Greetings all:

Following is the report I submitted last week at the board of directors meeting. Would you please note in particular the plan's 8 action items listed at the end. You will see that a goal for this month has been set to define our target audiences and to identify the individuals who will form the strategy development team.

THE TEAM WHO WILL PUT THE STRATEGY TOGETHER NEED NOT NECESSARILY BE FROM THE MARKETING COMMITTEE. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN CONTRIBUTING AND OR HELPING US DEVELOP THE CORE MESSAGE PLATFORMS (TO POTENTIAL STUDENTS, POTENTIAL BOARD MEMBERS, SUPPORTERS/SPONSORS/ETC) PLEASE LET ME KNOW ASAP. SHARE THE BRIO!

SEA MARKETING COMMITTEE REPORT AND 2007/2008 MARKETING PLAN OUTLINE:

Jim's email invite to the February strategic planning session reminded us that we need to make some changes in order to attract top SEA candidates and to provide more value to alumni. Three questions were asked:

1. How do we recruit SEA candidates? 2. How do we get people to use the new Community Web site? 3. How do we raise the profile of the Academy in the community?

The planning session considered other topics too of course, but those questions are the essence of what the Marketing Communications team and all of us should address as we move forward. To elaborate:

- We have learned that certain student recruitment efforts have been more successful than others which will enable us to now focus resources more effectively.

- We have made adjustments to our mission statement which will necessitate message platform revisions.

- We have set new Big Hairy Audacious Goals (quite the visual) this is an exciting thing!

- We are tapping into the veritable gold mine of our alumni which will inject new energy into the Academy, extend our reach / voice in and out of the region, provide us with closer links to what happens to the students after their year at the Academy and empower our messages with their success stories.

- We have a new public Web site and an engaging and extensive Community Web site.

Evidently, we are not an organization given to sitting on our hands! But with so much activity comes the need to focus, plan, and SIMPLIFY.

The Marketing Committee can best support the other committees and serve the SEA most efficiently if we are ALL ON THE SAME PAGE. Inter-committee communications are a must if we are to be truly successful.

There is much to do in the coming months. I will lead and schedule these efforts, but no one or two individuals will be able to pull it all together. The Marketing Committee has just re-formed and we have some very excited and dynamic folks on board which is brilliant! The intelligence of what we do will depend on YOUR input and contribtions. Alumni, Students, Board Members, Friends of the Academy... speak now!

2007- 2008 SEA MARKETING PLAN OUTLINE (with suggested stage completion dates):

1. Define our target audience (the foundation of any marketing plan). 5/07

2. Identify strategy development team (marcom team primarily, but not exclusively). 5/07

3. Create strategy for a campaign that will: Communicate principal Academy benefits, create awareness and build credibility through advertising, PR (print and on-line), email, e-newsletter, affiliate marketing, word of mouth (relationship marketing), events/career fairs, public Web site and Community site. This need not be an epic task. We have most of the elements already in place, we just need to dovetail things and let everyone know how they fit into the overall agenda. 6/07

4. Consolidate and update message platforms for target audiences (potential students, alumni, potential board members, sponsors, friends and affiliates of the Academy). 7/07

5. Identify communication contacts (past, present and potential). 7/07

6. Identify production resources for communication tools. 7/07

7. Set budgets and establish schedules to meet 2007/8 and on-going marketing communication needs. 7/08

8. Produce new and revise existing communication tools. 7/12

Cheers and warm regards,

James