Category: ideas

Give it away, give it away, give it away now*

I’m not the world’s biggest Nine Inch Nails fan. In fact, until last night, I only owned one NIN album, Pretty Hate Machine. And only because, as a indiscriminate musical gourmand I figured out, through reading reviews and listening to samples of various NIN recordings, that Pretty Hate Machine pretty much epitomized the best and worst NIN had to offer. (But for the absolute best of what this band (or at least front man Trent Reznor) has to offer, watch this video of Johnny Cash’s cover of “Hurt.”)

nin-theslip.jpg

But last night I downloaded the new NIN album, The Slip. Not because I’m a big fan, or because I had to have it, but because it was free. As CNet’s news blog reported earlier this week, Nine Inch Nails is offering The Slip exclusively online — for free. On their website, NIN says they’re offering the work “as a thank you to our fans for your continued support.” And presumably those “fans” include curiosity-seekers like me.

So I’m listening to The Slip this morning and thinking about the notion of free.

What is it about this idea of free that draws us in? Dan Ariely, a behavioral economist at MIT, writes about this notion of free — or FREE! as he calls it — in a new book titled Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions (More info at preditablyirrational.com.) “What is it about FREE! that’s so enticing?” he wonders. “Why do we have an irrational urge to jump for a FREE! item, even when it’s not really what we want?”

The answer, Ariely believes, is this:

Most transactions have an upside and a downside, but when something is FREE! we forget the downside. FREE! gives us such an emotional charge that we perceive what is being offered as immensely more valuable than it really is. Why? I think it’s because humans are intrinsically afraid of loss. The real allure of FREE! is tied to this fear. There’s no visible possibility of loss when we choose a FREE! item (it’s free). But suppose we choose the item that’s not free. Uh-oh, now there’s a risk of having made a poor decision — the possibility of a loss. And so, given the choice, we go for what is free.

Would I have purchased The Slip as a physical product — say, as a CD? Not on your life. Or even as a digital album at a reduce price? Not at all likely. There’s too great a chance I might not like it, and I might feel cheated.

But when the product is made available for free, then there’s no risk. What have I got to lose? Other than some time listening to some music I may or may not like. (So far, through nine of the 10 tracks, the album’s decent in a techno/industrial/ambient sort of way. I don’t feel cheated of my time, since it also gave me a topic to blog about.)

The fact that Nine Inch Nails offered me something for free, at seemingly no risk, makes me feel pretty good about Nine Inch Nails. In my mind, these musicians are now somehow altruistic. At this moment, I feel better about NIN, even, than I felt about Radiohead after they let me purchase their In Rainbows at a price I chose.

This exchange between me and NIN seems like nothing but a win for me.

But it’s also a win for NIN. As Kneale Mann points out, this exchange isn’t quite as free as it seems. Like me, Mann downloaded free or discounted music from NIN and Radiohead. He also downloaded a new single from Coldplay. (Not me. Some free stuff just isn’t worth it.) “All three now have my email address. I’m now in the database. If you ask most marketing people, they would say that each participant in a study is worth about $10-15 which is about the price of (say it with me) a CD!”

Still, in my mind, a worthwhile exchange.

So what does this have to do with higher ed marketing? A lot.

Selecting a college is a risky proposition. Will I be happy here? Will I fit in? Can I make the grade? Will a degree from this school help me get a good job?

So is giving money back to your alma mater. How can I be sure the money will be used according to my wishes? What is their investment track record? Should I give my money to some other worthy cause?

Are there any free options, incentives or services we can offer prospective students, prospective donors and others that would help to lessen the perceived risk of investing in higher education?

What about waiving the application fee for a limited time as an incentive to get students to apply early in the admissions process? That’s a form of free, isn’t it?

What about giving alumni a special “third year free” in the alumni association for two years’ worth of annual dues?

What are your thoughts about free?

—————-
Now playing: Nine Inch Nails – Demon Seed
via FoxyTunes

* Apologies to Red Hot Chili Peppers

#CASECMT: day 1 take-aways

Getting ready for Day 2 of the three-day CASE Communications, Marketing and Technology Conference in San Diego. In a previous post, I mentioned that today would be my “sponge day” — my chance to site back and absorb a lot of stuff, since I wouldn’t be presenting — but plans have changed. The student panel we were to have fell through, so instead all of the breakout sessions will be repeated during that time. Which is a good alternative, as it gives attendees to attend all three sessions if they wish. (Or, as will likely happen tomorrow, a chance to blow off early from the conference and spend some time exploring San Diego.) So, it’s turned into a working day again, but that’s cool.

Day 1 take-aways

Opening keynote: “What You Need to Know About Today’s College-Bound Teens” (Fritz McDonald, creative director, Stamats). This was a thorough review of conclusions drawn from Stamats’ 2007 TeensTALK study on the attitudes, lifestyles, trends, etc., of this market segment. McDonald covered a lot of territory here, much of familiar to anyone in college/university marketing — about what millennials expect from their college experience, their life aspirations, etc. For the admissions folks at the conference, it was probably just a rehash. But I thought it gave us a good starting point for our discussions about technology and marketing, since college-bound teens have never known a world without so much of our technology (and so much marketing). But what stood out to me most were these tidbits:

  • High school sophomores are already preparing for college — and in a pretty sophisticated way. For instance, 47 percent say they’ve already decided where they’re going for college. So if we’re trying to recruit high school juniors and seniors, nearly half of them have already made up their minds. We need to make contact with them much earlier than we have in the past.
  • The campus visit is crucial — but they don’t really want to spend a lot of time with the admissions staff. Let them meet and talk to students. Also: don’t oversell. These kids have grown up saturated with marketing messages, and their crap detectors are pretty sensitive. Let the experience of the campus visit sell the place for you.
  • Word of mouth rules. Teens still rely on word-of-mouth recommendations from family members, peers, teachers, etc.
  • Online, it’s all about search and social networks. But we already knew that, right?

“Building Online Communities” (Tim O’Keeffe, Colgate University). No report. Paul and I missed this one as we were working with the IT guy to get Internet access for our breakout room. I’m hoping one of the other presenters will send me a report to post here. (Or any other conference-goer who would like to post a blog here, email me at andrew DOT careaga AT gmail DOT com.)

“Exploration of the Uses (and Misuses) of Flash in Higher Ed” (Casey Paquet, Eckerd College). Entertaining but with some substance. Paquet presented some examples of Flash campaigns, some pros and cons of Flash, and some alternatives. Paquet brings an interesting perspective, having worked in PR and web development as a freelancer and in the gaming industry. His point that higher ed is always about six years behind the curve in terms of PR, marketing and web development is spot-on, but I think he’s being generous. Some of us are more like eight to 10 years behind the curve.

Some of the examples of Flash usage in higher education that Paquet shared (view and decide for yourself whether they work or not):

Eckerd’s holiday e-card, a clever JibJabish approach featuring the college president and the web dudes (Paquet and his two colleagues).

Ben and John, from Franklin & Marshall College.

Kettering’s clever stick-figure School Daze series.

William Woods College’s Got Duck? campaign.

Paquet ended with a list of good and bad uses of flash.

First, the positives. Flash is good for:

  • multimedia content (such as YouTube, flash-based video)
  • entertaining people
  • building a mini-site
  • appealing to emotion

Flash is not so good for:

  • core navigation — not only is it “a pain in the butt to maintain” but it is rife with accessibility and usability challenges
  • displaying important information
  • building an entire site

And now…breakfast.