[Ivan Helmrich]

Joe,
First off, welcome back.

I'm going to fall into the 'brand is really important' camp here. I have two points. First, I think the most important thing is to establish a brand identity and then stick with it. I've been working with the same team for 6 years, never with the same school representative for more than 2. Each year, the T-shirts change, the logo changes, the students adopt a different motto. The changes water down the team spirit and it makes us look like we don't know who we are or what we stand for at competitions. The team also wastes valuable time rethinking this stuff every year.

The other point is that part of mentoring students is to help them understand how things are done in the world outside of school. Any company the students will go work for is going to have a brand. Good companies guard their brand as fiercely as any other asset they have. Students need to know this and once in the working world, an understanding of branding as a business concept will help them stand out in a positive way. Being seen as a brand champion and defender is a plus in the working world. It's not just an appearance thing either. I'm in product development, tasked with generating ideas for new product. One of the first considerations with any new concept is how fits with the company's brand. If I didn't understand the value of this, I could not do the job.

Ivan