Mount Allison marketing

I love this school - the opportunities it has afforded me and the people it attracts. I would not have chosen any other university for my undergraduate degree. But the very things that I love about this school don't seem apparent in any of the many marketing campaigns that Mt. A has launched in the past five years.

Mount Allison 'sells itself' through a series of disjointed slogans and websites that try just a bit too hard to be fresh and innovative. As a result, the school appears kitschy instead of mature, desperate instead of calmly waiting for students to discover its true depth. An overview:

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1) The "MTA Survival Guide"


Sponsored by Alcool NB Liquor and Moosehead breweries, this website calls itself a guide "to campus life at Mount Allison University". When I first visited the site I was optimistic - the site offers videos on a variety of topics to provide the 'inside scoop' about student life. Sadly, and somewhat predictably, the site talks almost exclusively about drinking (with an emphasis on over-drinking). Topics include "Drinking + Sex = ??", "Drunks hitting on you", "Who cleans the puke?", "Keeping track of money at the bar", "Remedies for a hangover", and "Can you drink while studying?" This is not the school I chose to go to, and I am ashamed that the Mount Allison name is attached to such a biased portrayal of on-campus life.

There is drinking at Mount Allison, without a doubt. But this has never defined my experience at this University - for the first two years of my degree I didn't drink at all. If I had seen this website as a non-drinking prospective student, I might not have come here - a shame, considering that this is not an accurate picture of the different ways students choose to spend their time at Mount Allison.

I am shocked, really, that Mount Allison would allow its name - its 'brand' - to be attached to this biased website. Luckily, the site doesn't yet appear on a Google search, so perhaps it will remain hidden to prospective students. (Although I suppose posting about it on my blog doesn't help.)

2) "Present Intense, Future Perfect"

This phrase was unveiled a few years ago after a lengthy search for a new Mt. A slogan. I have always disliked it - both as a slogan and for what it is trying to communicate. Essentially, I don't want my present to be intense, and my future will not be perfect. This seems to be an overachiever's interpretation of the school, whereby we are constantly busy and forever striving after some unattainable, fixed future goals. I would much rather enjoy my time here at a reasonable pace, and I think it is much healthier to have realistic expectations and multiple goals for the future.

This phrase still appears on Mt. A websites and brochures, but seems to be a bit less prominent than when it was first launched.

3) "These are the good old days at Mount Allison"


A photo of students in old Mt. A sweaters mysteriously showed up a few days ago on the Mt. A homepage, with "These sure are the good old days at Mount Allison" printed across the top in bold colours. I had never heard this slogan before, and assumed the photo was an experiment by the Mt. A web staff. When I Googled this slogan, however, I found a small article on a marketing website about a Mt. A recruitment campaign directed specifically at Ontario students. The article includes a mock movie poster advertising an idyllic Mt. A - "a timeless place of imagination, creativity, fun, and new beginnings."

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So, are we full of partiers, keeners, or fairy-tale Allisonians? Do we get hammered here, get good grades here, or get married here?

It is hard to capture Mount Allison in one slogan or marketing campaign. Image-making is necessary, I suppose, in order to attract enough students to fund our high-cost model; we require many buildings and professors for a relatively small student body. But is the corporate image really required? Do we need to project this glossy, sloganized identity in order to attract high-quality students?

Most of the students I know at Mount Allison did not choose to come here because of a poster or a slogan. One-by-one, we each discovered this institution and realized that we liked it because of its broad uniqueness - the community, the opportunities, the clubs, the high academic standards. I am no marketing expert, but I think if Mt. A promoted the diverse "Mount Allison Experiences" instead of trying to squeeze its identity into a compact, marketable package, the school would still attract students. It might even attract better students - those who went out of their way to find a school that suited their dynamic interests.

If we are going to market ourselves, it should at least be according to a uniform set of values and images. The school seems almost schizophrenic when comparing the absolute identities promoted in these three campaigns.

This weekend I went out to a charity ball, participated in an academic conference, had tea at Mel's, and went to see some student theatre. I just can't see my experience in any of the identities attached to Mount Allison marketing - what happened to the simple but elegant idea of the "education of the whole person?"