Presentation given at the BC chapter of the American Marketing Association on October 21, 2009

1. Stephen Webster - Introduction

4. Actions of a few affect many

6. Push the message

12. These days are well and truly over

15. Control

17. helpful, solemn, rude

18. Programmers control the message

19. but they don’t control the
aftermath

20. The frustration

21. The anger

22. The conversation

23. Much like marketing today

24. Control the message...

25. the story...

26. the promise

27. We simply don’t control the
conversation

29. Help them grow

30. Help them prosper

31. Authentic

32. Build trust

33. Very good chance you will succeed

34. Raise your head above the noise

35. Case Study

36. Vancouver Film School

37. VFS video introduction
go to www.vfs.com for more info

38. Marketing strategies

39. Developed, Implemented, Results,
Recommendations, Trends

40. Development

44. Vancouver Film School has been preparing students for their
dream careers in the entertainment industry for over 20 years.
Graduates from our world-renowned one-year programs have
gone on to win Oscars and Emmys and have become creative
professionals at the best companies in the world.
Exclusive Scholarships for Canadian High School Students
We’re awarding scholarships to the brightest, most passionate
aspiring artists coming out of Canadian high schools. Apply now
for your chance at one of three full-tuition scholarships, valued at
$20,000, to the one-year Foundation Visual Art & Design program.
Check out vfs.com/kickit for the details.

45. Create the first handshake with
a new customer

46. Nurture and grow the community

47. Create opportunities for these
communities to connect to one
another

48. Student and graduate reviews are
second only to word-of-mouth

49. Focus on how to add value first

50. 1Belief, 2 Strategies

51. 1 Belief
Our potential

52. Think as big as possible

53. Strategy 1
An engagement strategy

54. Strategy 2
Connected marketing strategy

55. Strategy 1
An engagement strategy

56. Strategy 1
marketing
A engagement strategy

57. Do the analysis

58. Cluster analysis

59. Factor analysis

60. SWOT analysis

61. Perceptual mapping

62. Write the plan and execute

63. huge problems

64. Not responsive

65. Not versatile

66. Landscape shifting

67. •13 Different Products
• 13 Different Markets
•13 Different Demographics
•13 Different Psychographics

68. Stages of Development
•Launch
•Development
•Nurture
• Maintain
•Grow

69. Social Media

70. Bad News

71. No silver bullet

72. Systematic series of actions

73. Goals

75. Common value proposition
to establish a unified brand

76. Competition

77. Skills / Education / Experience

82. Skills
Software, Hardware

83. Education
The outcome

84. Experience
•Class environment
•Culture
•Teaching style
•Peer support

85. Combination

86. Skills / Education / Experience

87. Unique Selling Proposition

88. Process

89. Result

90. Brand Mantra

91. Results Matter

92. It’s all about the work

93. It’s all about the portfolio

94. This is the fuel that drives our
Engagement Strategy

95. so what is the engine then?

96. Recruitment tool Employment Calling Card
pull strategy push strategy
no hard sell branded package
entertain first quality first
‘wow’ how did they do that? ‘wow’ this is good
“Where” did they do that? “Where” did they do that?
I want to do that I want to hire this person
and/or
I know someone that needs
I want more like this
to know this
out of this we get...
Prospective students Industry buy-in

97. Engagement Strategy

98. Strategy 2
Connected marketing strategy

99. Make a list of possible partners

100. Partners that complement our
business

101. Don’t be afraid to go after the big
players

102. Make sure you can bring something
of value to them first

103. Implementation

104. Case Study
•Youtube
•District 9
• Innovation lab

106. Vision

107. Show the world a great variety
of excellent student work, and let
the work speak for itself

108. Launched in October 2006

109. Piece of Mind video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbbfJClypYg

110. The making of Piece of Mind video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5qWG3599Zk

111. Category editors

112. Made recommendations

113. Value and trust

114. Dig deep

115. Quality

116. Strong content

118. Drive content

119. Build the relationship

120. Think big

122. Pitch

123. Scholarship competition

124. Had to haves
• Community Involvement
• As big as possible
• Long term tie-in to VFS brand
• Willing to accept any of the winners

