Srs analysis final

SUPER ROCKIN SIX Zac Bodner, Victor Gill, Samantha Hicks, Brooke McMahon, Stephanie Marcu, Heather Patterson 1

Problem Identification

The Stan Richards School of Advertising and Public Relations at the University of

Texas in Austin enrolls approximately 1,500 students a year (“About Advertising and Public Relations Programs”). The school offers a variety of undergraduate, graduate, and Ph.D. degrees, including a Master’s of Arts in Advertising. As stated on the program’s website, the mission is to combine Theory and Practice in order to strengthen “cross-disciplinary, cross-platform thinking”.

Although the SRS Graduate Program boasts a strong reputation, it lacks a cohesive brand identity. Our goal is to determine how the Stan Richards School defines and communicates the graduate program brand to prospective students and ranking agencies.

This case analysis will discuss the issues surrounding the Stan Richards School’s brand

recognition and identity, their web presence and their approach to reaching the target audience.

SRS is a very strong brand within the University of Texas, but there is ambiguity regarding the structure of the program and a lack of a strong centralized message to current and prospective students.

Critical Factors Program Structure

The program structure is one of the elements that defines the SRS brand. If the structure

is lacking clarity, is undefined, or is unknown to its prospective students, current students, or alumni, then the brand’s value will suffer. In order for the SRS brand to be communicated successfully to prospective students and ranking agencies, the program structure needs to be 2

well-defined and transparent.

The website’s SRS graduate page indicates that there is only one track within the

program, the creative sequence. In reality, there are three tracks offered to students: Creative, Media and Account Planning. The case study revealed that when alumni were asked about the media track, most of them stated that it was non-existent, despite the fact that the majority had graduated within the past two or three years. Similarly, when addressing the Account Planning track, alumni said they didn’t know about it or it was not well-defined (“The Stan Richards School of Advertising and Public Relations Master’s Program: A Case Study”). As the case study reveals, two out of the three tracks are stated as “not well-defined” or “non-existent”; this is a problem that the program needs to address in order to strengthen and add clarity to their brand.

Website

Due to the fact that a considerable number of a brand’s consumers spend “a significant

amount of time online,” a digital presence is largely important for the SRS Graduate Program (Nielsen article). 66% of current students found the graduate program through online research and the website (“The Stan Richards School of Advertising and Public Relations Master’s Program: A Case Study”). This being said, having an updated website that is visually appealing, easy to navigate and fluid is vital to the success of the program. While the SRS Graduate Program has an operable website and existing presence across social media outlets, there is significant room for improvement. The current website is lacking specific information about the three tracks offered in the program: Creative, Media, and Account Planning, has outdated information about the mentorship program, and is difficult to navigate overall.

Furthermore, the website has not been updated in over 5 years (“The Stan Richards School 3

of Advertising and Public Relations Master’s Program: A Case Study”). For prospective students to be able to fully understand what the program offers and what they will get out of it, maintenance of the website needs to be a top priority.

Visual Branding

Humans are storytellers, and from our beginnings, we relied heavily on images

and symbols to tell these stories. The images on the walls of caves were not only used to communicate, entertain, and warn of danger, but also to prove a point - that the person responsible for creating the image existed. Much like these early artists, brands use visuals to help define and convey their identity and existence.

There is no shortage of research investigating the power and influence of images in our

affect, cognition and attitudes. An evaluation of eye tracking experiments during Dr. Eastin’s Media Management class proves that when viewing Facebook pages or visual advertisements - the image portions are the most reviewed portion of the image, and the initial time it takes to orient to them is faster than it is to the text (Eastin). Studies also show that our brains respond to and encode images faster than text. In some cases, up to 60,000 times faster (Gutierrez).

This has a direct application on why organizations need a logo. Jason Gillikin, in his article

“The Importance of Logos in Business” writes, “As the major graphical representation, a logo anchors a company’s brand and becomes the single most visible manifestation of the company within the target market.” Additionally, a logo serves to become a symbol of brand attributes (Park).

