As I’m fond of telling colleagues who join Capstone events or express interest in doing so, we pride ourselves on ethical marketing and organic attendance at our small- and large-scale events, including coffee talks, info sessions, and our biannual StudyGlobal Education Fairs. This means that students and parents who attend do so because they want to. Other companies routinely artificially inflate attendance by busing in students, many of whom are unqualified. Most have neither intend to study overseas nor can their parents afford it.
They have guaranteed attendees and more net profit. Busing in students is much less expensive than running a proper marketing campaign. Seal the deal, pay the school, sit back, and wait for the rush of students. It’s one of those certainties in life, along with death and taxes.
Another example of artificially inflating fair attendance and improving the bottom line is paying young people to attend your event. A long time ago, a company that has long since stopped organizing fairs, used to have a “bring a friend and receive 50,000 VND” scheme. 50k VND is currently worth $1.93. Even when the organizer offered this bribe, it was an embarrassingly small amount of money.
A story I’m fond of telling colleagues is about a large fair in Hanoi that attracted busloads of students. (Hint: It’s organized by a multinational company that should know better but relies on a disreputable local partner for implementation, obviously, without checks and balances.) All you have to do is speak with a few of them and their (teacher) chaperones to see that it’s all for show and photo ops to illustrate their “success” and encourage collleagues to sign up for future events. (The AI-generated image illustrates this in devastating and humorous fashion.) Arrive at 4 p.m., give the kids a carton of milk and a snack, and tell them to be back on the bus at 5 p.m. They get to practice their English (?), pick up some cool swag, and hang out with their friends. Mission accomplished!
In conclusion, what’s the best way to ensure that your fair will have over 100 attendees on a rainy morning? Say it with me: “BUS ‘EM IN!” In this case, my sources observed two 45-seat buses and three 16-seat van from another city in northern Vietnam. In case you’re counting, that’s 90 + 48 = 138, plus whoever else wandered in. (Yes, I have the visual receipts.)
Educational consulting is still a largely unregulated Wild West industry in Vietnam and elsewhere in which the snakes, sharks, and pit bulls obsessed with short-term profit swagger and cheat with abandon. For them, ethical business practices stop at rhetoric. Some even have an external stamp of approval, a way of buying instant credibility.
Success without integrity is failure, indeed.
MAA
