Time to rethink your passwords
Make the hackers work a little harder…turn your eight character passwords into 12 characters or more. With current technologies eight character passwords can be defeated in two hours, but it will take over 17 years to get past 12 characters. Security experts also advise you to not use real words, and to use full sentences. More great tips in this article.
Marketers…this is a good thing to know if you’re updating your mobile site and websites, and you’re currently requiring a password for login. Some sites aren’t friendly to long passwords. Another good idea is to proactively make your customers aware of this. Get a message out to them, prompt them to update their password, and post password best-practices on your login screen.
Come out from behind the two-way mirror
That coupon you just downloaded could be a window into your world. When you viewed it online, the barcode on it was dynamically generated with what could be very personal information about you. When you take it into the store to redeem it, the retailer could instantly know the search words you used, where you got the coupon, where you live, and a host of other details that can help them target you better.
16 years after the first cookie was planted on a computer, the business of capturing and profiting from online behavioral data has exploded, and grown to include mobile user data. There’s an attitude amongst us marketers that lack of privacy is the trade-off that consumers make for their access to content on the internet and on mobile phones….and that we have every right to spy if it means we can make faster and more relevant offers to specific individuals.
But please, let’s regulate ourselves before the regulators step in. We’re intrigued by a company called Media6Degrees Inc., who is pushing the envelope. The folks at Media6Degrees envision the day when financial institutions can make judgments about you by who you associate with online. According to this Wall Street Journal article, “The idea is that the creditworthy tend to hang out with the creditworthy, and deadbeats with deadbeats.”
How many times do we need to learn…what the consumer doesn’t know can hurt you. Protect your brand and think twice about how you’re using this data. Just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.
Gap Years Make Good Business Sense
The value of a “gap year” may be hard to quantify in terms of increased retention and program persistence. However, creating a formalized gap year program has the potential to pay big dividends for colleges and universities.
Some schools report that, compared to their burned-out, stressed or homesick peers who go right into college, students who take a year “off” are more likely to be confident and successful in their first year, and more persistent in their degree program. And there are many other ways in which schools can benefit from the growing popularity of the gap year.
Although common in Europe, the gap year is finally catching on in the US, but there are still no reliable statistics about its prevalence here. The practice has been suppressed in the US because of the cost of secondary education, as well as the fact that, until recently, students had to stay in school or lose their parent’s health insurance coverage.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act now extends coverage of unmarried dependent children to their 26th birthday. This could open the door to significant growth in demand for gap year programs. The buzz is building, fueled by recent high-profile news coverage.
Not all colleges in the US allow accepted students to delay the start of their freshman year, and policies can be shaped by funding considerations. State schools, like the University of Washington, may require that gap year students reapply when they are ready to start or resume their studies. This is in stark contrast to the policies of schools like MIT, who say they will grant a deferral for almost any reason, and who passionately advocate taking a gap year.
Today, colleges that accommodate requests for a deferral normally allow less than 50 students to do so. If in future, as it is in Europe now, we could expect 10% of high school graduates to take a gap year, how could colleges and universities optimize the opportunity? Here are a few ideas:
- Differentiation: Gap year programs can be a great brand differentiation opportunity. Princeton University, for instance, has developed a structured gap year program that they hope to be able to offer to as many of 100 students a year. The program allows students to perform community service abroad, and may be the first of its kind among U.S. colleges and universities. Princeton has generated a lot of online buzz about this program already.
- Innovation: Shorter, more affordable programs can still give students a broadening, refreshing experience. Developing customized “hiatus” programs that are integrated with curriculum may also be a way to differentiate while assimilating students more deeply into the school community.
- Partnerships: Partnering with global companies to offer gap year internship programs represent a significant win-win opportunity for schools who want to increase their international appeal, students who want some practical experience in their future field, and companies that need to build their local skilled workforce.
- Social Communities: Encouraging gap year students to share their experiences is a terrific way of reinforcing a new and somewhat tenuous relationship. Schools may find that an online forum for gap year students to compare experiences, photos, and video will get a lot of attention from other students, parents, and alumni. Cornell University Career Services is ahead of the field in this respect. They devote a Facebook page entirely to the gap year topic; promoting events and highlighting student and alumni gap year experiences.
- Hybrid programs: Some schools and parents fear that gap year students will suffer from academic atrophy, particularly in science and math. With the prevalence on online education, who is to say that a gap year can’t include a couple of foundational courses to keep study habits honed?
- Events: When a student is pondering what they could do with a gap year, there are hundreds of dizzying options. It’s not unusual in the UK for universities to offer a Gap Year Fair to feature exciting or relevant programs offered by commercial companies, exchange organizations and educational foundations.
As reports about increased retention and campus enrichment surface, we predict that more schools will openly embrace the gap year. It’s just smart business for schools to consider ways to help students to be more ready to succeed in higher education. Those who are leading the way today actively guide students in how to make the time productive for their resumes and fulfilling for their adventurous souls. In doing so they’re deepening relationships and strengthening their brands.
What Question Will You Ask?
Facebook’s question feature is in beta testing right now, but they promise they’ll launch it to the rest of us real soon. While the idea of being able to post a question to a social community is hardly new, I don’t believe the functionality has yet been experienced by such a large and active community as Facebook. Until a little of the shine has worn off the new toy, we’re potentially looking at millions of questions posed and answered each day. Crowd sourcing run amok.
So what question will you ask first?
I’m going to ask “Why can’t you eat Beefaroni every day?” since I can’t seem to come up with an answer my daughter deems credible.
Baskin-Robbins retires five flavors
Get thee to a Baskin-Robbins quickly if you want to stock up on one of their five soon-to-be-retired flavors. To clear the way for new concoctions, they’re sending French Vanilla, Caramel Praline Cheesecake, Campfire S’mores, Apple Pie a La Mode and Superfudge Truffle into the “Deep Freeze.” If you want to see what other flavors have been retired over the years, go here.
By the way, the Baskin-Robbins website is an entertaining place to spend some time. It has a light-hearted tone, fun content to read, and gives you an uplifting experience. For a 65 year old company, it’s constantly refreshing and renewing…either through new flavors or fun promotions.
The top selling ice cream flavors at Baskin-Robbins are really pretty pedestrian…Vanilla, Chocolate, Mint Chocolate Chip, Pralines ‘n Cream, and Chocolate Chip. I have to say that I am not an ice-cream risk taker. I may take advantage of a free taste of the flavor-of-the-month, but invariably end up with my old friend Vanilla.
Old Spice’s Rapid Response Video Campaign
An old brand is leading the way in using new media…Old Spice extended their TV commercial campaign with an innovative tactic. Fans used social networks to ask questions of the actor in the TV ads. And Old Spice rapidly responded to 186 of these questions via short videos. Each video was produced in just minutes, and reportedly resulted in YouTube traffic that exceeded 34 million views in less than a week. Check out the story on NPR.
