Wonk

Juliegrace Brufke

KNOW WONK

The word wonk is defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary as a person preoccupied with arcane details or procedures in a specialized field. It is also the word know spelled backwards.

About ten months ago, American University launched a new advertising and branding campaign called Wonk in an effort to set itself apart from other universities, the campaign has been a controversial topic among the AU community due to its expense and slogan which has received mixed reviews from students and faculty.

Terry Flannery AU’s Executive Director of University Communications and Marketing, said a lot of people outside of the immediate Middle Atlantic region don’t know of the school as much as they should and the Wonk campaign is an effort to change that.

According to Flannery, the research her team found was people only think of politics when they think of American University because of its location.

Flannery said another issue they are facing is people have a warped opinion of what the school is like today compared past years.

“A problem we are dealing with is a lot of alums or people with previous associations on us from another time think of American as an open admissions not

very serious institution and that has changed dramatically,” said Flannery. “ It’s often looked at as just another DC school that isn’t quite as good as some of the

others, which isn’t the case.”

So far, Wonk cost $675,000 this year, $225000 was spent on research, $100,000 on trade marking and $200,000 on the new welcome center which will

feature the logo and incorporate the idea of wonk to prospective students.

The school handed out over 3,500 tee shirts with different types of genres of wonks ranging from everything from political wonks to art wonks.

“I want to get another tee shirt, I liked the campaign so far,” said Jolyn Lorenzetti, a junior at the AU.

Flannery said the campaign has received mixed reviews from students so far; most of the negative feedback came from undergrads.

“ I think the problem is it is going to take some getting used to, that is why we are trying to focus on the know wonk aspect,” said Flannery.

Some students dislike the campaign so much they started an anti-Wonk facebook group.

“I think it reflects poorly on the student body because I never considered wonky a positive term,” said Michaela Rempp, a senior at AU. “ I wish they would have come up with a slogan that was more positive and had a better connotation, just look at the dictionary.com definition its negative they should have looked into

that, it’s the first thing that pops up when you Google it.”

American University Junior Eric Wilkens said, “I think the Wonk campaign is a poor representation of American University. While DC insiders might know what the term means, some people outside the area are confused by it my parents and family made faces when they first heard it, and they questioned where the tuition money was really going. It cost AU tons of money to come up with wonk?”

Transfer student Michael Worley said he was surprised by his peer’s negative outlook on Wonk.

“I thought that the campaign was helping create the right kind of image that AU needs to create to stay competitive and rise in its national stature,” said Worley.

Flannery said from surveys freshman and graduate students are taking to the campaign in a much more positive light.

“I am pretty indifferent about the whole thing, it definitely wouldn’t stop me from going to the school,” said Dana Hogan, a perspective student.

According to Flannery AU’s Kogod School of Business incorporated Wonk into their building and has feedback that is more positive while the School of Communication has been less accepting of the campaign.

Flannery said the campaign is an effort to brand the university and is more than just basic advertising. The marketing team at AU started working on ideas for an ad campaign two years ago. They tested two different campaign ideas with focus groups consisting of 12 key audiences made up of current students, Faculty and staff, alumni, parents of students, presidents and deans of other universities, peers from other schools, business leaders, community leaders, government officials, and prospective students both graduate and undergraduate. According Flannery, Wonk was favored 21 to three.

The market researchers said the focus groups said that the other ideas were nice but too generic and didn’t set the school apart like Wonk.

“We needed something short and catchy, something that could convey that that students are learning from leaders, the professors are well connected, and Washington is a great resource with a good hook that would interest people,” said Flannery.

The Wonk campaign is the first branding effort AU has done but according to Flannery if it is successful, there could be more to come.

Other university branding efforts have had mixed results from their campaigns. Drake University launched its ‘D+’ campaign, which did not sit well with students and alumni. The school changed the campaign slogan to ‘Your Passion + Our Experience’. The University of Louisville unveiled its ‘Dare to be Great’ campaign in 2000; the university said it had a positive effect on alumni donations. Louisville launched a second branding campaign in 2008 using the tagline ‘It’s Happening Here’.

Flannery said American University’s student government ran something similar to Wonk called the bee campaign where students could ‘bee’ whatever their hobby was. The difference between the campaigns is Wonk is taking it to new levels on a broader level not just on campus.

Nate Beeler, Alum of American university who graduated in 2002, thought up the concept for Wonk campaign. The marketers asked Beeler to draw up eight different prototypes for the campaign. The inspiration cane from his first draft which features a cartoonish depiction of the Washington monument and the capital building with a telephone wire at the top of the page with men that look like eagles saying wonk.

The original idea developed into trendy looking ads that feature different types of wonks dressed in stereotypical attire for their specialty.

“I’m not a fan of the ads,” said Rempp. So far, the advertising has been mostly print and electronic media in the Middle Atlantic regions but they plan to expand the outreach.

Flannery said twice a week an ad will be featured on NPR around the country and they are working on a television ad that will be played during basketball games.

The marketers are working to gain research to see how well the campaign is working, so far the only data they were able to gather is through website traffic which according to Flannery is up.

The campaign is not permanent. The university’s marketers said Wonk will last the next five years to try and convey their message before they move on to a new campaign. When those five years are up, they plan to bring back the same focus

groups and survey how the ads have changed their views. Only time will tell whether AU’s pricey first effort at branding has any impact on the school.