Here at Education Innovation, I spend a lot of time looking to the field of marketing and branding as a source of ideas, insight, direction, and inspiration. Marketers and education have more in common than you would think. What follows is a list of reasons why I think marketers could improve education.
Why Marketers could improve education
Marketers are concerned with creating ideas that are memorable.
Marketers are forced to be creative and innovative.
Marketers are expert users of data and statistics
Marketers want to reach people and impact their thinking
Marketers are expert at using current and emerging technology
Marketers try to reach people and communicate their ideas in creative and innovative ways
Marketers are very much results driven.
Marketers are passionate.
Marketers seek to inspire.
Marketers are expert at anticipating and understanding global trends.
Marketers seek to create the future, not just react to it.
Marketers understand their biggest asset is their employees’.
Seth Godin said, “Your marketing changes the way people act.”
Don’t we try to do that in education?
So the key question is: Who is having more success, marketing or education?
Some of my favorite sites for marketing, branding, and idea mojo are
Marketers and agencies want and should do most of what you highlight...but few do. Fewer still do them well. My problem with your "follow the marketers" lead is that interactively, we need to come to grips with the fact that the students "being educated" have more to teach us about the tools than any "marketer". While "kids" believe they can use interactivity to change the world (see: Obama, TakingIT Global, etc.), I see too many marketers driven by fear of the medium rather than love for it.
And "what seems to count more than possession of instruments of power is faith ìn the future. Where power is not joined with faith in the future, it is used mainly to ward off the new and preserve the status quo." Eric Hoffer, said it in "The True Believer", and I believe.
I read your post and like Agent Mulder,"I want to believe", but I find myself quoting Fresh Tommy Paine: "Lead, Follow, or get out of the way."
How, within the confines of education, do you allow innovation UP, rather than DOWN?
Posted by: renny gleeson | January 05, 2009 at 03:31 PM
When the student BECOMES the Teacher young grasshopper.
Posted by: Rob Jacobs | January 06, 2009 at 03:00 PM
Marketers will also say what they are paid to say, which makes them almost the antithesis of what we should aspire to in education.
It wasn't too long ago that marketing firms came up with campaigns about the health benefits of smoking.
Are marketers doing well financially? Probably, as there are always people/companies with images that need burnishing (cue ad for clean coal). However, the fact that there is a need for people to spin data against a compelling soundtrack, and that these skills demand top dollar, should not be misconstrued into an object lesson for how to improve education.
Cheers,
Bill
Posted by: Bill Fitzgerald | January 08, 2009 at 06:23 AM
Rob,
You are spot on here. As a marketer married to a teacher we have discussions all the time about employing marketing strategies and techniques at a macro and micro level in education settings.
My wife is starting down the administrative path this year and is determined to upend the old ways
We will keep visiting here for like-minded info!
Steve Averill - OCBizblog
Posted by: Steve Averill | January 08, 2009 at 03:12 PM
I liked this post. I had related thoughts in my own blog post "What if Nike ran our high schools!!!" see http://daveporter.typepad.com/global_strategies/2009/05/what-if-nike-ran-our-high-schools.html.
Posted by: Dave Porter | August 03, 2009 at 06:00 PM
Nice post, Rob. And thanks so much for including Brains on Fire in your list of favorite sites for branding and marketing. We're honored. And we also make it a priority to learn from those outside our field as well. It's the only way we can get smarter and think differently about how to do the best job for our clients.
Keep on keepin' on!
Posted by: Spike Jones | August 05, 2009 at 05:41 AM
Teachers market knowledge. (but in fact only few of them possess the proper skill)
Posted by: fmvs | August 06, 2009 at 02:51 AM