Photo of the 2011 spirit shirt of the year. This was the incentive to turn in apparel from institution competitors.
A photo of the type of non-branded apparel turned in. This included outdated A&M-Commerce branded apparel.
Instead of lines, this event was setup flea market style which was different for students used to standing in line.
Client: Texas A&M University-Commerce
Role(S): Program Marketer, Marketing, Promotions, Design, Ordering, Event Marketing
Opportunity
After arriving on campus, I observed a high rate of students (and university staff) wearing competitor apparel. The excuses of, 'Well, that's their personal choice,' or, 'Maybe they just love that team,' were not cutting it anymore. The lack of school spirit was more than a personal choice, it was a representation of poor spirit culture.
solution
Prior to A&M-Commerce, I worked at Texas State while earning my master's. The university held an annual t-shirt swap where you would turn in your UT, Baylor, and UTSA apparel for a Texas State shirt.
I thought it was genius, so why reinvent something that already worked for a university on a mission to increase brand reputation and spirit?
I reframed the program to align with A&M-Commerce spirit goals. This was also a solution to another problem - what to do with all of the t-shirts from previous campus events. It was a win-win.
tactics
This new program was a part of the revamped Welcome Back lineup of events. This way we had the opportunity to improve our brand and spirit right from the start.
- Annual T-shirt design
- Collect correctly-branded, leftover university apparel from various departments
- Recruit volunteers to run t-shirt swap table and keep shirts organized by size
- Promote event as part of Welcome Week, as well as promote the *new* spirit shirt of the year as the main incentive
RESULTS
For the four years I was in the role, I saw the demand for the event grow, and the spirit on campus did subjectively increase. We saw this by the increase of A&M-Commerce branded apparel, as well as the reduction of competitor apparel. Additionally, praise and compliments were delivered from leadership about the visual and pleasant change of scenery.
ADDITIONAL OBSERVATIONS
- There was one or two related flaws in the plan - what to do with the shirts collected.
A. The only economical and ethical solution at the time was to donate to shelters. The follow-through with this was always lacking, and that was on my part. It was too easy to return to juggling everything else, and this loose end became a sore point of the programming.
B. Donating locally was not what we wanted. We didn't want to see competitor apparel anywhere near the university. Suggestions of shipping them to another country had their advantages and disadvantages, but at the end, who has money for that?
And burning the apparel had some unethical and environmental concerns.
This ill-fitted piece to the puzzle has always bugged me. 'What would be the best solution?' a voice in my head sometimes reminds me.
Then another voice chimes in, 'Move on, Lisa, you've got new ideas to hatch!'