Comments on: How is YOUR summer vacation?

By: deanflagel

deanflagel — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 20:25:56 +0000

this IS fun!! Whoop!

By: michael stanley

michael stanley — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 20:00:55 +0000

Dean Flagel:
Do you get a summer vacation? Did you do anything fun?

By: deanflagel

deanflagel — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 14:36:27 +0000

Awesome. I guess I better get you lanyard!
It’s funny but if you do focus groups you will find with EVERY group that FREE is good. Sears and Roebock identified that years and years ago in their analysis of reponses to catalog sales – but somehow that is news to many. At the same time, no matter how much free stuff one offers, millenials are a notoriously fickle group. Personally, I don’t think you can buy brand loyalty with giveaways – at the center you just have to have the best product for the best price (like Mason, of course). At the same time, I’ll keep giving away some swag…just in case.

By: HopefulMason2011

HopefulMason2011 — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 13:55:35 +0000

We actually just had a big marketing meeting at the training for my job in which all of us high school kids brainstormed our butts off and flooded our marketing guru with a huge amount of ideas about what we like-and even more on what we really, really hate. In the end, our biggest thing was- high school kids are suckers for anything (and I mean absolutely anything) free. Pencils, pens, lanyards, you name- if its free, it will be taken.

PS- Mason is my #1 choice- even above UVA. Just a little ego booster for you.

By: Mason 2013 :-)

Mason 2013 :-) — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 04:17:17 +0000

Good idea southlakesmom after using facebook for awhile you don’t look at the ads much but product placement is always awesome.

As for mailing advertisments I liked Mason’s more than the other colleges mail mainly because it gave lots of information and reasons to go thier and was more colorful, organized and detailed. Mason also didn’t send too much mail like some colleges where I just “autotrashed” thier mail.

Orientation was great as well! Your speaches to your admitted students are always good. (Way better than all the information sessions that follow :p) The food is always good. The people are always cool. GO MASON

By: deanflagel

deanflagel — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 01:31:11 +0000

not to mention all the D.C. based shows – you’d think we could at least get a consistent mention on NCIS and Bones. At least on the old JAG show one of the lawyers would often mention his Mason law degree!

By: southlakesmom

southlakesmom — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 01:13:40 +0000

I’m thinking if you send a Mason hoodie to one of stars of the show right after Mason wins something big again, you’ll probably get some awesome product placement…but I may be naiive.

By: deanflagel

deanflagel — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 11:11:36 +0000

You’ve described our frustration beautifully!! Unfortunately for the way your tuition dollars are spent, many admissions offices spend a lot of time and energy figuring out what students “like”, which often has very little to do with what motivates students to select a particular institution.
We’re still in the early stages of testing Facebook advertising, and advertising on the web is changing rapidly. I suspect, as with most advertising, it will depend on how well the message can be targted to the audience. In other words, a broad ad saying “Mason is great” likely won’t produce much response (however true it might be), but a series of ads that are tailored to your academic and extracurricular interests might have a better chance. Imagine, for instance, that you’re a premed student interested in psychology and you had a facebook ad when you login in noting, “Students from have a chance to study and do research in one of the top three neuroscience programs in the country BEFORE going to graduate or medical school! Check out that incredible opportunity, and thousands of others, at http://www.masonmetro.com“.

By: Faye Skeen

Faye Skeen — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:18:21 +0000

Also, I must ask: Is advertising on Facebook really all that successful?

By: Faye Skeen

Faye Skeen — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:08:17 +0000

A preface: I am a recent high school graduate who will be entering college in the fall. I just wanted to say that your blog was invaluable during the frenzied college application period, even if only for helping me keep my head about testing and essays and such. You have so much great information in here, and it is presented in a humorous and accessible way that helps out those floundering in a sea of unclear (and frankly suspect) admissions advice. So, thank you.

Anyway, on to my comment.

I actually really liked getting all the mail. It was rather exciting, as I never receive any post otherwise. I think the ones that made the best impression on me were the letters where it seemed like the school had put actual effort into recruiting the student. Like, from one university I received a magazine/pamphlet very tastefully and artistically put together and on very nice paper… and it actually included useful information, which honestly surprised me. Another school that very definitely piqued my interest (until I found out average January temperatures were around 21 degrees) sent me an extremely funny come-to-our-school letter. It advertised things like “150 days of sunlight a year!,” “5216 lbs of student! (That’s more than 2 tons!),” and “Indoor plumbing!,” all with such gusto that the humor was obvious. I know humor is finicky, but that letter absolutely charmed my socks off.

I admit, I really didn’t care for any other form of recruitment (anything on the internet is immediately under suspicion, and I don’t really read any magazines). It is very nice, however, when the school’s website is a) not atrocious looking and b) organized so that people can find things.

Of course, now is the time I reveal that I chose a state school that had not reached out to me in the slightest, thereby rendering much of my previous comment invalid. Oh well. *runs away*