Or so they seem to be telling people…

Aware of the dismissive attitude the east coast elite possess towards NU, President Schapiro has been on a rebranding mission since he arrived.  Though we’ve been ascending up the US News ladder (and will continue to), Brown, Cornell & Co. seem to be retaining their prestige and admiration from the pushy mothers of the east coast suburbs that seem to set the trophy value of a school.  Morty attributes this to a general misunderstanding of where NU is located, how great Chicago is and how academically rigorous NU is (did you know Stanford and Dartmouth only take 3 classes a quarter?).  He can add this video to the list.

The message in this ad, the most viewed on YouTube of the series, is “Good Thinking.”  And of course, where else would you start  with “Good Thinking” than its most prominent home at Northwestern, Tech the football field.

“Yes, ball thrown at angle theta of 33 degrees and I accelerate at 3.2 meters per second.”  Yikes.  Kicking a field goal is straight physics, but our theta angles didn’t do much for the last two bowl games.

I’m not sure if the joke is that we are so smart that we are socially inept or that we are all one bunch of unbearable people that collectively make a happy community.  I refuse to accept either.  Slivka only has 140 residents.

Would anyone actually want to spend four years with the people in that video?  If so, they’d probably go to UChicago anyways.

The video is dishonest to what Northwestern is aiming to become and needs to be taken down. President Schapiro is increasing the number of early students accepted (an increase of 50 this year, more to come), because even though they tend to be dumber, they love NU more than the bitter souls who got rejected from UPenn and had to settle for purple.

I will admit that I am no marketing executive (although Don Draper may be an idol), but I know that there are far more convincing videos out there for far worse organizations. The people in “Good Thinking” are not the Northwestern students I know and admire, but a bunch of people who, frankly, suck.

Northwestern has hired a new marketing firm this year to launch a campaign to fix our image problems on the coasts of the US.  I applaud the effort to rebrand.  It is something that must be done.  I just hope they remember to pitch us for what we are.  A sanctity of balance: geographically, demographically, academically, athletically, and intellectually.  We are a community of communities that offers so much more in every aspect than some of our ivy league peers.  Outsiders don’t know about the beaches, Dillo Day, Chicago, Kellogg, the quarter system, Big10 sports, the vibrant Greek life (especially with wet status) and amazing theater shows.

This is no secret to anyone familiar with Northwestern (hopefully not to the new marketing firm).  Instead of making up characters or trying to be funny, show Northwestern for what it is, and the brand will fix itself.

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