Card Counting
Cooperating Might Deal You a Winning Hand

During the late 1950’s Dr. Edward Thorpe, a mathematics professor at MIT, came across the Kelly Criterion in the MIT library, a probability theory used to maximize the long-term growth rate of repeated plays of a given gamble that has positive expected value.
     
The story goes that Dr. Thorpe was on the way to a conference in Las Vegas and wanted to see if there was an equation that explained the probability of winning at blackjack. The Kelly Criterion explained that there was a probability of winning, but it didn’t define the process.
     
Dr. Thorp used an IBM 704 computer at MIT as a research tool to investigate the probabilities of winning while developing his blackjack game theory based on the Kelly Criterion. Dr. Thorp analyzed the game of blackjack using the computer, and originated card counting.
     
The principle behind counting cards in blackjack is that a deck of cards with a high proportion of high cards is good for the player, while the reverse, a deck with a high proportion of low cards, is good for the dealer. During each game a dealer has to continue to take cards if the total value of the dealer’s hand is below seventeen. Too many high cards give the edge to the player, because there is a greater probability that the dealer will go bust.
     
A more simplistic explanation of card counting is limiting the risk taken by the player in order to maximize the return on each hand played. This simplistic explanation of card counting is reflective of a comprehensive marketing campaign in higher education.

Marketing player in the academic arena cannot be bystanders only betting when the odds seem to be in their favor. They need to bet on each hand appropriately, as does the card counter, to the risk and reward knowing that losing occasionally is part of the process of succeeding.
     
Like a blackjack player, a savvy marketing director needs to thoroughly understand the rhythm of the higher education arena in order to effectively stay in the game. One needs to also understand the patterns that dictate each marketing hand played. A marketing director needs to understand that there are marketing patterns even in what appears to be chaos.

A marketing director, like the card counter, needs to continually fine tune the company’s marketing approach by establishing who in higher education the high cards represent, who the low cards represent, and who are neutral.
     
Anthony Perinello’s book, Selling to VITO, the Very Important Top Officer, established that the three primary players in a decision making process are the researcher, the influencer, and the very important top officer. As in a deck of cards, each person in the deck is part of the whole and cannot work without the other.
     
A marketing director might consider that each hand played is only part of the overall game, and reflects a different marketing approach, such as an ad in a professional journal, a direct marketing promotional card, attendance at an event or conference, presentation to a group of professionals, or direct contact with a key decision maker.
     
In the extremely high-yield/low-lead world of academia a marketing director needs to not only evaluate the effectiveness of each marketing hand played, but find ways to strengthen his or her position in higher education, and so can outlast the multi-layered incremental purchasing rhythms without going bust.
     
Starting in the 1980’s a group of MIT students, led by their professor, established the MIT Blackjack Team. Continuing with what Dr. Thorpe started they created a cooperative that increased their rate of success with blackjack when they played as a group. Individually a player has a higher potential of going bust before they reach a rhythm of favorable cards, but as a group the probability is increased exponentially to the number of participants.
     
A company that enters higher education with the expectation of a fast return on their marketing efforts has an extremely high potential of going bust before they penetrate the wall that surrounds academia, but a company or organization that is committed to the long term rhythm and mores of higher education and takes part in cooperative ventures with other companies, organizations, and especially with the colleges and universities that they serve with their products and/or services can find their company being part of what they were once separate from.

 

Lead + Yield + Commitment = Higher Education Partnerships
Commitment Might Be the Missing Link in Your Marketing Campaign

Lead and yield are important components in a very simple calculation used to measure the effectiveness of a publication in any particular industry. These components might faithfully serve any marketing campaign that wants to enter a conventional industry, but in the higher education arena commitment is another very important component that needs to be considered.

The usual variables involved in calculating the effectiveness of a marketing campaign are: High Yield/High Lead, High Yield/Low Lead, Low Yield/High Lead, and Low Yield/Low Lead. A company that markets a low-cost product, such as a $150.00 drill, in a professional trade publication that generates many leads is simply referred to as a Low Yield/High Lead publication. A company that markets a high-cost product or service in a publication that generates only a few leads is referred to as a High Yield/Low Lead publication.

The yield and lead in any industry is not established by the publication, but by the industry being served. It is the responsibility of the publisher to position a publication editorially to reflect both the needs of the industry and the industry’s rhythm of procurement.

Commitment to long-term partnerships in higher education has become a very important component when considering Higher Education Consortia magazine’s editorial, design, and distribution. The editorial content has been positioned to act as a deep reference guide to help senior management make difficult decisions, and to be comprehensive enough to stay on their bookshelves when the need for the information arises.

Higher Education Consortia magazine is not only committed to partnerships with academia, but also with the companies, non-profit organizations, and agencies that serve higher education with products and/or services. All partners who collectively participate in the evolution of a professional journal create a community forum that supports the growth of higher education and in turn helps to support the growth of the company, non-profit organization, and agency committed to the partnership.