The Red Sox won the World Series this year, which makes 3 World Series wins since I was last at Fenway Park. I’ve been one mile away from it for two days, and tomorrow I’ll be flying back home. If I didn’t care so much about Mercury and the Talaria product, I would have blown off sessions to make my pilgrimage. But I just can’t ignore this target rich conference as I would always be wondering What if? But I do hope to snag some Red Sox schwag before I go home, as buying it in Boston seems so much more meaningful than buying it online.

We talked a lot about fans today. And of course the sports analogies flew. The main topic was building love for a brand and communicating that brand. But what I discovered was that to many people in Higher Ed, education is a pure endeavor, not to be polluted by marketing and branding which drag it down into cahoots with those organizations that make money. So they are reluctant to find value in branding consistency, branding guidelines, and campaigns. They even shot down the sports fan analogies until they were reminded that fan comes from fanatic. And in my mind, If you can’t support making more fanatic supporters of education or an institution of education, then stay home and get out of our way.

And maybe watch more baseball next year. Boston Strong! Go Braves!