Take Nike for example. Nike is named after the winged Greek Goddess of Victory

(Redding). Their logo, the “Swoosh” is a rendition of a wing and is meant to embody speed, flight, endurance and transcendence.

4

The SRS does not have as strong a visual component to its brand as some of the other

colleges at the University of Texas, in particular, The McCombs School of Business (Appendix A). If the SRS Graduate Program seeks to differentiate itself from the undergraduate program and other colleges at UT, it will need to address this. A key factor in this process will be the development and implementation of an individualized logo.

Relationships with agencies and alumni

One of the main resources available to students in the SRS program is the city of Austin

itself. Alongside more established advertising cities such as New York and Chicago, Austin has established itself as a hotbed for the Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations fields (Rodriguez). Establishing relationships and connections with these fields is a critical factor in defining the value of the SRS brand.

Access to professional organizations and opportunities is one of the main reasons people

opt for graduate study. In keeping with its motto of Theory X Practice, SRS currently employs many tactics to ensure its students are prepared for the professional world. For example, in Dr. Eastin’s Media Management course, the class is given the opportunity to perform case studies and analyses with real brands and clients. Afterward, the insights from the winning studies and analyses are often applied to the brands themselves.

One way to add on to these tactics would be for SRS to establish working relationships

with the professional Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations communities of Austin.

Graduate students seek, not only knowledge, but also experience. They seek tutelage from people who have been in their shoes and are in positions that they aspire to be in. They have questions about life after graduation and what they can expect from various job titles and career paths.

5

Unfortunately, professors and faculty are not always equipped to answer these questions.

Establishing these relationships would be reciprocal in nature; just as students seek

resources to help them land jobs, employers seek talent and fresh perspective. Graduate schools are hotbeds for both. The SRS is a talent pool unlike most others in the field. Advertising, marketing and public relations agencies and professionals in Austin would be wise to take advantage of this.

Furthering this idea, establishing working relationships with SRS alumni would also

be advantageous. According to the UT website, “graduates of the advertising program at UT include people with very impressive credentials, and they are employed in a wide range of jobs.�

These alumni are valuable assets to the program, particularly as brand ambassadors, mentors, professional connections, and word of mouth advocates.

Target Audience

Identifying a target audience is one of the most crucial elements for the SRS to consider.

Without knowing the target audience, it is difficult to realistically expect the brand and school to grow. For SRS, there are two primary target audiences – prospective students and ranking agencies. Within these primary target audiences, two secondary audiences exist. Among prospective students, there are both undergraduates from UT and from other universities in the U.S. and abroad. There are also two types of ranking agencies - academic and professional.

A tertiary target audience are alumni from the SRS program. It is important for all of these target audiences to be aware of the SRS brand, and that the program is seen as cohesive and transparent.

6

Showcasing Brand Value

Central to the idea of branding is the brand promise. What do you get when you go with

this brand over others? What is the value of this brand and how does this brand deliver? In other words, how does it showcase its value and guarantee that its consumer will receive this value consistently in future transactions and relationships? With a service, particularly an educational service like UT, delivering on brand promise takes time. This sentiment is echoed in the SRS Case Study when it states, “The development of brand reputation in institutions of higher learning requires a process very different from that of product brand reputation.�

The full value of the educational experience is unrealized until later in life. While short-

term affect toward classes explains temporary perceptions, long-term brand value, such as internships and job placement, are not realized until later. In this regard, assessing brand-value can be a complex and difficult process.

General Solutions Program Structure SRS Graduate Program Faculty Meeting

According to the research done in the case study, faculty members of the SRS

Graduate Program were unaware of the program having three tracks. In order for SRS to be able to effectively communicate its brand to prospective students and ranking agencies, all members representing the brand have to be on the same page to form unified and transparent objectives.

To ensure this, an initial meeting consisting of all members on the faculty for the

SRS Graduate Program needs to take place. The purpose of the meeting will be to define the 7

three tracks and create objectives and goals for the future of the brand.

OBJECTIVES FOR FIRST MEETING: -

What are the goals for the program?

