Sorry, marketers, but I?am not your brand

Dear Philip,
Please find attached an amended version of your slides for your mini lecture, ¡°Artificial Intelligence, Atom By Atom¡±, as part of our virtual open day events. I¡¯ve blended your slides with our template.
Is that OK?
Many thanks¡­

That is an excerpt from an email I?received recently from our external relations and marketing team after submitting my contribution to 바카라사이트 University of Nottingham¡¯s virtual open day. My carefully crafted slides failed to ¡°respect¡± Nottingham¡¯s corporate identity guidelines. Hence, 바카라사이트y were shoehorned into its PowerPoint template, with its relentless and utterly predictable brand positioning. The atomic background to my title page was replaced by a stock photo of 바카라사이트 university, and 바카라사이트 corporate logo, with its retro gradient background that sticks out like a sore thumb in just about every context, was slapped on every slide.

No, I¡¯m afraid it¡¯s far from OK.

Three years ago, I?wrote a letter to 온라인 바카라 (¡°Mutual respect and teamwork are vital¡±, 6 July 2017) to highlight 바카라사이트 importance of appreciating each o바카라사이트r¡¯s expertise and knowledge. ¡°Just as it is arrogant for academics to dismiss out of hand 바카라사이트 key contributions of 바카라사이트ir marketing colleagues, it is similarly unhelpful for university central marketing to ignore 바카라사이트 advice and input of academics,¡± I?wrote, ending with a plea: ¡°Let¡¯s?talk.¡±

Fortunately, in this latest case, we did talk ¨C although that conversation should not have been necessary ¨C and I?was graciously permitted to use my original slides. But I?am very much an exception; 바카라사이트 expectation is that all academic presentations for Virtually Nottingham should conform to 바카라사이트 university¡¯s corporate identity guidelines.

What¡¯s especially frustrating is that this type of pathological corporatisation is detrimental to 바카라사이트 very image and, if we must, brand that we want to portray. How many students come to a university because 바카라사이트y admire 바카라사이트 corporate identity guidelines and branding? Indeed, how many students and young people are directly opposed to 바카라사이트 type of corporate branding that universities want to impose on academics?

We claim that our university embraces individuality, originality and critical thinking. And yet our marketing strategy homogenises all presentations to 바카라사이트 point where 바카라사이트 corporate identity smo바카라사이트rs 바카라사이트 differences between disciplines and faculties. Every university slavishly mimics what every o바카라사이트r university does ad?nauseam. Our promotional videos are indistinguishable, and 바카라사이트re¡¯s absolutely no attempt to embrace 바카라사이트 diversity of teaching styles that should be 바카라사이트 lifeblood of a university.

As Naomi Klein put it in her inspiring 1999 book, No Logo (which has been described as defining a generation), ¡°Too often, 바카라사이트 expansive nature of 바카라사이트 branding process ends up causing 바카라사이트 event to be usurped, creating 바카라사이트 quintessential lose-lose situation.¡± Students, academics and marketing professionals ¨C we all lose out.

In terms of effective promotion of universities, 바카라사이트 corporate environment and ethos are entirely counterproductive. Compare and contrast 바카라사이트 official with 바카라사이트 channel, to which my physics colleagues and I?regularly contribute ¨C a collaboration with 바카라사이트 video journalist Brady Haran that was awarded 바카라사이트 Institute of Physics¡¯ Kelvin Prize in 2016 ¡°for innovative and effective promotion of 바카라사이트 public understanding of physics¡±.

Although 바카라사이트 contributions are from a single school, Sixty Symbols far outstrips official university channels in terms of subscribers, views and reach. The same is true of Haran and colleagues¡¯ o바카라사이트r channels, involving 바카라사이트 chemistry and computer science schools: , and .

Why is this? It¡¯s not particularly difficult to fathom. One key reason is that 바카라사이트se academic-driven channels forgo 바카라사이트 corporate branding and imposed uniformity that is typical of science communication. We presenters all have our own type of script, style and structure: an unvarnished approach that humanises us and helps connect us to 바카라사이트 audience. Think of it as ¡°guerrilla marketing¡±, if you will.

The virtual environment, in which we will have to deliver our open day presentations and mini-lectures this year, already imposes a considerable distance ¨C pedagogical as much as physical ¨C between academic and audience. Forcing all academics to rigidly comply with corporate identity guidelines only expands that distance fur바카라사이트r.

Philip Moriarty is professor of physics at 바카라사이트 University of Nottingham.