One aspect of CCA’s mission is its Alliance of States.  These states’ governors and leaders in higher education have pledged to make college completion a legislative priority by setting completion goals, creating a plan to reach those goals, and publicly reporting progress.  The Alliance has 17 member states now, but its ranks continue to grow.

Clips resulting from the launch currently number over 300 in media around the country, in the Alliance states, in national print and broadcast outlets, and in higher education trade publications.

In addition to coordinating the launch, Lipman Hearne designed CCA’s new visual identity, stationery suite, a temporary landing page (to house materials for the media before the launch), and CCA’s new website.  Impressive comments about the site and the CCA’s work are already rolling in.

One early site visitor praised the website for “delivering  a great and powerful new tool that combines the voices of students demanding reform together with powerful state- and campus-level data.”

And from Stan Jones, Complete College America’s President, comes this recommendation:  “I know everyone is busy but take a minute and watch at least the first video on the website.  It is an excellent reminder of why we do this work.”

The number of Tufts applicants choosing the video option has been significant, but not overwhelming – about 1,000 of the 15,000 applicants this year submitted videos. The responses range from students showing off card tricks to day-in-the-life montages to flying a remote-controlled blue-elephant helicopter (representing Tufts’ mascot, Jumbo the Elephant). Some of the videos have even gathered a YouTube following – the most popular one features Amelia Downs; her video has gotten more than 6,000 views.

So what does this all mean? Will videos ultimately replace the written essay? Tufts admissions staff insists that they remain “committed to the traditional essay-writing requirement” and that videos are genuinely optional. But this is clearly the year of the video for colleges and universities – between the “Lipdub” phenomenon and Yale’s YouTube musical “That’s Why I Chose Yale,” universities’ staff and students are increasingly turning towards video as an effective means of marketing their institution. So it seems natural that prospective students are likewise using this medium to market themselves. Only time will reveal to what extent video and other social media vehicles will come to dominate the higher education communications sphere.

What do you think about colleges allowing prospective students to submit application videos? Do you foresee the end of the traditional college essay? Share your thoughts in our comments section.

1. Budgets
2. Raising money
3. Alumni engagement
4. New Competitors
5. Demographics

The fans of acrostics will see it all spells BRAND – and stands as a shameless plug for my just-published The Real U: Building Brands that Resonate with Students, Faculty, Staff, and Donors, which contains perhaps the only chapter in a book published by CASE that starts with a rude quote by Bo Diddley.

So, Scott, since I stepped in for you, how about a nice blurb on the book?  Available now!

- Rob Moore, Managing Partner

-Rob Moore

Soon the exhibit will go on the road and will assist journalists, business leaders, philanthropists, and others learn about this issue. The exhibit includes sections so that participants will be able to:

• Undertand the science and how early experiences shape the brain.
• Experience what high-quality early education looks like.
• See the results by making virtual visits to example programs.
• Get the ROI by delving into what makes this a smart investment with big returns.
• Test knowledge of the ABCs of major funding streams.

Learn more in this news story.

- Adam Shapiro, Vice President Public Affairs

We lost a great friend and colleague yesterday.  Beth Drews, who for six years ran our marketing department, succumbed to pancreatic cancer after a valiant battle.  Beth was one of those people that you’re just glad to know: positive, energetic, smart, effective, engaged…I could string out more adjectives here, but you get the picture.

If you want direct testimonials, and a demonstration of how Beth remained connected and shared her special grace with us all, you can find both on Facebook under FriendsofBeth Drews.  She will be missed by many.

-Rob Moore

Read more in her obituary.

Another curiosity is the seemingly broad use of the word “brand” being used to compile the list.  In addition to Valentine’s Day (really!?) there is an eclectic mix of people (Alexander McQueen), products (Apple iPad) and annual events (Super Bowl). Should these topics really be compared to each other from a marketing perspective? Will tracking of such mixed topics really help Twitter’s future monetization? And more importantly will those Justin Bieber followers succeed in taking over the Twitterverse?

Share your thoughts on what trends and behaviors should be tracked on Twitter in the comments section.