125. Scholarship committee

126. Open to all 19 channels worldwide

127. Theme
“What matters to you”

128. Theme
“It’s all about you”

129. Brand connection
“Results Matter”

130. viewers get to decide

131. Deliverables

132. Youtube launch video
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=iap2qfP1XGE

134. $500,000 in support

135. Advertising
Promotional
Custom applications

137. One guiding principle

138. Respond to everything

139. The winners

140. Selected winner of VFS / Youtube scholarship competition
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KExoP97KUnY

141. The take-aways
• Still has traction today - links back to
VFS.com
• Demand - when will we do it again
• Increased quality of our applicants
• Many ‘Me too’ imitations

142. More organizations want our
content

145. The Results

146. Brand Awareness

147. New Leads

148. #1 school channel

149. Our Process today
• We post a video to Youtube every
weekday
• We monitor all feedback and
comments
• We respond in an authentic voice - no
sales jargon

151. District 9 Trailer
http://www.district9movie.com/

152. 2 weeks

153. Leverage our social media channels

154. Centralized place
•Bring me here
•Keep me here
• Make me care

155. Have to do it backwards

156. Make me care
•Director
•41 grads - the calculations
•Appeal to the geek nature
• The official place for everything
District 9

157. Keep me here
•Microsite
• Alumni Credits - IMDB support, and graduation reels
• Blog stories
• Video interviews - 1 overview, 6 in-depth
• External news stories
• Competition / giveaways / draw-ins
• Media pull quotes

158. VFS District 9 microsite
http://www.vfs.com/enterd9

159. Bring me here

160. Probably the easiest part of the
puzzle

161. Value

162. “Make me care”

163. “Keep me here”

164. Wasted effort

165. Bring me here
• All social media channels
• On site at all major movie theaters
• The PR - Vancouver connection
• The give-away
• The keywords
• Congratulatory advertising

166. The Results

167. • Over 20,000 visits (and growing)
• 94% were new visits
• New leads in our system
• New enrollments in our school

168. Innovation lab

169. Students wreaking havoc

171. Link:
http://www.vfs.com/blog/2009/03/30/vfs-
students-wreaking-havoc/

172. Cool, fun factor

174. Helping students help themselves
help us

179. Facilitate multiple download
formats

180. We have done the work

181. Students embed the work on their
blogs, their websites, their Youtube
channels

182. More people get to see the work

183. More people join the conversation

184. Results / Recommendations / Trends

185. The results of our conversations

186. BC Export Awards

187. 50% International Students

188. 2008
Largest intake of students in 22 years

189. Recommendations

190. Website
• Integration to all of your communities;
Youtube, Twitter, Myspace etc.
• Do an annual audit - every nook and cranny
• Web gardening
• Don’t rely on one single point of entry
• Cross reference stories throughout your site
• Leverage external API

191. Blog
• Search engines LOVE blogs
• Take your time and get it right
• Approachable language
• Decide on your posting schedule
• Respond to everyone

192. Events
• Meaningful events. Can you add value?
• Do you have brands that you can build an
event extension around?
• Invite and host. Doesn’t have to be big or
expensive
• Involve your community: live twitter feeds

193. Get yourself organized

194. RSS
• You don’t have the time to read everything
• Get a reader
• Organize what is of value to you
• Set up alerts
• 10 minutes each morning will set you on
your way

195. Tools
• Make friends with Technorati
• Use a mainstream media mail service -
Meltwater
• More than Google
• Master adwords, yahoo and bing advertising

196. Trend(s)

197. A move away from the desk

198. The devices in your pockets and
purses right now

199. Trend(s)

201. Bandwidth vs. Connectivity

202. Not just apps

203. More ways to deliver your content

204. More ways to deliver your message

205. More ways to tell your story

206. Get involved

207. Participate

208. To listen and respond

209. You are still in control

210. Aware of the conversations

211. Elevate the quiet positive

212. Address the loud negative

213. Every message has the potential to be
a front page story

214. It doesn’t take too much

215. Be authentic

216. Build trust

217. Help your communities to grow

219. What will they say about you when
they meet?