from his Ten Speed Press. From his name, I thought maybe this Dr. Bear was a Native American, and in my mind's eye I could see him pedaling through the California Desert on a 10-speed bicycle, looking for new educational opportunities to write about.

    30-odd years later, I wound up on forums like this and there he was - always "tellin' it like it is. " A completely different guy to the one in my illusion -- but NEVER a disappointment. A true DL pioneer and expert. It's been a pleasure to get to know him a little better over the years. Yes - a continuing pleasure. Stay safe, John. We're thinking of you.
     
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  6. eriehiker

    eriehiker Active Member

    I actually think that universities should partner with these kinds of magazines, buy thousands of copies and distribute them door-to-door to students. It would create more incentive to just stay home.
     
  7. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Not where YOU go to school, perhaps, but... These are guys who will believe anything? Then they'll believe a low-end school's claims that they, too, can be nuclear scientists, marketing directors, cloud gurus or whatever... perfect material for schools that take anybody with a pulse and who can get a $40K student loan.

    What I said - marketing genius.
     
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  8. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Can't see how. "University Student" presupposes "non-mindless person." These mags are not for their demographic. They'd drive many out of the house. Make things worse.
     
  9. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    Oh --- maybe you meant the Mechanix Illustrated, Popular Science etc. type of mags - not the lowball stuff. In that case -- why not? Anything that might help.
     
  10. Mac Juli

    Mac Juli Well-Known Member

    Dang... from this point of view...!! Seems I underestimated the sheer immorality of these guys!!!
     
  11. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    That's probably because such "schools" are not the norm where you live. And career / vocational schools cannot award degrees where I live, so there is at least some upper limit on what they can charge. These limits minimize temptation - at least somewhat.

    The scenario I described is far from unknown in the US and I've read quite a lot about it in forum pages over the years. It's a product of greed, the "degree bandwagon," unscrupulous schools, loan providers and in some measure, questionable accreditation actions - or inactions. Read our ACICS threads. Not a fortuitous combo.
     
  12. Acolyte

    Acolyte Active Member

    WGU (Western Governors University) made a big advertising push here in Ohio when they were first offered (in the past few years) - but we have SO many colleges in Ohio - it's a crowded landscape. Especially here in Columbus, in addition to The Ohio State University (OSU) there are easily about 7 other colleges right here in town or within commuting distance that you might regularly encounter. Expand that out just a little further and you would incorporate several more Add to that extension branches here in town for Indiana Wesleyan, Eastern Michigan U, Ashland University, and even Park University along with our community colleges and several for-profit entities like Chamberlain University and others - and ads for colleges in other parts of Ohio, and you can't get away from it. Lots of billboards and bus stop ads, and always commercials on TV. It's a good and bad thing - in lots of ways it makes it appear that SOME kind of educational opportunity is accessible to everyone! I guess the downside is that it's pretty much expected in a place like this that you will have taken advantage of some kind of post-secondary schooling. Because it is so prevalent, it also all becomes a bit of a wash - where you aren't discerning quality at such a granular level - you just assume that whatever the person did through any of these institutions was a pretty good program.
     
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