55% Follow-Up: Granite State Network

The marketing plan isn't quite complete, but I just finished up some of the creative - take a peek:


1) Drive-to-web banner spread around New Hampshire colleges and universities


2) Sample screenshot from the online network for NH students and businesses:

click to enlarge:


Back to regular blogging after exams next week.


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55% Initiative: Please Make New Hampshire Cool

I mentioned the 55% Initiative in one of my first posts. And as the deadline nears, it has become the main focus of my creative juices. Basically, our marketing professor offered the class' services to the state of New Hampshire: create a marketing campaign with the "goal of convincing 55% of new graduates to "work, play, and stay" here, as compared to the roughly 50% who currently stay." Essentially, get more NH college grads to earn and spend their salaries in the Granite State (an additional $636M over 5 years to be exact).

While the process has been exhausting, it's motivating to know that our recommendation could play a big role in the final result. I'd love to say that some of my ideas were incorporated into the 2009 launch. Businesses like Fidelity and BAE have already guaranteed support, while Governer Lynch and several state-run organizations have also signed on.

But that makes things tricky. We're not just presenting this marketing plan for a grade - that's cake. The strategy then moves to the University System of NH (the major sponsor), and up the ladder from there. So rather than just submitting a group marketing plan, I've found myself worrying more about the creative execution (I haven't kicked that Brandcenter programming just yet).

Logically, as a deadbeat copywriter, I volunteered to do the "promotion" section of the plan (glory days). So my past couple days have been spent brainstorming -trying to discover the essence of New Hampshire as a brand. I figure, who cares how you promote your product if the message sucks? So while I slave over taglines, print ads, and the content of a mock-website, I'll be sure to upload any progress.

If you've got any suggestions in the mean time - hit me with them. All you need to do is make the 6th oldest (population) state in the US look cool to college grads. Live Free or Die.

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