-

Faculty’s definition of “AdGrad”

-

Anything that should be added to website that isn’t there?

-

Define what the three tracks entail/what students can expect from pursuing track.

• Creative track definition:

- How do the courses from this track prepare students for the real world? (i.e.

what professions?)

• Account Planning track definition:

- How do the courses from this track prepare students for the real world? (i.e.

what professions?)

• Media track definition:

- How do the courses from this track prepare students for the real world? (i.e.

what professions?)

Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is one of the SRS’ main competitors. They

provide a strong example of how definitions and descriptions for each track can help with branding. See (Figure 1) from their website.

It is important for the staff to establish these objectives because although most students

are currently satisfied with the program, they want better definitions and curriculum for each track; more specifically, students want courses that line up with current industry standards (“The 8

Stan Richards School of Advertising and Public Relations Master’s Program: A Case Study”).

Website

The case study revealed that 66% of the students found this Master’s program through

online research, so the website plays a huge role in informing students. Since more than half of the prospective students’ first impression of the program is the school’s website, then it is crucial that the SRS website is an accurate representation of the brand. Dr. Gary Wilcox, Graduate Advisor and the head of the SRS Graduate Program, revealed that the SRS graduate webpage had not been updated in over 5 years and was in major need of an update. The case study also stated that students wish there to be more transparency of the program on the website itself.

Prospective students want to see what current students are doing (creative work, case

studies, account planning competitions, Ad Grad battle, the clients we are working with, etc.) and what alumni are doing (where they work, what awards have they won, how did SRS contribute to their career, what advice and teachings do they have for the rest of us, etc.) Although ranking agencies also want to see this info, they are more interested in the faculty.

One of the main goals in modifying the SRS website is to put more emphasis on

showcasing the faculty (research, awards, prestige) and the tangible impact they have within the school and community around them. For example, Dr. Eastin is the most cited professor in the program. Thousands of students and faculty reference his research to prove points in their own work (Research Gate). Also, Robert Lewis is currently paired with an agency to perform research on drunk driving at UT (Lewis, Interview). Lewis is performing this research to ultimately curb drunk driving at the university and within the Austin community. This research is a significant initiative, made by significant assets of this program. Students and agencies want the chance to 9

learn and work with these assets.

The website currently points to many of these accomplishments, but does not provide

enough detail. Furthermore, it is neither well organized or easily accessed. Users have to do a lot of investigating and clicking through multiple links in order to find information. Also, the website has links to its different social media platforms, but they are not readily apparent. For prospective students to get an accurate representation and transparent view of the SRS Graduate Program, graduate students in the program will all be given the chance at the beginning of next semester to design what the new SRS website will look like, as well as how content is displayed.

Members of the SRS faculty will be on the deciding board, and once a design is selected, the student will then spend the rest of the semester working with the web developer on staff for SRS on creating the site.

Content for the website will be given from the SRS faculty/program to the student, along

with a list of content that is required by all UT websites to have.

CONTENT FROM SRS/SRS FACULTY WILL INCLUDE:

- SRS logo

- The three separate definitions for each track from faculty (creative, media, account

planning)

- This can be as simple as providing links to separate pages for each track.

- SRS downloadable brochure

- Faculty bios (including works published)

- Course descriptions

- Testimonies from current students and alumni 10

- Program rankings

- History of program

- Student projects/awards (current and past)

- Website must be user friendly and easy to navigate

Students will be encouraged to “think outside the box” as to how to make the SRS

website truly unique. While it’s crucial they add the above information, they are encouraged to add other material they see would be beneficial for the website to have, such as making a video to put up on the website, including a quote from Stan Richards himself regarding the SRS program, etc.

Brand Identity Logo

The Stan Richards School itself does, in fact, have a logo. This logo is present throughout

all social media channels, but not on the website. Furthermore, the logo is not present anywhere in the Belo Center for New Media, the building in which the Stan Richards School for Advertising and Public Relations is located. If the SRS Graduate Program wishes to clearly define its brand, the SRS as a whole will need a clearly defined visual identity of which they can be a part. For example, the McCombs School of Business does not have separate identities for each individual program within the school, for this would detract from the whole (Appendix A).

