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NCAA News Archive - 2007
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Division II takes first big step into community plan
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By Dave Pickle
The NCAA News
The NCAA News
GOLDEN, Colorado — After years of self-analysis, research, planning and hard work, Presidents Council Chair Charles Ambrose had good news for Division II.
“The Division II identity crisis is over,” Ambrose said at the beginning of the first Division II Community-Engagement Workshop April 18. The event was co-sponsored by the National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators.
Ambrose said that Division II’s identity has been made clear through a strategic-positioning platform that is supported by an extensive visual campaign that soon will reach well into the membership. It is further bolstered through a unique and highly coordinated effort to link Division II institutions more effectively with the communities in which they reside.
All of that was on the table for the two-day workshop, which included at least two representatives from every Division II conference.
While the program refocused attendees on the Division II strategic-positioning platform and on the overall purpose of community engagement, the biggest hits pertained to the two principal “how-to” parts of the program: the Division II Activation Toolkit and the new Division II community-engagement Web site.
The toolkit is a package of six booklets designed to help the membership understand and communicate what it means to be a Division II member. The book-by-book topics are:
An introduction to the toolkit.
Additional material — such as advertisements, logos and screensavers — may be downloaded at no charge. The activation booklet also includes two DVDs: One features an electronic version of the complete toolkit, all Division II logos and graphics, and a direct link to the purchasing Web site; the other contains three videos — a public service announcement, an educational video and a Division II promotional video (long and short version).
The community-engagement Web site — the other major product unveiled at the workshop — will provide the membership with the opportunity to acquire, share and improve upon ideas that bring campus and community together. The site also includes extensive video collateral, including presentations of successful programs at Pittsburg State University, the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association and Holy Family University. The highly searchable site is available at www.diicommunity.org.
Rich Luker, the consultant who has developed the program in concert with Division II staff, reminded the membership to keep its collective eye on the community-engagement target. Division II’s strength, he said, lies in its intimacy at a time when intimacy may be more in line with what the public wants. Such a mindset liberates members from trying to compete with large Division I institutions and professional sports franchises in the traditional ways.
“The attitude that you can’t compete won’t be defeated by being bigger and better than those guys,” Luker said. “What it will be defeated by is the quality of experience that you can provide.”
That experience does not necessarily relate to the competition itself. A number of successful programs have created loyal markets by ensuring close-in parking at football games, building more-than-adequate restroom facilities and constructing inviting entrances to stadiums and fieldhouses. The ultimate reach to the community, however, is established through a people-to-people touch.
One story shared at the workshop involved how one community resented the students at the local Division II college because they “invaded” the local shops, restaurants and streets. The institution’s leaders chose to engage the topic and provided the city manager with an economic-impact document that revealed the value of the students. But what turned perceptions around for everybody was the school’s establishment of a “Kids Night Out” initiative. The program encouraged parents to leave their kids with the students while they took some “kid-free” time. The event provided a valued service and also created the means by which members of the community came to know the students first-hand. This particular “Kids Night Out” program is now conducted three times annually — and complaints about the college “invading” the town are heard far less often, if at all.
In that vein, Trip Durham of Elon University and NACMA president, said that many people need to recalibrate how they regard the principle of “marketing,” citing Colorado School of Mines’ successful “Evening in the Park” (see story, page 15).
“Any time you make a touch, you are ‘marketing,’ ” Durham said. “As you look at community engagement, last night was a perfect marketing touch.”
“The Division II identity crisis is over,” Ambrose said at the beginning of the first Division II Community-Engagement Workshop April 18. The event was co-sponsored by the National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators.
Ambrose said that Division II’s identity has been made clear through a strategic-positioning platform that is supported by an extensive visual campaign that soon will reach well into the membership. It is further bolstered through a unique and highly coordinated effort to link Division II institutions more effectively with the communities in which they reside.
All of that was on the table for the two-day workshop, which included at least two representatives from every Division II conference.
While the program refocused attendees on the Division II strategic-positioning platform and on the overall purpose of community engagement, the biggest hits pertained to the two principal “how-to” parts of the program: the Division II Activation Toolkit and the new Division II community-engagement Web site.
The toolkit is a package of six booklets designed to help the membership understand and communicate what it means to be a Division II member. The book-by-book topics are:
An introduction to the toolkit.
- Speaking to prospective and current student-athletes, and their parents.
- Speaking to coaches and administrators.
- Speaking to presidents and chancellors, and members of the community.
- Speaking to media partners and corporate supporters.
- Activation materials.
Additional material — such as advertisements, logos and screensavers — may be downloaded at no charge. The activation booklet also includes two DVDs: One features an electronic version of the complete toolkit, all Division II logos and graphics, and a direct link to the purchasing Web site; the other contains three videos — a public service announcement, an educational video and a Division II promotional video (long and short version).
The community-engagement Web site — the other major product unveiled at the workshop — will provide the membership with the opportunity to acquire, share and improve upon ideas that bring campus and community together. The site also includes extensive video collateral, including presentations of successful programs at Pittsburg State University, the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association and Holy Family University. The highly searchable site is available at www.diicommunity.org.
Rich Luker, the consultant who has developed the program in concert with Division II staff, reminded the membership to keep its collective eye on the community-engagement target. Division II’s strength, he said, lies in its intimacy at a time when intimacy may be more in line with what the public wants. Such a mindset liberates members from trying to compete with large Division I institutions and professional sports franchises in the traditional ways.
“The attitude that you can’t compete won’t be defeated by being bigger and better than those guys,” Luker said. “What it will be defeated by is the quality of experience that you can provide.”
That experience does not necessarily relate to the competition itself. A number of successful programs have created loyal markets by ensuring close-in parking at football games, building more-than-adequate restroom facilities and constructing inviting entrances to stadiums and fieldhouses. The ultimate reach to the community, however, is established through a people-to-people touch.
One story shared at the workshop involved how one community resented the students at the local Division II college because they “invaded” the local shops, restaurants and streets. The institution’s leaders chose to engage the topic and provided the city manager with an economic-impact document that revealed the value of the students. But what turned perceptions around for everybody was the school’s establishment of a “Kids Night Out” initiative. The program encouraged parents to leave their kids with the students while they took some “kid-free” time. The event provided a valued service and also created the means by which members of the community came to know the students first-hand. This particular “Kids Night Out” program is now conducted three times annually — and complaints about the college “invading” the town are heard far less often, if at all.
In that vein, Trip Durham of Elon University and NACMA president, said that many people need to recalibrate how they regard the principle of “marketing,” citing Colorado School of Mines’ successful “Evening in the Park” (see story, page 15).
“Any time you make a touch, you are ‘marketing,’ ” Durham said. “As you look at community engagement, last night was a perfect marketing touch.”
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