The Musings Of An Opinionated Sod [Help Me Grow!]


The Illiteracy Of The Marketeer …
March 26, 2009, 6:21 am
Filed under: Comment

Alan Goh – director of SMU’s office of undergraduate admissions – says:

“We think we have been the catalyst in redefining how branding ought to be done in the tertiary sphere; we do not see ourselves merely competing against the local universities but universities within Asia, where attracting top quality talents to study in Singapore remains our focus.”

“In our quest to jettison ourselves from being a Singapore-based university into a world-class university, our strategy is to embrace new media – websites, blogs, chats, social networks – which are emerging to be powerful channels of communications that are part of youths’ lifestyle.”

“We thought out of the box and rationalised spending in the print medium while espousing a medium where we can become the media owner – the web. This is culled from our findings that the top three sources of information gathering by university-bound students are word of mouth, newspapers and SMU websites.”

I need add nothing more except to say SMU is a much better place than this campaign will do for them.

At its heart, it’s a university for entrepreneurs … people who want to create something with their life rather than simply follow the masses up the corporate ladder of a pre-exisiting, foreign, faceless organisation.

It’s more of the same bland bollocks every other Singapore University spouts and so as much as Alan say’s this is going to help them compete across Asia, the reality is its going to make them blend even more into the background.

If you want to attract youth – speak and think like them – what hope has the young generation got when their educators are focused on churning out even more brand consultants and investment bankers.


18 Comments so far
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The problem is the location of his primary and secondary spheres.

Comment by John

i never thought id ever fucking say this but its good to see dodds back.

the guy sounds a total fucking bore and so does smu but doesnt your mate teach there campbell? can you afford to lose another friend?

i know asian students go to uni to learn rather than get pissed and laid but even with this blokes carefully chosen marketing bollocks i cant see why anyone would choose to go there over another fucking uni.

at least campbells suggestion suggests a place that is different, interesting and active sounding but then if campbell is right the country wants to produce suit and tie wearing middle management which is the last thing the world and companies fucking need.

sounds like a uni craving fucking cred than a uni that will give its students any. another missed op even if a planner came up with the idea.

Comment by andy@cynic

You may not realise it Andrew but you make quite a few pertinent comments in your vulgarity filled rant. Comments I happen to agree with.

Comment by Lee Hill

Andy for president …

… but only for the one day.

Comment by Rob

Alan Goh sounds like a contender for the World bullshit bingo title but he’ll have to wrestle the accolade away from Peter Arnell first. 🙂

Comment by Bazza

Oh my..well, perhaps it’s up to the students to prove that they’re different, if the school doesn’t want to anymore, then.

Comment by Nabilah

Yes … but we both know that in Singapore if you don’t follow the ‘rules’ they try to kick you out before you even have a chance to show how your ideas and talent can shine.

Thank god for people like MC and you for proving there is still some hope … but for how much longer I don’t know …

Comment by Rob

what does Michael Caine have to do with saving Singapore?

though he did save gotham, so perhaps I should not question his powers..

Comment by niko

This sentence made me want to vomit blood.

“We thought out of the box and rationalised spending in the print medium while espousing a medium where we can become the media owner”

Comment by Rob Mortimer

Yep, that has to be one of the worst marketing sentences I’ve EVER read.

OUT THE BOX
RATIONALISED
ESPOUSING
MEDIA OWNER

I think Bazza is right, this guy does want to win Bullshit Bingo and he’s in a good position to pull it off … the sad, small minded little bugger.

Comment by Rob

You could rewrite that in a third of the words whilst making it three times as interesting.

Thats less bullshit bingo than bullshit machine gunning

Comment by Rob Mortimer

Landor were involved in this?

Comment by John

*zing*

Comment by Rob Mortimer

singapore landor more fucking like. total wank.

saw your old agency twats were behind this. they really miss they dont they and so they fucking shoud

(consider that compliment your birthday present now where the fuck is mine?)

Comment by andy@cynic

and you guys reckon art writing is a load of wank….

Comment by lauren

“A new modernity is emerging, reconfigured to an age of globalisation – understood in its economic, political and cultural aspects: an altermodern culture

Increased communication, travel and migration are affecting the way we live

Our daily lives consist of journeys in a chaotic and teeming universe

Multiculturalism and identity is being overtaken by creolisation: Artists are now starting from a globalised state of culture

This new universalism is based on translations, subtitling and generalised dubbing

Today’s art explores the bonds that text and image, time and space, weave between themselves

Artists are responding to a new globalised perception. They traverse a cultural landscape saturated with signs and create new pathways between multiple formats of expression and communication.”

Yes I do Lauren.

Comment by John

anybody’s birthday today?

Comment by peggy

John – Isn’t that from the Pepsi doc?

Pepsi – The taste of the new universalism

Comment by Rob Mortimer




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