At the upcoming SPARC Digital Repositories Meeting, branding strategist Nicole Colovos will lead a module dedicated to addressing one of the most compelling questions of digital repository management: How do we grow our content? The SPARC Digital Repositories Meeting 2008 will be held November 17-18 at the Renaissance Harborplace Hotel in Baltimore, USA.

This “Marketing Practicum” will introduce key marketing principles and strategies for the academic context. Participants will have a hands-on opportunity to apply these in an exercise aimed at engaging campus constituencies and demonstrating the importance of digital repositories. They will examine the research and publishing process from a variety of perspectives and be challenged to introduce repositories in ways that clearly communicate their benefits and opportunities to wide-ranging constituencies.

Colovos is the Vice President of Strategic Development for Bremmer & Goris Communications, the Alexandria-based marketing and design firm whose clients have included Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, University at Buffalo, and the Council on Library and Information Resources. The firm has been instrumental in developing recent SPARC educational campaigns, including “The Right to Research: The student guide to opening access to research” and the Sparky video awards.

The Marketing Practicum will be on Tuesday, Nov. 18, following the luncheon keynote address by Bob Witeck, CEO of Witeck-Combs Communications, who will offer his unique insights on targeted message development. One-day registration rates are available.