実践ビジネス英語 Friday, September 14
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Brand Ambassadors in Action (6)
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1[S]: In our current vignette, Umemura Seiji has just returned from a trip to observe student brand ambassadors at two Ohio universities. He describes how Health and Beauty reps helped freshmen move in, gave away free goods and sponsored a welcome dinner. Was there anything like this when you went to college, Heather?
2[H]: Not on this level, no. There were certainly various commercial promotions. I remember being able to get a credit card quite easily and receiving coupons for local stores you go at orientation time, but there wasn't anything on the scale described in the vignette or like I've seen in various articles lately. I was just reading about a major retailer, for example,
that busses new students to its stores for midnight shopping events.
3[S]: So what's your opinion involved this marketing by students for students?
4[H]: I have to admit my gut reaction regarding the student brand ambassador concept was not good. I really don't want to see the college experience devolve into a marketing event or heavily focused on consumption. Perhaps I'm being overly idealistic, but I do see the university years as a sacred time in many ways. Never again will a person have that much time and freedom to study such a diverse range of subjects, interact with such a diverse range of people, and I can't shake the feeling that overcommercialization will taint the experience. I think it's extremely important for university administrators to keep an eye on student ambassadors' activities, and make sure they don't interfere with the pursuit of learning and personal growth.
5[S]: But there do seem to be many advantages for the students.
6[H]: True. I do see the argument that working as brand ambassadors can
be beneficial, particularly when it comes to money. The cost of college keeps going up and more and more young people are having to take out heavy loans to pay for it. Pitch in for various companies could help some of them reduce the debt burden they'll have to shoulder after leaving school. I had to take out student loans myself to help pay for college, and I ultimately paid them back over ten years after graduation. If I'd been able to make a couple of thousand dollars a year as a brand ambassador, that money I would have been able to save or invest for the future instead.
7[S]: And as Alyce Collins says student ambassadors have a leg-up when
it comes to finding jobs after graduation.
8[H]: Also true. Young people the world over are struggling to find work, and if being a student ambassador can help new graduates find gainful employment, good. And I suppose it would help develop students' initiative, creativity and people skills in general. As the vignette points out it's vital that student ambassadors be honest and upfront about what they are doing. But learning the fine arts of presentation and persuasion, you know, i.e. convincing other people to see things their way can only help them in life.
I was just reading about a student ambassador who hopefully will learn from her mistakes in that regard. She worked for a major information technology company, and apparently posted about it so often on a social media network. The people connected to her threatened to block her sometimes. A good demonstration of how less is more when it comes to advertising.
