Before I sat down to write this blog entry, I noticed a post in my Facebook news feed from a friend of mine, exclaiming, “Someone stole 9 months of the year!” I thought about this for a minute and realized he was right; September is upon us – where did the time go? Didn’t I just fire up that new barbecue only a few days ago? Then, I realized, a few days ago was the week before Memorial Day.
The Most Wonderful Time of the Year?
When the dog days of August arrive, many of us are so wilted from the summer heat that we can’t wait for those first crisp days of fall to arrive. There is anticipation in the air, and no matter how old we are, that back-to-school feeling never quite leaves our collective psyche. That got me thinking: what would happen if I Googled “back to school”? That’s one bit of search criteria I’ve never plugged into the text box.
On this particular day, my search yielded two sponsored ads, one from Office Max, the other from Staples, alerting me to the “big deals” to be had on school supplies at both retailers. These days, school supplies go way beyond Composition notebooks, pencil cases, and Elmer’s glue; today’s school supplies include wheelie backpacks, laptops, tablets, and ink-jet printers.
The next choice was the movie Back to School from the internet Movie Database (IMDB), that 1986 Rodney Dangerfield classic in which he plays a rich businessman who decides to attend college with his apathetic son. College and Rodney Dangerfield added up to one thing: non-stop partying, which lead an entire generation of students to believe this was what college was all about.
Following that was a link to the Back to School Event at Amazon.com, followed by images of back to school; getting my car ready for the school year; fashion ideas for back to school; a reminder from the U.S. government to take my child for a physical examination and get his or her immunization records updated; a $35 mobile phone plan for back to school; and finally, back to school at WalMart, and education pricing from Apple, just in case, after all that, I was considering buying one of their computers.
What Have We Learned?
What have we learned from my discovery? Back to school, as it relates to a search engine query, is nothing more than another shopping event akin to Christmas. Some of you must remember the famous Staples ad campaign from a few years back, using the ubiquitous holiday song, “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” as a joyful father and his perturbed son traverse the store in search of the hottest school supplies. Visit any mall on Labor Day weekend, and it will be as crowded as it is on Christmas Eve, except everyone is still in shorts and flip-flops. The act of becoming more educated is not mentioned in any advertising campaigns; all we need are the right supplies and the trendiest clothes, and we’re set.
In the world of online training and education, back to school means something completely different: We’re focusing on the best training courses that can benefit everyone. As the kids head back to class, and we get back to a more settled routine, we want to spread the word about the courses you need for your industry.
As we speak, Coggno is developing partnerships with communities across the country to deliver online training courses to all different types of businesses. Whether it’s general skills like computer software, marketing, sales, and customer service, or courses tailored to more specific needs, we’ve got them, and we want to make them accessible to everyone. In the spirit of back to school, we believe that with all the new gadgets and clothes our kids need to become educated, there should also be high quality educational materials for the adults as well. After all, we must continue to grow and prosper to ensure a bright future for our children. Isn’t that what back to school is really all about?
For more on how you can partner with Coggno, call us at 1.888.585.9978, or e-mail sales@coggno.com.
