ImNikos.com

Now i have to log in and look at it.

Like it…I think you need to give me some credit for some of the points…hehehe!

Nikos, I love your thoughts about this..its funny because i was walking to get lunch and I saw the banner and the first reaction was what are they trying to achieve? There seemed no "call to action" so to speak..and "get there" was more targeted that "SHINE" even though I did not like the picture of the girl with boxing gloves.
I also agree that maybe the MKT department or the school should recognize and give due credit to the capabilities of its students and tap into the international talent we have. We should have a class project every semester and present it to GGU and they should use the best campaign..maybe like what google is doing with adwords but of ourse on a smaller scale and make it a scholarship opportunity for students!
You thoughts are super..you should pass it on to Blodwen.

Why "Shine"?

San Francisco was the city where a lot of emigrants came to during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The reason for such an immigration flow was mainly due to the discoveries of gold that the Californian nature provided. Rapidly, more than 100,000 people came to California and San Francisco to make money. This period was named "Gold rush", which is directly related to the name of Golden Gate Bridge.

Knowing that our university's name is Golden Gate, it clearly appears that there is a relationship between "Shine" and "Golden Gate". Shine like gold and shine like people who were searching for gold and became very rich after having working in there for so long. Therefore, the message might be that if you discover GGU and study hard, you might find gold, meaning that gold is knowledge and/or success in your work life.

This is my interpretation of the new campaign and my answer to the reason of Shine since I didn't participate in the elaboration of this communication. I am not discussing its effectiveness in this post but it would be interesting to think about it.

William

This might be a reason but you may be the only one who got it (if its true). If there is such a deep meaning they should explain it on the website. Anyway.. Thanks for your comment.

When Get there came out there was a lot of resistance, but it won a ton of awards. Thats what I like about GGU's branding, its always a step ahead of what you might logically think, but somehow it plugs in a little deeper than other ads.

I think there's a lot more to it than what you're asserting here. You might try talking with the team before you pounce.

That sounds like a good business practice to me. I agree. The ads caught my eye and I've been randomly thinking about them too.

I'm a MBA student at GGU and studying integrated marketing. It's more complex than the average person thinks about. I remember my marketing professor once telling me about the Burger King commercials he used to work on. He explained the depth of focus groups and data analysis that went into choosing the "little" details, like color, camera angle, etc. They would spend months on very complex tiny nuances, then, without fail, the day after the commercial aired, scores of people would fill his office with complaints, or things they would have done differently. Thats why I like the field of marketing, and as a growing professional person, I think its always good to consider that therr may be more to what you see than your first impression.,

Remember the puffer fish ads for St Marys hospital? They were weird but got my attention and stayed. I like funky ads, personally. They make me think. I'm a grad student. I don't mind thinking. I like subtlety.

This is a random comment on my behalf, but I believe the purpose and goal behind the campaign was to encourage their students to "Shine" in their educations, in their professions, in their endeavors and in their triumphs. I digress that your criticism of the pictures seems a little superficial, but understandable. The "Get There" campaign was a great step up, but the "Shine Campaign," if anything, is doing one thing which the "Get There" campaign might not necessary have been doing – turning heads. Give it a chance. I have a feeling it's going to raise GGU's profile if only in its publicity.

As I write in my post, the 'Shine' campaign could be better as a message but I am waiting to see the results. My main point was about the creative. The colors of the banners, the fonts and the pictures. GGU could use better creative to show that this is about a school and not about something different.

Let's see the results of this campaign.. Hopefully it will be successful!

I like it! GGU is a great school but not so many people know about it. I hope this new campaign can change it.