[DFTF] Building the Brand

[Billfred]

Originally Posted by BJC

I will restate what others before me have said. Winning is the best way to build a brand. Yes, it is desirable to have a special color/mascot/whatever. However, these things don't mean a whole lot unless you are good. (and when you are good people will want your handouts, shirts, etc which spreads your team in and of itself.) As this is your first year the greatest community brand you could hope for is "rookie sensation". If you brand yourself in your first year as a winning team who can be trusted to get it done on the field not only will you gain a reputation within the first community, you will find yourself consistantly playing late Saturday.

I'll leave with one last thing. Branding is really just your team trying to positivly influence the way others percieve your team. However, ultimatly, others will develop their own ideas of your team. Be a team who is known for being friendly, professional, helpful, and easy to work with because these are the factor which will determine how other teams think about you. Be a team others want to work with.

Regards, Bryan

I won't draw it all the way over to on-field performance--for a given level of robot performance, there are three differentiators:

1) History. (The blue banner we earned the hard way at Peachtree got us on the map at Palmetto, since we were the only ones thus far that had won a regional in 2011. Until you get through regional number one, you're kinda hosed here.)
2) Connections. (It also helped that George Wallace, who I've known for about as long as I've been in FRC, was running strategy for SPAM at Palmetto--while 180 and 2815 had never shared a field before that weekend, there was already a channel of communication. You being Dr. Joe, you should have this covered like white on rice on a paper plate with a glass of milk in a snowstorm.)
3) Memorability. (This is where branding, especially on-robot branding, helps.)

Things you'd want to consider in my book to handle bullet point number three:

1) Colors. These arenas are dimly-lit at times, so the brighter you can get away with, the better. (Turns out that people watching us at Peachtree on the webcast could identify us exceptionally well because of the bright yellow claw we had.) Of course, you are probably also bound by school/sponsor affiliations too--we stretched the USC color charts with yellow (which is in their official color chart but restricted to the feet and beak of the mascot, Cocky).
2) Applying the colors. In our better years, we've sent our superstructure out for paint at the district career center or had it anodized at a shop. This year, out of time and unable to paint in the pits, we wrapped the robot in black gaffer tape, close-enough-to-garnet racing tape (actual label), and yellow gaffer's tape. The former is undoubtedly better, but the latter is better than nothing.
3) Logos. You can do a lot with two printed colors, which will save you money when you have to screen print team shirts. Hold your designers to that, and it will be to your benefit.
4) Graphics on the robot. When I've needed graphics, I've gone to one of two places. As a USC student, I would run to the campus computer lab's plotter and get big panels done. These days, without that access, we've used vinyl cut by a local company we use at work--that's run from $15 to $70, depending on how much vinyl we're using and how intricate the cutting is.
5) Typefaces. Pick a couple, including one that will work for team numbers on the robot, and stick with them. Make sure they pair nicely and make sure you know the limits on sizing. (You wouldn't want to use an 8-pt. script for example, but it might work for a banner.)
6) Vector is your friend. Seriously, work in vector art (generated by programs like Adobe Illustrator amongst others) from the start and you'll never lack for a properly-sized piece of artwork. I've been known to lift elements of our T-shirt design for other things on just a couple minutes' notice. It's awesome, and I couldn't think of doing this any other way.
7) Find Wendy Austin. Wendy (wendymom on CD) has been a driving force on Exploding Bacon since their inception in 2006. Ignoring robot performance (they're no slouch at that either), I would venture that if 1902 isn't the most memorable team in FRC today then they're certainly in the top five. From the cheers to the shirts to the robot to their website, they have it down to a science (to the point she and Bacon did a workshop on it at the FIRST Championship that I might just have to lasso them into repeating at SCRIW next month).