Mrs. Obama is using the bully pulpit to raise awareness of the obesity issue and the epidemic’s impact on all aspects of society. As she pointed out during the launch of her awareness program on February 9, obesity is seen as a national security threat by military leaders and that, “Obesity is now one of the most common disqualifiers for military service. Additionally, economic experts tell us that we’re spending outrageous amounts of money treating obesity-related conditions like diabetes, heart disease and cancer. And public health experts tell us that the current generation could actually be on track to have a shorter life span than their parents.”

Mission: Readiness is also sounding the alarm about obesity. You can read more about how the organization is sharing its findings and call to action on the following blogs:

• • The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
  • Larry King Live
  • The Caucus (New York Times)

Lipman Hearne is proud to serve as a consultant to Mission: Readiness, the nonprofit, bi-partisan organization led by senior retired military leaders ensuring continued American security and prosperity into the 21st century by calling for smart investments in the next generation of American children.  Mission: Readiness is the key group raising awareness of the impact of obesity on young people, the military and our national security.

- Adam Shapiro, Vice President Public Affairs

The Real U represents the first book-length manuscript I’ve written since completing my doctoral program, which was largely focused on modern and contemporary American fiction.  And as I was finishing The Real U, I found myself contemplating one of the lasting questions of my doctoral work:  has the Great American Novel been written?  For those of you not part of this particular academic debate, the nature and presence of the GAN has been batted around like a shuttlecock by generations of literary critics, with the usual candidates being The Scarlet Letter, Moby Dick, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, The Great Gatsby, The Grapes of Wrath, and other texts.

My argument in my comprehensive exams was that the GAN hadn’t been written because I hadn’t written it yet.  Writers are nothing if not arrogant.  Now, nearly twenty years later, with no more novels having clattered under my fingertips, I’ve revised my thesis.  The Great American Novel is not a novel, it’s a brand.  It’s a brand in that any novel purporting to carry the GAN label has to meet certain established criteria in order to qualify.  But on a whole other level, the Great American Story – which is what any qualifying tome attempts to relate – may not be a novel at all, but may be, instead, a brand.

Our nation has always been about ambition, about establishing something new and making it last.  From John Winthrop describing our “city upon a hill” to Charles Wilson declaring “what’s good for General Motors” to Ray Kroc and Walt Disney and Howard Shultz and Phil Knight and Steve Jobs creating iconic entities, there’s been a long and strong convergence between the essential enterprise of America and the effective force of market-driven organizations.  Our big brands – McDonald’s and Disney and Starbucks and Nike and Apple – contain the American story, with all its strengths and faults, in a way that few if any books have been able to accomplish.

And if you really think about it, America itself is a brand – carrying with it the promise of an experience that we as a people, as an entity, must fulfill if we’re to live up to our collective aspirations.  So buy The Real U, sit down with a venti latte, power up your Mac, and do a Google search for “top 10 brands.”  You’re living the quintessential American dream.

- Rob Moore, Managing Partner

As such, companies are drooling for the chance to engage you with their latest project, create a conversation, or make you their brand champion.

Our firm recently grappled with the question, “Should we be on Facebook?”  We work for a lot of higher education institutions and nonprofit organizations, and we often provide consultation for how to set up and use social networks.  And so the question comes up:  “Are you on Facebook?  Why not?”

I’m happy to report that we took a dose of our own advice and really thought strategically about what we could gain  by starting a presence there.  And while there is some merit to the argument that if we’re not on Facebook, how can we advise others how to use it, the pure and simple answer is that it doesn’t make sense for us to be on Facebook.  We do not have the following of thousands.  We are not Coke or Apple or a major University.  Facebook is used on a predominantly social basis, and our contact with clients happens on a professional basis.

That doesn’t mean that we don’t engage social media, we do.  We have a blog (which you are reading), participate in discussions on LinkedIn and other networks, post our broadcast work on YouTube, and many of our executives Tweet on behalf of the firm.  These tactics work for us because they are venues where we can start a conversation with our clientele.  And that’s really what social media is all about: the beginnings of a conversation and, hopefully, a relationship.

- Elizabeth Barry, Client Development Manager