An Interview with Glenn Pere: About College Click TV

Michael F. Shaughnessy
Senior Columnist EducationNews.org
Eastern New Mexico University

Glenn Pere is founding partner of CollegeClickTV.com. In this interview, he respond to questions about College Click and discusses it's usefulness.

1. Who started this "College Click TV" and what are you trying to accomplish?

CollegeClickTV.com is the brainchild of NYC advertising executive Glenn Pere. The idea was sparked after a conversation with a friend of his who was going through the college search process with his daughter, began listing reasons why the process was so difficult and time-consuming – the lack of a student perspective, and central hub for information, and the expenses that go into cross-country campus visits, and application fees.

Glenn immediately had a vision and used his ad agency resources to begin filming college campuses. Shortly after he asked his long-time friend and business associate "PR Guru" and best- selling author, Eric Yaverbaum to join forces. The partnership seemed perfect – the successful entertainment advertising chairman and public relations agency president, with a soon-to-be college bound daughter.

CollegeClickTV.com initially conceived through the eyes of a marketer who knew he would be sending his own kids to college one day – a free, one-stop resource for high school students and their parents to help make informed college decisions through unscripted peer-to-peer reviews, featuring more than 1,000 hours of video from over 200 colleges and universities across the
country.

2. You have partnered with U.S. News & World Report, The Princeton Review, and CliffsNotes. While I have the highest regard for the exceptionally fine work of U.S. News and World Report and the Princeton Review, I have some concerns about you aligning yourself with CliffsNotes. How did these partnerships come about?

U.S. News & World Report, The Princeton Review, and CliffsNotes are the most well known experts in their categories. Rob Aronson, managing partner of CollegeClickTV.com, approached them with the concept of CollegeClickTV.com.

After meeting, these top-notch portals realized that in order to truly be in tune with the new "YouTube" generation, they need a targeted voice, and better way of communicating. CollegeClickTV.com provides these partners with unique unscripted peer-to-peer video, which was previously unavailable. For CollegeClickTV.com, these partnerships help attract their more than 4 million unique users per month, and also validate the concept of CollegeClickTV.com – bringing students and their parents a well-rounded perspective of each college.

3. Also, you are aligning yourself with the perspective of a college student - students may find out which schools have the best parties, the best " keggers" and the easiest professors, but are college students able to tell you about the best teacher training programs, and the best preparation for the world of work?

When people say, "My four years at college were the best years of my life", they're not talking about just making the Dean's list and late night cram-sessions, they're talking about their entire college experience. CollegeClickTV.com brings students a well-rounded, 360-degree perspective of what their four years might look like.

The CollegeClickTV.com videos are a balance between nightlife/social scene reviews, academics, sports, school spirit, programs, clubs, and general campus life. CollegeClickTV.com brings college-bound students an authentic and real voice – they're watching real students, and real professors, to give them a real perspective of what their next four years might look like.

4. Let's get specific- are the college students that are on these t.v. clips freshmen, sophomores, juniors or seniors and how are they chosen?

Before entering a college campus, we conduct pre-research, then we go in and interview hundreds of students. The students represent a cross section of each university. Each class year of student relates a different perspective on their college experience – and it's vital to capture them all.

Freshman have most recently gone through the college search process, and are able to provide personal accounts of their choosing process to relate to the wants and needs for unscripted insights. The upper-class students are often able to dive deeper into the various course offerings and the experiences that only come after matriculating through the process and gaining unique insights.

5. Some, although not all high school students are not prepared for the reading and writing demands of the college campus. Will your program sensitize them to this issue and provide guidance about remediation?

Absolutely. Our interviewees relate their first year experiences and offer what students entering the institution should expect in terms of workload and expectations upon attending. These are exactly the types of topics that CollegeClickTV.com covers, and the essence of what we hope to provide our audience.

6. What about the high school student with special needs. Will your program alert them to colleges that sincerely attempt to assist students with, say, a learning disability?

Going onto a campus, we do not inject any pre-conditions or agendas – we allow students to provide us with their unaided views and opinions. We provide the totality of experience at each college. Topics such as special needs are important, so if we hear from our students that special needs are addressed, we certainly include that into the library of reviews for that campus.

CollegeClickTV.com also provides a wealth of non-video information, and should a college provide these types of programs, it is mentioned appropriately.

7. What exactly is the web site and what would a high school student find there and what would a parent find there?

The college search is time-consuming and expensive – CollegeClickTV.com brings the campus and peer reviews to people's homes, for free. CollegeClickTV.com is an online site geared toward helping high school students and their parents make informed decisions through unscripted peer-to-peer review video on the entire college experience. By visiting, students and parents will find more than 1,000 hours of video from over 200 colleges and universities across the country.

8. What exactly is this "entertainment and social networking features". What kinds of entertainment is provided and what the heck do you mean by social networking features? And why would a parent be interested in this aspect of academics?

Our content is really "infotainment." We use video to provide entertaining information in a way that a student can relate. This college-bound generation is used to a visual experience beyond the written word, and with the availability of technology we are able to communication with them in this way.

CollegeClickTV.com's social networking features are emerging and expanding as we grow. Eventually, one of our plans is to allow both students and parents to talk with others going through the same process.

9. What question have I neglected to ask?

We have plans to grow our library of colleges to more than 500 in the next six months. Additionally, we are working hand-in-hand with colleges and universities to bring in direct contact for both students and the institution – while also maintaining the unscripted, authentic reputation that has served our audience and us so well since our launch.

Published November 13, 2008

Thursday

November 13th, 2008

Michael F. Shaughnessy

Senior Columnist EducationNews.org

Education News

An Interview with Glenn Pere: About College Click TV

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