duct tape?

Being an admissions counselor means that EssaySnark visits a lot of bschool websites. And that means that the Internets has us pegged (so they think) as a wanna-be MBA. A Brave Supplicant like all of you. So, like all of you probably, EssaySnark gets slammed with A LOT of online advertising about bschool. (Like. a lot.)

We have to laugh, all these companies convinced that we are applying to bschool and spending their precious ad dollars in flaunting their bschool wares at us.

And we have to laugh in particular at the up-and-comings of the bunch. Besides University of Phoenix which we assume tosses ads at everyone, we’re seeing more and more of the outside-the-pack schools advertising.

Which makes sense. Because after all, HBS doesn’t need to waste no money on a silly thing like advertising. They’ve already got that brand equity all buttoned up.

But the point of this post isn’t all that. It’s really to throw up this:

Now, we understand the challenges this school is facing. Not only are they in Arizona (not many top bschools in all of the West, and definitely none in that part of the West)… but they’ve also got the same name as another bschool (Johns Hopkins Carey, known as “Carey Business School).

So they probably have some issue with brand recognition/distinction in the marketplace.

But c’mon people… DUCT TAPE?  What does DUCT TAPE have to do with an MBA?

You’re gonna go to this school and earn an MBA so that you can duct tape things?? 

Or even worse: If the guy you’re negotiating with doesn’t agree with you, you’re going to, what… tie him up and put duct tape over his mouth?

That duct tape is all crumpled-up, too, like somebody got all frustrated with it. You know how it goes, when you’re, like, duct taping something, and you maul the thing?

We hate to be so critical, but we think this school’s advertising agency needs to be replaced. This is a BUSINESS SCHOOL where supposedly they know a thing or two about MARKETING, right? The associations with “duct tape” are not positive. We do not see a happy correlation between “duct tape” and “business school.” At least, there’re none in this feeble EssaySnark mind.

OK, sure, they got our attention — enough so to write this here blog about them. That is, after all, the point of advertising. And probably none of you Brave Supplicants had even heard of Carey Business School (either of them) before now, so maybe they got some mileage out of this.

Probably none of you would’ve applied anyway… this school is good but it’s still rather lower-ranked, and most people coming to this blog are aiming for the skies.

But really, we just don’t get their campaign. If you’d been served this here ad on the Interwebs, would YOU — their supposed appropriate target market — have CLICKED ON IT? With the DUCT TAPE thing??

You’re gonna go to bschool to learn about duct tape?