We took a trip this week to visit two more universities – two large public institutions – our daughter wants the whole college experience complete with big time athletics (to attend not to play), academic programs and diversity in the student body, and of course a vibrant social life.

The seemingly endless amount of college rating books offer a fun and interesting read. But I came to realize that the marketing of those colleges only begins with those books. Should a student show interest (and even if they don’t) the never-ending parade of literature sent via the USPS (it may be keeping the USPS in business – at least for now) is truly impressive.

Colleges and universities have definitive brand identities. And yet the marketing of these institutions displays the very essence of direct marketing. What could be a more personal and one-to-one decision than deciding where to spend 4 years (or 5 or 6 as it is these days) of one’s life. Not to mention as much as $ 200,000 at the top end for those that can afford it!

Statistics offered by colleges and universities play a big role. SAT/ACT scores, GPA, % of incoming freshman accepted vs. total applications, – this creates cachet and excitement, as well as angst and heartache. Our daughter now has her heart set on a school that might be considered a reach – she claims she will be mortified if she does not get in. The performance of athletic teams, as well as top line artists coming to perform at the school creates buzz and excitement – all adding to its brand identity.

The experience of visiting the school, taking the tour and experiencing the campus is invigorating and always makes me (and my wife) wish we could go back to those carefree days of college (which somehow did not seem so carefree when we were there). Like my Dad still says – ‘education is often wasted on the young’.

Years after graduation the alumni are encouraged to remain a part of the family (and donate a building if you can please – or whatever you can) and thus the brand relationship continues. Word of mouth marketing comes into play aiding the brand positioning with alumni waxing poetically about their days on campus and all the great things that were experienced.

How often do you reminisce about those college days? Are you helping advance your alma mater’s brand?

When Amazon.com came out with their recommendation system a number of years ago (strangely this was difficult to find out for certain) I along with many people thought that it was a very cool thing.  Often imitated and seldom duplicated it remains one of the hallmarks of the entire Amazon platform. 

Netflix had a ‘contest’ begun in 2008 with a prize of $ 1,000,000 to replace their movie recommendation system – it was so successful that they are repeating again this year and the money paid out is far less than they would have spend to develop an internal replacement.   For what it is worth I feel that Netflix exhibited crowdsourcing as well as it can be done.  (You can read Jeff Howe’s book if you want to learn more).

Any recommendation system is based on the ‘wisdom’ of the crowd.  But Amazon’s system is getting a little long in the tooth.  I realize that any recommendation system is only as effective as the data it has to leverage.   I don’t give Amazon all that much but every search, every purchase everything I do on their site is tracked and segmented – or at least I expect that it is. 

So why (you might ask) I am questioning Amazon’s recommendation system now?  Well for one thing I searched on an SAT course for my then high school aged son in 2005.  For some reason Amazon continually recommends that I might be interested in purchasing the 2010 version (they also asked that about 2006/7/8 and 9). Since I will assume Amazon is not implying that my son is still trying to excel on the SAT (or that he is an idiot), I postulated that maybe they know at present I have a daughter who is a high school junior.  I checked my profile and nowhere do I mention my daughter (or anyone else family or friends).   Amazon may be good but they’re not that good. 

I also get recommendation for Japanese anime which I bought a book or two more than five years ago but have never purchased a like product since.   Also included in my current recommendations – a Slinky (?), Jimi Hendrix – Valleys of Neptune, (ok I get that since I have bought music like that over the years), and a bunch of books on Direct Marketing – which is totally appropriate even if I have no personal interest in those recommendations. 

What Amazon has failed to ask me is to fill out (I never have) my profile.  If I were them I would even incent me to do so – think of all the MUCH more relevant recommendations they could make if that had some better intelligence.   I would not have to be offered all that much – maybe free shipping on my next order?  I’m not an Amazon Prime member and don’t buy enough to be one.   But with more relevant recommendations I can almost guarantee that I’d buy more and so would other people. 

I have always been a fan of Amazon.com and remain so but they are missing a big opportunity.  If you have had similar or different experiences please share them as I’d love to read them.