Tiny Turtles and Those Darn Sponsors

Within 10 minutes I came across two topics I couldn’t pass on discussing especially since I touched on both of the subjects recently. The first is about Terp pride at the University of Maryland and the second is about another sponsorship debate at the University of Kentucky’s Sex Week.

First, I came across a recent blog post on The Old College Try: Marketing Higher Ed, about one of my favorite subjects, guerrilla marketing, as mentioned in one of my previous blogs. The University of Maryland is currently implementing an internal marketing tactic to boost Terp pride and calm fears that the popular “Fear the Turtle” calling was going to be retired.  The University hid 570 tiny plastic turtles for students to find throughout the campus. Once a student finds a turtle, they can enter a code found on the plastic figure at the companion Fear the Turtle ‘09 website. Based on the code, a “tile” is flipped on the campus map on the Fear the Turtle website and the student has a chance to win a prize. According to an article in University of Maryland’s Independent Student Newspaper, “prizes range from ice cream cones, Starbucks and Applebee’s gift cards to iPods, T-shirts and tote bags.” There is also a “grand daddy” prize that has yet to be revealed. It was mentioned in the article that posters were placed around the campus to explain the tactic. As of writing this, 461 turtles have been found.

This is an excellent example of using guerrilla marketing that brings in many people in a non-traditional manner. It is fun. It coincides with the university brand. It uses a web-centric approach and also has the ability to share news on social networks. It brings the campus community together. Kudos to the University of Maryland team!

Moving on… last week I wrote about an odd sponsorship of a university athletic program and concerns about how that sponsorship was being portrayed. Before going on, I want to mention that the rest of this post talks about sex and may be uncomfortable to some.

This week, we find yet another odd sponsor of an educational event called Sex Week at the University of Kentucky. The Sex Week says that the week long event is to “increase sexual literacy by initiating an informed, open, and sustained dialog about human sexuality throughout the campus community.” As we all know, this is a great topic for a campus community that has been making the news recently as some universities are taking steps to regulate sexual activity in dorms, according to an article in U.S. News and World Report.

However, I heard in the local news, that one of the sponsors of the event is Pure Romance. The company is an “in-home party company which offers an exclusive line of heighteners, lubricants and bedroom accessories for relationship enhancement.” According to the event website, on Monday October 5, “Pure Romance will tackle myths and misconceptions surrounding bedroon accessories. Discover the truth before getting naked.”  While the sponsorship itself is a bit odd, the session itself may sound a bit more like a sales pitch than an learning opportunity. Also, according to news article published in Kentucky, it was suggested that some of the sponsor’s products promote violence against women.

Both the previous blog post about the athletic sponsor and the sponsor in this blog seem to suggest that there may be a concerning growing fad of allowing any sponsors in without worrying about whether or not the sponsor is actually appropriate to the audience, setting, brands, etc. As long as they have the cash, then it is okay to let them sponsor.

Could it really be possible that the NFL has more standards regarding advertising/sponsorships than some higher ed institutions? Below are NFL advertising guidelines found in their media kit,

The NFL will NOT accept advertising promoting the offering of or making reference to any of the following products or services (partial list)

• Distilled Spirits
• Tobacco Products (including cigarettes, cigars, tobacco, chewing tobacco and snuff)
• Contraceptives
• Feminine Hygiene Products
• Fireworks
• Firearms and Ammunition
• Lotteries
• Gambling (including Horse or Dog Racing and products or services relating in any way to gambling)