Dan Cowling

Not to downplay the amazing athleticism and skill of the Olympic athletes...but let's talk about some record-breaking for the real guy.   Let's talk about making higher education accessible for thousands more Arkansas students in a little under a year.  Then let's talk about the marketing skill it takes to launch a brand new retail product in 75 counties in under 60 days. 

This fall, for the first time in our state's history, an estimated $116.5 million in scholarship funding will be available to Arkansas students as a result of the state's new scholarship lottery.   The first wave of college-bound kids will be filling out their scholarship applications and for many of them, the answer to their request will be "yes."  That means as many as 26,000 students could be receiving scholarship support, according to Dept. of Higher Education figures.  It's unprecedented in the state's history, and we have been fortunate enough to be a part of it. 

Working with Lawrence Graves, Tara Smith and Dale Ellis of the Arkansas Department of Higher Education, the lottery team at The Communications Group has developed a creative concept and produced a TV spot to help students learn about their eligibility for the new scholarship funding.  [click here to view TV spot] .

 

What does it take to generate that kind of funding for scholarships in under a year?  It's not an ancient Chinese secret, but it is a little tricky.  The formula starts with the biggest retail product launch in the state's history...in the shortest time frame.  Take 75 counties, 60 days, an entire campaign launch and then add in a whole lot of skill, unparalleled media relationships, creativity, negotiating power, the right people, organization and truckloads of high-octane coffee. 

And while we weren't quite putting a man on the moon, at times it felt like it.  You can't go through that kind of process without learning a few extremely valuable lessons.  What does it take to pull off a launch of that magnitude? Some of the more valuable lessons:

The cause makes a difference - Most of our staff will agree - when you know you're going to be a part of sending thousands more Arkansas kids to college or making the community a better place - it makes the thousands of hours of overtime just a little bit easier. 

People matter - In the middle of the madness of a campaign launch, clients must have the right people in place to feel confident that their business will be handled professionally.  Our team worked weekends, nights and holidays tirelessly to make the campaign launch happen. 

Calendars call the shots - Every deadline - small, medium and large - had to be placed into our traffic system that tracks each project and job and ensures delivery happens on time.  We never missed a single deadline. 

Budgets must be written and signed off on - When there are 75 jobs in the pipeline that must be concepted, produced and completed within 60 days, clients occasionally place a higher priority on speed than anything else.  Nonetheless, even in the midst of incredible time pressures, for every job we produced a detailed budget estimate that was submitted to the client and approved prior to any work being done. 

Creativity can save the day - Whether it's TV spots or media schedules, our experienced marketing team learned that if they hit a roadblock, with a little creativity they could usually overcome it and keep everything running smoothly.

Want to hear more about our campaign launch experience?  Please don't hesitate to contact me at DanCowling@comgroup.com.  I would love to hear from you.

 

Sincerely,

Dan Cowling, agency president