Dr. Neil Hair

TO:       RIT Community
FROM:     Albert J. Simone, President
SUBJECT:  Tuesday News Conference/College of Business Announcement
 
July 10, 2006

I have wonderful news to share with you. One of the largest financial contributions made to Rochester Institute of Technology will be unveiled during a news conference at 10:15 a.m. tomorrow on campus. You are all invited to attend.

At the news conference, I will formally announce details of a multi-million dollar gift benefiting the university¹s College of Business. It will be my pleasure to introduce the individual benefactor, who will be on hand for the event.

The announcement will take place in front of the College of Business (Building 12). Please join me for this joyous and historic occasion in the life of the university.

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Kind of speaks for itself! I cant wait, I am delighted!! We deserve this - especially as a small college in a land of giants on campus and the monies will be put towards great use in terms of renovations and new buildings. We've plenty in mind, student and staff common rooms, state of the art equipment, the removal of all pieces of antiquated art (you know what I'm talking about if you've set foot in the building), new auditoriums, finished classrooms and better facilities all round.

I read a really interesting article from zdnet on social networking sites intent on capitalizing on what they refer to as social branding. Far from just using a site like facebook to promote yourself people are starting to do what they've always done when it comes to other mediums - make brand referrals. Interesting business model for the host sites - advertising revenue and so forth for one. However what's really interesting is the potential for using individuals in terms of brand sponsorship. Of course as marketers we need to avoid at all costs the impression that we are simply paying people to carry influence - this was tried a couple of years ago with the start of blogging (you may remember the story, student writes blog about really new and exciting technology - people come to realise student doesnt exist - people annoyed with sponsor - backlash ensues). That said there are I think ways in which we can encourage social branding. One way would be for the networking sites to add categories - my stuff etc… perhaps linked in some way to associate programmes at places such as Amazon (thus creating a win win scenario for everyone). Another way would be for companies to offer trial uses for technology on the promise that findings (good and bad) would be reported publicly. Interesting times for those that can commercialize this model.

I am back in this fine adopted country of mine and loving every minute of it. Ah the consumerism is WONDERFUL! We ordered pizza online to celebrate our return and it was delivered within 30 minutes. We watched netflix and updated our lists (this hasn't really taken off in the UK), we turned on our AC and danced like lunatics in front of the icy cold air screaming at the sun to 'bring it on!' - drank real coffee - real margaritas (you're shot on site for ordering these in the UK) - surfed the internet at stupid speeds (the UK has a tiered system where you pay much more for similar speeds and get told off if you're on it too much) collapsing at a ridiculously early hour. Good job we like it, we were up again at 4am. International travel no longer appeals.

So Universal Music in Europe has had a sudden surge in brain wave activity. Those clever little devils have have sat down, taken their core product (the music CD) and figured on how they might improve sales. It was only four years in the making but better now then never. I guess the fun of suing high schoolers parents and college students finally wore thin and they figured on being a little more proactive in their approach towards marketing (rather then simply selling) their products. The answer? A deluxe version of the CD (wow wee I hear you cry in amazement). Three tiers - ranging from the poor mans CD (made from cardboard no doubt recycled from Kellogg's Corn Flakes boxes) to compete with the digital alternative (yeah right - I can see that working, especially because people buying music online do so for the immediacy of the delivery), the middle tier (a stronger jewel case - wow wee I hear you cry once again, no more broken hinges) and finally - wait for it - the Deluxe version of the CD!! Their 'experts' have market research that tells them that a group of high spending consumers actually want to collect the CD's complete with art work, dvd extras and longer (and hopefully more exciting) inserts. Some one please pass me the eye patch before I do some harm to myself with my fork. I cannot believe it has taken them this long to figure out potential means for marketing the CD. I cant believe that these efforts are so piece meal. Where are the interviews of the artists? where are the serial numbers for accessing secure content of these groups online (such as studio recordings)? where are their reviews of other artists that they're currently listening to? Where are the remixed versions of older albums that proliferate the internet these days? Where my friends - is the added value in purchasing the humble compact disk!? The deluxe version apparently.

This is 2006, not 1999. Someone please wake up the music industry. Students in my Principles of Marketing class have more ideas in their first week then this industry has seen in 7 years.

Having spent the better part of a month here in this fine land I've found a number of unusual things I will miss about it. You know about the beer and the cheese, then there are the usual suspects of pubs and fish and chips. Once you scratch the superficial surface you notice things that have really come to define what it means to be English. Community is certainly one of them. For instance having the proprietor of a sandwich shop come out from behind the stove, looking at an order for a large bacon, sausage, egg, mayo, raw onion and salt and pepper on white breadcake and say, 'I thought it was you.' Having the owner of the local fish and chip shop recognise you in the street and say hello. Having the landlord ask you 'how are you today' as if you've been a regular in these parts for years and really mean it as a matter of urgent enquiry. Looking out from an attic based bedroom and recognise people, the old man on his super charged mobility bike proudly sporting the England Flag (not that he'll need that anymore), the old woman and her daily fish and chips order around 10pm (lets face it, when you get to her age all notions of healthy eating must surely go out of the window - and if she wants to drink a bottle of sherry a night to go with it that's her affair [not that I've seen her with these, she conceals well]), kids being dropped off at school creating a fifteen minute traffic jam (no yellow buses this side of the Atlantic) at 8.45am and then again at 3.30pm. Being called 'love' by burly bus drivers who couldn't possibly realise I was from the South, a hairdresser who remembers the clipper size (despite having left the country two years previous) - 'you moved to the States didn't you?' or neighbours I have never met sending us money for Wedding gifts. It also surprises me just how easy it is - despite having emigrated, to fit right back into the routine.

Thank goodness we lost to the Portuguese yesterday - I'd have never wanted to return home to Rochester.

That said there are, of course, things I am missing about the US. I miss the obvious - my cat, my job (sad man that I am), my American family. But some not so obvious - chipmunks (who seem to have top speeds in excess of 60mph within about 2 seconds and brake-horse power to die for), the drive to work down Crittenden Road (canal end), Spin coffee in the morning, friendly yellow school buses that peep their horns at me when they've stopped on the other side of the road, PapaJohns online ordering (Pizzahut wont let you order online here), Wegmans stuffed Hot Peppers, The American Flag (in my office especially), EZEE Pass, health warnings on television ads, free credit report dot com [offer only applies with enrolment to triple advantage], Andrea's Pairs, weather on the 9's, e-harmony, my yearly Garbage Plate (to which my father made me promise I would never again subject him to), Bugaboo steaks, Aladin's, Quimby's and all you can eat (but wished you hadn't) China Buffet! In all seriousness - community is just as strong though it takes on a different form. I consider myself extremely fortunate that I can dip in and out of both. I have great American neighbours who will spend 5 minutes asking me about my day, I have a wine merchant who understands my personal preferences (Gin) and sold me our wedding favours at cost, a concierge in Rustic who tries to recruit me into ballroom dancing, three hairdressers who seem obsessed with hearing me speak (anything - just talk Neil), a best mate who is a BIG biker and surrogate father for my cat, work colleagues who are also my best friends, a big sister (Deborah!) and most importantly of all - the thing I miss the most - I give you - Air Conditioning as standard. Off to thrash the cat - it's 30'c here and I am wasting away in the heat.

I've updated my flickr account to include some of the official photographs of the wedding which we received on Saturday - enjoy! Phil, our photographer (and husband of Marie - one of Rose's bridesmaids) you are an absolute magician worthy of any magic circle. My heartfelt thanks once again for doing such a fantastic and, let's face it, stressful job. Rose and I love them and couldnt have asked for better results.