Sponsor Communication for Teams with Unusual Names

[cxcad]

Originally Posted by Steven Donow

Just saying, Cheezy Poofs is a reference to one of the most controversial/edgiest cartoons of all time.

...but NASA

[David8696]

Originally Posted by cxcad

...but NASA

.....but South Park http://southpark.wikia.com/wiki/Cheesy_Poofs

And South Park is capable of intelligent social commentary. It's just that it's also capable of wonderful-but-utterly-idiotic humor.

[Whippet]

So, given the obvious negative connotations of our nickname, would it be better for us to exclusively market with our school name, and only use the nickname at competitions?

[cadandcookies]

Originally Posted by Whippet

So, given the obvious negative connotations of our nickname, would it be better for us to exclusively market with our school name, and only use the nickname at competitions?

That would be an elegant way around the problem. _____ High School Robotics is a bit dull, but at least it's not actively working against you. Plus they're mostly likely going to remember you by your high school/ team number anyway.

[mizscience]

Originally Posted by cadandcookies

That would be an elegant way around the problem. _____ High School Robotics is a bit dull, but at least it's not actively working against you. Plus they're mostly likely going to remember you by your high school/ team number anyway.

Exactly this! Think about how FIRST lists teams on the official event pages on their website: by their official school/sponsor names (like so: link --click on a regional, then what teams are attending --sorry I'm on my phone, so it's not linking directly!). Use that name when recruiting sponsors and it should definitely help.

Just wondering though: have you had any pushback from any (potential) sponsors about the name?

[tim-tim]

For the record, it is Cheesy Poofs with an "s", not Cheezy Poofs.

If you are looking for help from them specifically, I recommend sending Cory, Tom, Pat, Travis, EJ, or anther member of their team a PM directly - as they may or may not look at this thread. That being said you could also try contacting their [Student] Public Relations Director. They also have a very well put together branding/imagery document for the team. We read it and modeled much of our imagery guidelines from it.