Archive for January 28th, 2011

That “lifetime employment” thing will get you every time …

January 28, 2011

Bottom line: State universities and even some private colleges are culling senior faculty members to trim budgets.

That “lifetime employment” thing will get you every time …

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BusinessWeek, States Take Aim at Tenured Professors, January 6, 2011

Hundreds of professors at public universities across the U.S. have been coaxed into retirement with offers of as much as two years’ pay.

Faced with 2012 deficits estimated at a total of $140 billion … states are looking to their university systems for savings, even if it means circumventing the once-sacrosanct tenure system.

The buyouts make business sense: Pay for tenured professors averages $117,000 a year at the top 200 U.S. public universities. Annual contracts for replacement instructors cost an average $52,500.

Texas A&M University in College Station persuaded 104 professors to retire.

Even some private colleges and universities, which have cut budgets because of falling endowment returns and rising competition for tuition dollars, are considering culling senior faculty.

At Harvard, retirement incentives were offered to 176 professors 65 or older … 46 of them, with a median age of 70, accepted.

The American Association of University Professors, warns that the departure of the most seasoned professors may prove damaging down the line.

“Experienced and active faculty members who will be leaving and replaced in the short-term are going to be followed by people who are much more transient.”

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May I speak with the man of the house?

January 28, 2011

TakeAway: In line with its history of unusual marketing, P&G wants its new website to take advantage of an untapped marketing opportunity with the family man.  Its top rival Unilever took a raunchier approach in its Axe campaign, while P&G’s site focuses on what’s happening outside of the bedroom.

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Excerpted from NYTimes, “As the Web Turns” By Andrew Martin, January 12, 2011

The P&G site offers tips on grilling burgers, cleaning toilets and disciplining children. It promises, “We’ll make men out of you yet,” while also promoting Gillette razors, Head & Shoulders shampoo and other company products.

“What we are trying to do is speak to the whole man,” said Jeannie Tharrington, a spokeswoman for Procter & Gamble Productions. “Certainly, relationships and sex are part of an adult man’s life.”

More and more big companies have discovered the how-to genre as a marketing tool.  In the years since Beinggirl.com was created, Procter & Gamble has started several other lifestyle Web sites, including one that is directed at women, Homemadesimple.com. David Germano, the general manager of ManoftheHouse.com, said consumer data showed that 10 percent of the visitors to the women’s site were men.

ManoftheHouse.com has brought on several writers who had established father-focused blogs.  So are men drawn to a PG-rated Web site when so much R- and X-rated competition is out there? Procter & Gamble says that so far it is pleased with the number of visitors. The site was started in June, and by December it had topped a half a million monthly unique visitors.  By comparison, AskMen.com, a site with similar, if more titillating content, had 5.5 million unique visitors in December, according to comScore, the market research firm.

Jonah Disend, chief executive of the brand strategy firm Redscout, questioned whether ManoftheHouse.com would generate a big following. He said men tended to be more interested in specialized publications about a specific hobby or sport.

“Just because no one’s doing it doesn’t mean there’s a real market for it,” he said.

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