Sallyport - The Magazine of Rice University - Summer 2002

The Rice Degree of Difference
Spring 2002
VOL.58, NO.4
The Rice Degree of Difference
What makes Rice special? Those of us who know Rice—especially you
who are fortunate enough to be alumni—could go on for hours about
what makes Rice different from other universities. But what about
those who do not know Rice and who will only spare a few moments to
learn about it?
Also See:
Getting the Job Done:
Going the Distance
Far Beyond the Hedges
That is the challenge of building a national reputation to match Rice’s
reality. It is a challenge complicated by Rice’s small size and distance from
national media centers compared to the nation’s other leading universities.
So what is Rice’s response to that challenge?
DREK. Not dreck, as in trash, but D-R-E-K as described by the CEO of
Young & Rubicam when at Rice for a Dean’s Lecture at the Jones Graduate
School of Management. When “branding” arose as the buzzword of
competitive visibility, Young & Rubicam, one of the world’s largest brand
managers, conducted a massive study of how consumers make choices. All
involved expected the research to confirm the conventional wisdom that
audiences go through a four-step process known as AIDA: Awareness,
Interest, Desire, Action.
To everyone’s surprise, the study results, even after double-checking, found
AIDA obsolete. The current four-step process, the data showed, was
DREK: Differentiation, Relevance, Esteem, Knowledge.
In an age of information overload, we all filter out much of what comes our
way. The first filter often is Differentiation—“Is this new and different, or
can I ignore it?” If it passes that test, information must make it through
filters for Relevance—“Does this matter to me or can I disregard it?”—and
Esteem—“Is this good, or can I dismiss it?” Then, and only then, are most
people willing to pause to absorb Knowledge—“OK, I’ll listen; you’ve got
15 seconds.”
Terry Shepard
Vice President for
Public Affairs
For more about the
campaign, go to http://
www.rice.edu and click
Rice: The Next Century
Campaign, or call
Resource Development at
713-348-4600.
Thus, in building national visibility and support among those who do not
know Rice, we must first get their attention by demonstrating how Rice is
different from the other 4,047 colleges and universities in America.
Certainly the quality of our faculty and students puts Rice at the front of the
pack. However, our real competitors, the nation’s most prestigious
universities, also have outstanding faculty and students. What differentiates
us from the other leaders?
We in the Office of Public Affairs set about to examine Rice and the private
universities we compete with most—both their reality and what each said
about itself in news releases, publications, and websites. We consulted Rice
faculty, staff, students, and alumni about what sets Rice apart. When we
had zeroed in on three areas of difference, we compared notes with the
admission staff about what they say to, and hear from, prospective students
across the country. Happily, we each found that we and the admission staff
were in precise agreement. The three mega-messages we use to most
differentiate Rice from other leading private universities are:
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