Thursday, March 26, 2009

Brotherhood of the Brand

How Smart Grassroots Marketing Revitalized a Fraternity



College fraternities are typically associated with mass inebriation and creative hazing, not smart branding and marketing. But the brothers at the Psi Triton chapter of Phi Sigma Kappa are changing all that and demonstrating once again why I believe the next generation of business leaders will be more serious and savvy marketers...

When I graduated from Hobart College in 1990 Phi Sig was entering decline, and within a few years the fraternity was gone, succumbing to a more aggressive "anti-greek" mentality sweeping the campuses and administrations of many colleges...

Then about four years ago, a new generation of students at Hobart, along with some key alumni, made the effort to restart Psi Triton. Led by former house President Julian LoPresti and current president Andy Fosbrook they decided to re-create Phi Sig as a different kind of fraternity. They astutely recognized the campus community's general distaste for intra-fraternity rivalry and irresponsible antics, and determined that they needed to separate themselves from the clique-driven reputation of fraternities at Hobart (Kappa Sigma = Football Players, Sigma Phi = "deadheads", etc...).

And so they developed and applied a smart set of marketing and branding principals as the foundation of a new fraternity. First they developed a tag line and theme that could be reused in varied ways to build an identity. The line they created was, get this:

"We Are The Change"

It may sound cliched now, but keep in mind - they came up with this message fully 2 years before the Obama campaign kicked off! And the brothers now fondly joke now that Obama ripped off the change slogan from them!

The tag line was applied to T-shirts and posters that were distributed around campus and handed out at events. It has evolved several times since but the core theme of "change" has remained and no doubt benefited from the Obama phenomenon (lucky timing helps turn good marketing into great marketing).

The second thing they did was to dedicated themselves to a set of events and causes atypical of most fraternities. From conceiving and sponsoring the Turkey Trot race (one of the most successful fundraisers ever conducted on the Hobart campus) to their attempts to bring back the legendary Folk Festival on campus this spring, the goal has been to associate the Phi Sigma Kappa brand with every positive, noteworthy event or cause on campus or in the community.

In each case they created posters and t-shirts to promote the events and even arranged for local businesses to "sponsor" the production costs in return for logo placement.  They even chose the personal charity of the College President's wife as beneficiary of the Turkey Trot race winning her gratitude and a plate of fresh baked cookies for the house. Talk about building brand loyalty!

And to demonstrate the depth of their commitment to the community, they have even extended their marketing and branding expertise beyond just their own house, in an attempt to revitalize the image of fraternities overall. In their first year of eligibility, Phi Sigs ran and were elected to senior positions on the Hobart Inter Fraternity Council including the VP position and a newly established "IFC Marketing" position with a healthy budget that will be used to promote the positive aspects of "Greek life" on campus. These guys aren't just building a "company" brand, their promoting an entire "industry" brand.

Beyond the personal gratification of seeing my former fraternity revived and demonstrating real leadership, I think its a great example of back-to-basics marketing and brand advocacy, and I'm captivated by the organic manner in which it evolved among this young generation.

Damn Proud!

JPL
Hobart, PSK '90

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Online Imagination in an Offline World

I walked outside today to find my kids and a bunch of others from the neighborhood in the driveway, doing something that astounded me.

They were drawing the "rooms" of a large "house" - a kitchen, bathrooms, a game room, bedrooms (each of which had a flat screen TV) - filling every inch of the driveway.

But the really interesting thing was that each room had a swirled icon. I asked what they were and the kids explained to me the swirls were "portals" or "links" that allowed them to move between rooms.

They had mimicked in chalk & asphalt the digital interfaces and actions they know from popular websites like Webkinz and Poptropica.

It dawned on me that they were imitating and incorporating concepts they knew of only from the online world, and applying them to their physical world rather than the other way around. And I marveled at how this is probably the first generation to do that. They had been exposed to online imagination from such a young enough age that they can integrate them into their offline imaginations.

Here are a few shots...

Portals
















Game Room
(Note Wii Console on left)
















Kitchen
(with Portal icon)
















Laundry Room

Sunday, March 15, 2009

How My Cab Fare in Louisville Ended Up In Bangkok

Just spent 2 days in Louisville KY this week. My first ever visit there and it's a pleasant city with a revitalized - if still somewhat sleepy downtown - and a few funky SOHO-like cosmopolitan hotels and restaurants.

But what really stuck with me was my conversation with the cab driver on the way out. He's a 70+ year old widower and tells me he's from Upstate NY (Elmira) originally - and worked for a company that delivered new trucks from manufacturers like PeterBilt, Mack, etc. to customers all over the country.

He moved to Louisville 17 years ago, finished his career there, retired and now lives with his adult son in an apartment. He spends 3 months a year here driving cabs just to save enough money to go to Thailand for the other 9 months of the year where he has a 26 year old wife who's former profession is among the world's oldest.

So I ask him what the impact of the economy has has been on him and he says it's been so slow he'll have to drive his cab for an extra month before he saves enough to go back.

Beyond revealing the somewhat seamy underbelly of the global economy I was amused at seeing how my "taxi" dollars were being routed to Thailand via a cab driver in Louisville KY.

Go figure....

JPL