Dec 10th 10 Posted by Fritz McDonald

The 10 Best Things I Heard This Year

It’s been a challenging year for all of us…so I’m not going to bore you with the details. Instead, I wanted to end the year on a positive note and share with you the best things I heard this year. These quotes cover a range of issues that affect all of us, from marketing to coming up with ideas and designing technology. And though many come from the corporate world, their application to higher... read more

Nov 29th 10 Posted by Fritz McDonald

Strategic Creative: How Research Fuels Creative

Note: this is the third in a series of articles & posts on Strategic Creative Marketing  What is the relationship between research and creative? At first glance, the two activities couldn’t seem more unrelated. Market research quantifies the world—or at least your particular marketplace. It interprets your challenges and opportunities through hard numbers, reliable samples, and plus-or-minus... read more

Nov 5th 10 Posted by Fritz McDonald

Fritz Shares His Blog Post with Karine Joly

I’m happy to turn over my blog this week for a guest post from my good friend Karine Joly. She recently did a knockout presentation on analytics for our SIM Tech Conference and is one of those higher ed web and social media experts you should really pay attention to: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, blogs, e-mail marketing, web advertising, mobile web and more:  so many “new” communication and marketing... read more

Oct 29th 10 Posted by Fritz McDonald

AMA 2010: A Different Kind of Presentation

I’ve been doing so many conferences this year that my eyes are blurry. In about a week, however, I’ll be doing something genuinely different at this year’s American Marketing Association Symposium for the Marketing of Higher Education—and I wanted to tell you about it in this space. First, I’m collaborating with two people I consider important thought leaders in interactive marketing for... read more

Oct 27th 10 Posted by Fritz McDonald

Strategic Creative: What Creative Strategy Has to Do Now

Note: this is the second in a series of articles & posts on Strategic Creative Marketing  In the first installment of this series, I talked about the need to stand out in a hyper-crowded, overstimulated media marketplace and how a strong strategic creative approach will make a substantial difference. That creative approach, however, has to take into account the way things have changed in the last... read more

Sep 29th 10 Posted by Fritz McDonald

Strategic Creative: Why Breakthrough Creative Is More Important Than Ever

Note: This is the first in a series of articles & posts on strategic creative marketing You can hear the noise—you don’t have to try too hard. In an oversaturated, hyperactive, media-driven world, it doesn’t take much effort to pick up the constant flow of news, imagery, advertising, and information constantly streaming by on flat screens, Sirius radio channels, Twitter feeds, iPads, laptops,... read more

Sep 20th 10 Posted by Fritz McDonald

Drake Advantage: What It Means to Be Courageous

At Stamats, whenever we develop creative concepts for a client, we build them in three categories: “traditional,” “surprising,” and “courageous.” “Traditional” means offering a creative look and approach that will be classical and elegant perhaps, but won’t rock any boats—a look, in other words, that can be found on many college and university recruiting publications, websites,... read more

Sep 9th 10 Posted by Fritz McDonald

What We Can Learn From Apple

Let’s face it: most of us have Apple envy. They make cool products and have a really cool boss, right? And it must be such a cool place to work because from our P.O.V. they’re doing everything right. At least that’s what Apple wants us to believe. Those of us who work in higher ed—both on staff at agencies and institutions—dream of working in a more creative, forward-thinking environment... read more

Aug 18th 10 Posted by Fritz McDonald

SIM Tech Is Coming!!!

Okay, I admit it: SIM Tech is my favorite conference for obvious and not so obvious reasons. Here are 5 reasons why you can’t afford to miss it this year: Google evangelist and internationally recognized analytics guru Avanish Kaushik is our keynote speaker, best-selling author of Web Analytics 2.0 and Web Analytics: An Hour a Day…NO OTHER HIGHER ED WEB CONFERENCE THIS YEAR HAS A KEYNOTE AT THIS... read more

Aug 5th 10 Posted by Fritz McDonald

What Conferences Teach Me

I’ve been on the road these past few weeks living and learning in conference time. In addition to Stamats’ own SIM and SIM Grad conferences, I’ve put time into EduComm, SUNY CUAD, CMC, ACT, EduWeb and other well-known higher ed gatherings and as is always the case, learned an awful lot from my audiences and fellow participants. Conferences like these are a good way to put my ear to the ground... read more