The new SRS logo, a similar version to the current one, will be represented by a star with

“Stan Richards School” beneath it. One of the main points a logo serves is to represent a brand’s value and mission. In this respect, a star embodies many things, including intensity, energy, 11

independence, and guidance; these are some of the key attributes that the SRS brand wishes to represent.

One of the main reasons that the McCombs School has such high brand awareness is

that they have an extremely strong visual component to their identity, and it is present across all of their touchpoints (Appendix A). McCombs makes sure to showcase the value of its brand visually wherever possible, and SRS needs to do the same. The brand needs to be showcased in the building, across all digital and social channels, on all marketing collateral, powerpoints, and paraphernalia (Appendix B). SRS needs to establish the visual component of its brand in a more pronounced way, which will create an important aspect of branding for SRS that it currently does not have - a visual identity. This new visual identity will help to establish brand awareness.

Mentorship program with agencies and alumni

Establishing and maintaining relationships with agencies and alumni is vital to further

developing brand awareness as well as strengthening the brand. Developing a relationship with agencies would give the SRS program an advantage over other programs, as well as over the SRS undergraduate program. The case study states that institution credibility must be built of the credibility of staff, reputation, of the university, the website, and word-of-mouth. It also states that alumni can also act as effective ambassadors and marketers for graduate school. With a large percentage of alumni working at advertising agencies, ranging from art directors to media buyers to researchers and all fields in between, it’s important to reach out to them and maintain a relationship. Since the surveys from the case study revealed that alumni did not even know about the three tracks within the program, more specifically the media and account planning tracks, it’s even more crucial than ever to maintain a relationship in order to update them on the program’s 12

progress.

To establish and maintain these relationships, a mentorship program should be put in

place. The mentorship program would entail the Advertising Graduate Council (AGC) members emailing agencies around the Austin area as well as alumni around the nation. The email would ask the recipients if they would like to be a mentor for the semester or more to a graduate student in the SRS program. The email will include a list of what will be expected of them if they agree.

The list of what will be expected of each mentor will include:

- Being available whether in person, on email, or phone calls for students to bounce

questions off of, whether they be project questions or questions regarding the industry.

- Meet with mentor once-a-month whether it’s in person or through Skype.

- Give student insight into their job, so the student can know what to expect.

Establish Alumni Word-of-Mouth Campaign

According to the SRS Case Study, alumni can serve as “effective ambassadors and

marketers for the graduate school.” In order to leverage this opportunity, the program should reach out to alumni who teach at universities throughout the nation via email, in hopes that they will reach out to students about the SRS Graduate Program. A blurb would be included about the program, as well as links to the website and social media accounts. Additionally, it is encouraged that professors share a small flyer with students. This is a cost-effective opportunity for SRS to generate word-of-mouth about the graduate program to prospective students who may be seeking to get a higher degree after receiving their undergraduate degree.

Recommendation 13

According to the Journal of Advertising Education, the Texas Advertising and

Public Relations program “was ranked as the best in the U.S.” However, there is no brand or organization that doesn’t have room for improvement. The most important factor is to improve the overall brand and to communicate it more effectively. In order to achieve this, the SRS Graduate Program should create a concrete visual identity to better define its program structure, and make sure the same message is being communicated online. Much like how having a stronger commercial brand can increase the amount of loyal customers, the SRS Graduate Program must strengthen its brand in order to attract prospective students, improve ranking agencies’ perceptions, and strengthen the overall reputation among the faculty, hiring agencies, and alumni. This case analysis pinpoints areas within the organization that could use improvement.

