Talk About Targeted Advertising!
The education page over at MSNBC.com has this very interesting feature about a fascinating new way that some colleges are trying to attract students: By designing ads aimed specifically at sought-after pupils.
And by "specifically," I mean, like, to the name. Literally.
Among the kids included in the story are 18-year-old Nicole Pollock, of Pennsylvania, whose name, in an ad campaign by Wilkes University, was "plastered ... on billboards, pizza boxes and gas pumps -- and even aired a commercial on MTV -- in hopes of getting her to enroll. As one message put it: "We just hope you're on your way to Wilkes University next year."
Wow! Imagine driving down the highway and seeing your name on a billboard, begging you to attend some fancy school.
So far it sounds like this new technique is more or less unique to Wilkes University, but it can't be long before other schools follow suit to some degree, right? Let me know if you hear of such a thing happening anywhere around here.