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Unread 28-04-2014, 09:44
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Taylor Taylor is offline
Professor of Thinkology, ThD
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Re: Jane Cosmetics at 2014 Championship

As an observer who was actually at the FIRST Championship, heard Dean introduce Ms. Tilton at least twice (therefore hearing his take on her inclusion), and hearing Ms. Tilton speak on her own behalf, I'd like to offer a perspective:
The theme throughout the event was let's stop preaching to the choir. Over the past quarter century, FIRST has become pretty good at infiltrating STEM-centric industries. Now their focus is on expanding beyond that. They've created partnerships with celebrities, television networks, athletes - and Jane offers an example of industry beyond the traditional tech firms with which we're normally associated.
Ms. Tilton explained that she could have brought in one of her mills, automotive manufacturers, etc. - but those are already captured audiences. Cosmetics is largely untapped with regards to FIRST, and could have the largest effect.
Since she, and her corporate interests, are new to FIRST, I'm not at all surprised that a new sponsor set up a booth (which was given its prominent position, I assume, in proportion to the monetary donation given) that displays its products, and allows interested parties to test them out. Of the 'makeovers' I witnessed, I didn't see anything garish. I didn't see any implied message other than "hey, we support FIRST, and here's our company and what we do" - just like any other corporate sponsor does.
In her remarks, like Chris said, Ms. Tilton expressed support for confidence, not conformity. And rather than espouse the societal idea of beauty, she chose to focus on the philanthropic nature of the product line.
As with many things, if one enters this partnership with preconceived notions and makes value judgments based on those biases, then one is mostly missing the point.
The hope is Jane will help #MakeItLoud
And I don't see this partnership as any more outlandish than McDonald's sponsoring the Olympics. It's all about Top Of Mind Awareness, for all parties involved.
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Last edited by Taylor : 28-04-2014 at 09:51.