Can Your Life Be Significant Without Ottawa?

Have you heard the recent radio commercials for Ottawa University? You know the ones that tell you to "prepare for a life of significance" by getting your degree from Ottawa?

Is it just me or do you find these ads mildly insulting? It's almost like they're saying that if you don't have a degree from Ottawa University, your life can't be significant. 

Now, it's important to understand that I'm not lashing out at Ottawa because I am not college educated. On the contrary ... I actually have a BBA and MBA from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater (which I am very proud to own) and I teach as an adjunct professor at Marquette University.

Rather, I am insulted by this ad for two reasons:

1) I know plenty of people that never went to college that live very fulfilled and significant lives.

2) When I am looking to hire new employees, degrees from schools like University of Phoenix, Ottawa and Kaplan just never measure up to those from other universities.

I must be honest here ... I have previously lumped Ottawa into this same pool of for-profit universities that place more emphasis on turning a dime than on enriching their students.

However, I must give credit where credit is due. This blog encouraged me to check out Ottawa University a bit more and I actually discovered that unlike the University of Phoenix, Kaplan University and Strayer University, Ottawa University actually is a nonprofit university.

With this new information, I'm a bit more likely to view Ottawa in a slightly more "significant" light in the future. But, I still take exception with their tagline...

Dove Is Comfortable In Its Own Skin

In a recently launched campaign, Dove explores the male side of skin care encouraging men to "feel comfortable in their own skin."

Magic Johnson talks about his father and how his days of collecting garbage influenced who he became later in life.  Other athletes - like Bobby Hurley, John Thompson III, Joe Girardi, Andy Pettitte and Albert Pujols - also take the spotlight, but Magic is easily the most notable.

This is a very nice extension of Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty and the self-esteem fund they launched several years ago to "help girls build positive self-esteem and a healthy body image."   

I am sure that several of my former students at Marquette University will be pleased to see this latest development from Dove since many recommended they create a male-directed campaign when they presented their capstone project at the end of the semester.

It will be interesting to see if "being comfortable in your own skin" will lead more men to the store shelf to purchase Dove. While I like the campaign, I am skeptical that it will lead to a higher cash register ring.

#6: CareerBuilder Monkeys Around

Capturing the #6 spot in the USA Today Super Bowl poll is CareerBuilder's mischievous chimp spot.

If you were a fan of the CareerBuilder monkeys during the 2005 and 2006 Super Bowls, you are in for a treat as the monkeys come back to reek havoc on the poor "human" office worker. This time, they pin him into his car by parking uncomfortably close, proving that he works with a bunch of monkeys.

Interestingly, CareerBuilder did not seek the assistance of Cramer-Krasselt, who was the agency that created the original monkey ads. Rather, they created these ads inhouse, using the same look, feel, and  actor that C-K used when the initial spot debuted. That ploy earned a 'raised eyebrow' from this planner.

In conjunction with this campaign, CareerBuilder is also resurrecting Monk-e-mail, which previously racked up 160 million viral messages, earning the status of being one of the most buzzed campaigns of all time.

I'm sure Cramer-Krasselt has some satisfaction in knowing that the monkeys were a good idea all along. After being forced to switch gears and air a different ad - Wild Jungle - during the 2007 Super Bowl, CareerBuilder and Cramer-Krasselt parted ways when the ad fell short of the USA Today Top 10 Super Bowl list.

While I was amused with this spot, immediately drawing the parallel back to earlier advertising, I discovered something interesting in the advertising class I teach at Marquette University. Only 2 of the 50 students recalled the original spots. So, not suprisingly, this ad left them a little mystified as to what was going on. 

College students are an important emerging target for CareerBuilder. My concern is that if they are not linking the ad to the original concept of "feeling like you're working with a bunch of monkeys," then the ad doesn't deliver its message.

Instead, it's just a bunch of cute, mischievous monkeys clowning around in a parking lot.

Sue's Grade: B-