Super Bowl Lessons for Higher Education Marketers

What would you do if you suddenly had $4.5 million in your marketing budget?

Imagine hiring all the staff you needed to accomplish your goals. What about investing in a “best in class” CRM? Or how about attending more recruitment fairs around the world? Even better, what if you could pay the travel expenses so that exceptional candidates living thousands of miles away could visit your campus?

Then again, you could choose to blow the entire $4.5 million on one 30-second television spot.

As inbound marketers, we would consider that be a big fumble.

But that’s exactly what Coca-Cola, Nissan, Nationwide, Kia, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Chevrolet, McDonalds, Doritos, Budweiser, Snickers, and plenty of other world-class brands did during Super Bowl XLIX.

Was it worth it? Did they succeed? We’ll leave it to the Donny Deutsch’s of the world to weigh in.

Meanwhile, here are some valuable inbound marketing lessons for those of us in higher education.

Emotional Messaging

Fifty percent of every buying decision is driven by emotion. Higher education, in particular, is an incredibly emotional and personal purchase.

The more you can connect with prospective students on an emotional level, the more likely your candidate with become attached to your brand and offering.

Many ads this year tugged at our heartstrings, but perhaps none better than Budweiser’s commercial which climbed to the top of the Super Bowl Ad Meter. What lessons can you apply to content on your website? How can you incorporate emotional messaging in your blogs and videos? (Getting a puppy for your campus could be another important takeaway!)

Communicate the Benefits

Want to lose interest of your prospective students faster than Katy Perry flipped her ponytail during the halftime show? Talk about the features rather than benefits of your program on your website. Always, always show how your program will improve the life of prospective students and help them reach their goals. As Professor Tim Calkins of Kellogg School of Management says:

“Having a compelling benefit is critical…you need to give people a reason to buy.”

And speaking of benefits, here is an ad that really, um, expands on the topic.

Provide Entertainment Value

There’s no doubt about it. Academia is serious business. We talk about academic rigor, accreditation, faculty expertise, and selective admissions policies– but that doesn’t mean that the educational experience can’t be fun at the same time. The two aren’t mutually exclusive.

Think about how your messaging can be entertaining as well as informative to build excitement for your programs.

Take a pointer from this ad. Who knew that avocados could be so much fun? #FirstDraftEver

Content is the MVP

There’s nothing more important than great content to get your brand noticed and message heard. “The better the creative, the better the impact,” says Professor Puneet Manchanda, Chair of Marketing at University of Michigan Ross School of Business.

This ad from Doritos underscores that we are only limited by our imagination. Think of ways to be creative in communicating your value proposition to candidates. Stand out from the herd – or pigpen.

Debunk Myths

Let’s say that a media ranking just came out and it doesn’t reflect your program’s value proposition in the marketplace. Or, maybe your business school, for example, is known for Finance in a world where more students are opting for careers in Entrepreneurship. Want to change perceptions? Think about ways you change conventional wisdom like Always did so well here. #LikeAGirl

Authenticity

In our digital world, consumers expect (and demand) transparency. Slick ads don’t engender trust with millennials. And there is a lot of risk that goes into purchasing a six-figure educational degree. How will you demonstrate authenticity in your digital marketing collateral? You don’t have to spend a lot of money in perfectly groomed communications to convey your benefits. Being genuine matters most. This ad from Dove, which is a series of home videos, cleans up nicely. #RealStrength

Empowerment

What comes to mind when you think of Microsoft? Windows 10? What about technology to help a little boy play baseball? We often talk about the skill development and acquisition of knowledge that takes place in higher education, but what about the bigger picture? How is your program improving the lives of others in new and uncommon ways? How can you get to the end zone to more fully reflect the entire educational experience? Here’s some inspiration from Microsoft. #Empowering

Aspirational Actors

While we don’t mean enlisting actors literally like Pierce Brosnan in this Kia ad, but anytime you create content about your brand, think about the main “characters” in your storyline. Be sure to feature real yet aspirational “players” whom your prospects can identify. Tell alumni success stories. Describe why your professors are acclaimed and how that translates into tangible benefits for the student.

Rise Above the Noise

With 350,000 tweets sent per minute, 3.3 billion Google searches each day, and 6 billion hours of videos watched each month on YouTube, how can your content get found and heard above all the noise?

The answer is quite simple. Be memorable. As Marketing Professor Tim Calkins of Kellogg School of Management states:

“The first thing is you have to catch people’s attention. There are a lot of ads that are going to run on the Super Bowl, and you’ve got to find some way to grab people’s attention to hook them to the spot. (Second), you need to be different as well. So it’s not just enough to get people’s attention. You need distinction, something that’s unique.”

Take a look at McDonald’s ad below. Are they just “selling” burgers and fries or creating a unique and engaging experience to humanize the brand?

Post-game thoughts

Going back to the rivalry, so to speak, with outbound marketing, we don’t mean knock down TV advertising altogether. After all, Super Bowl TV ratings show that over 40 percent of American households tune into watch the NFL championship game, according to the Stanford Graduate School of Business article,“Do Super Bowl Ads Really Work?” That’s a lot of eyeballs and a big opportunity to create buzz.

Yet there’s room on the team for inbound marketing. Super Bowl advertisers scored extra touchdowns by creating positive amplification through social media.

As Marketing Professor Tim Calkins of The Kellogg School of Management states:

“You need something to talk about that people find interesting, exciting, and worthy of talking about and sharing. The Super Bowl is this platform that marketers can use to engage with people. It’s no longer just running an ad on the game--it’s now the ad on the game plus all of the YouTube views you’re going to pick up, and all of the discussion you might get on Facebook, and all of the chatter on Twitter. The list goes on.”

In the end, inbound marketing wins the trophy for creating conversations and engagement with prospects in a way that can’t happen with just a TV ad.

For other ideas on creating engagement with prospects around super-sized cultural events, check out what Kellogg School of Management did here with their Super Bowl Ad Review page.