The first portion of this recommendation targets the school’s current website. Due to a

lack of resources and manpower, the website has not been updated in a manner commensurate with one of the leading institutions of higher learning in the nation (Wilcox). This being the case, a complete overhaul is long overdue. This is necessary for many reasons, but overall brand image and improved communication top the list. If prospective students come across information on the website that has not been updated since 2012, this reflects very poorly on our brand and might result in negative associations. Furthermore, the brand’s structure and accomplishments need to be better organized and communicated. The Graduate Brochure is the most downloaded piece of marketing collateral that the SRS has. For this reason, it is imperative that it is updated and clearly outlines what prospective students can expect from this program.

The second part of the recommendation is a general faculty meeting to clearly define the

vision and direction of this brand. The goal of the faculty meeting will be to more clearly define 14

the the three tracks and the overall goals of the program. Any brand needs consistency in terms of its identity and objectives. Without this consistency, it will suffer. SRS is no exception.

The third part of the recommendation involves the establishment of a new logo for the program.

This case analysis points to the fact that a brand without a strong visual component to its identity is incomplete. Consumers need a way to access a brand in the world, a visual component is critical in this respect.

Implementation

The Stan Richards School lacks a cohesive brand identity. SRS needs to focus on

developing and maintaining positive brand awareness. A clear definition of the brand is necessary. First, SRS needs to establish a distinctive and strong visual identity. This can be achieved by using a new logo and implementing it in as many areas as possible. Remaining consistent with the existing star logo for the graduate school, a subtle redesign will aid in marketing the brand. The proposed campaign places SRS at the forefront of all marketing and branding efforts, therefore, the logo needs to be adjusted to reflect this.

15

Additionally, and just as important, SRS needs to get all faculty on the same page. A

one-time faculty meeting which addresses the list of objectives provided is recommended. This faculty meeting will aid towards defining and strengthening the brand identity, as well as getting everyone on the same page. The meeting should be held at the start of any campaign activities, so as to have a cohesive understanding of the brand prior to any big changes being applied. Faculty should plan for a meeting in January or February 2016.

SRS needs to update the website. A strong internet presence is critical in today’s world.

The aforementioned web design competition creates a personal involvement with the brand and generates talk among students. With an expected launch date of July 2016, the web design competition will be introduced in December 2015 and due by February 22, 2016. The website will be developed and designed by the winning student and the web developer throughout the spring semester, March through May. Ideally, the website would be launched in July 2016, in time for fall semester, but enough time to solve any unanticipated problems.

The goal is to maintain consistency across all visual platforms. A clear logo and updated

website work cohesively to establish the brand, increase brand awareness and strengthen brand identity. The timeline allows a year, 2016, for the changes. The number of hits on the website, number of downloads of the brochure, and change in the number of applications can all be measured and assessed to track brand engagement.

16

SRS Faculty Meeting Flyer

17

New SRS Logo

18

Student Website Design Competition Infographic

19

Graduate Brochure additions

20

Graduate Brochure additions continued

21

Graduate Brochure additions continued

Conclusion Overall, the school has a very strong reputation, but the lack of a strong centralized message and clear brand fosters ambiguity in the target audience. The website is the most critical factor in today’s marketing success (two-thirds of current students located the program online). As mentioned earlier, the website is unclear and confusing on several fronts, including the number and specification of tracks. This internal inconsistency makes the program appear tentative or unorganized and thus weakens the brand. In addition, the website does not link to its other social media platforms, and the offerings are not transparent. Since the web is the only venue seen by the majority of prospective students and agencies, this is an area in which change is of the utmost importance.

22

Further, the strong brand associated with the University of Texas and the Richards Group does not extend to the Stan Richards School. The SRS brand should perhaps be utilized more pervasively and distinctly. In addition, there is inconsistency in the logo use on the website and other social media platforms. Consistency in logo application appears to be a critical goal. In addition, showcasing accomplishments could help attract consumers.

A crucial step would be to increase communication and to use consistent formats in all areas. There was some confusion among faculty as to how many tracks were included and there were different objectives. It is crucial that all faculty meet together to develop a mutual objectives on formatting and presenting the three tracks. All three tracks could use a standard format to ensure a strong brand identity and to highlight their mutual objectives for the future of the brand.

23

Figure 1

24

Appendix A APPENDIX A

25

26