What do you admire about other GLOs public relations?
 

Now that glos are "branding" themselves and working on their public faces, what have you seen that you admire?
I love the Chi Omega website. It is so comprehensive and easy to use. I'm really impressed with the Kappa Delta history book Ordinary Miracles .

I'm truely not a fan of the "Branding" that's going on.

I really like PiPhi BECAUSE of the variety you see...how many different badges do they have? And they're all gorgeous....and I know some of them have different meanings (spesifically, I saw a legacy one, how cool).

I'm not pleased with using other people's ideas for branding.

What do you mean by "other people's ideas of branding?" I'm really unclear as to what you are saying (?)
And i had no idea about Pi Phis badges - I'm going to check out the pins now.
I see the branding as a continutation of what the GLOs have always tried to do - have something distinctive that is universal in all GLO chapters - it's just far more sophisticated. I really like Gamma Phi's new logo. I'm so happy to have the pink to go with our brown!

Certain GLOs have branded themselves using things that are similar to what other GLOs are already using. I know we all can't be 100% different, but there are some things that just stick out to me.

OH - THAT. Well, yes. I think (I hope) that it is a result of marketing people trying to tap into the same, hmmm, modern design sensibility.
I know that Gamma Phi's Connect. Impact. Shine. is close to some others - and I don't know who was first.

AFAIK - ASA has been using Aspire, Seek, Attain from the begining. Even our national officers (one well into her 80's) don't remember it ever being any different. I believe it's the same with AST's Active, Self-Reliant, Trustworthy, but I'm not for sure on that one.

Now are those mottos, open meanings, or branding catch-phrases? I think it may help to note the difference. Or you can look at it as imitation being the sincerest form of flattery (!) I just worry that 20 years from now, they will look dated. As for myself, I love Gamma Phi's "Love. Labor.Learning. Loyalty." We've had THAT forever, and it sums up everything so perfectly.
I LOVE that Pi Phi legacy badge.

I believe for ASA, it's all of those. And actually, it's hard to explain without remembering the actual Greek words (I have them written down at home, but I don't have them memorized), but the actual Greek words for Aspire, Seek, Attain also spell ASA with the Greek letters.

You were just ahead of your time . . .

Some of the "Branding" is a little over the top- we're not selling Coke or Pepsi! My latest ToDragma had an article about the new AOII branding that they are doing. The new logo is okay, but I liked the old one as well. But I guess I'm not their target since they already have me!

One of the things I have always liked about AOII is that each chapter has it's own sub-motto that is open that we used for branding on a local level. So, for example, if Sigma Kappa had listed "one heart, one way" or DG listed "Do Good", we would list "Individual But United". I would hate for that to go away in favor of one single tag line.

Like a lot of other GLOs, we recently went through the branding thing and adopted a visual identity and visual standards guidelines. I know from my wife's issues of The Key that Kappa also went this route fairly recently. I've wondered just how many GLOs are using the same firm or firms.

I will admit that I really like what we ended up with, although there was some consternation when it was unveiled at National Assembly last year because some brothers feared that (1) there was some movement to replace the coat-of-arms or historical logos with the new logo, and (2) the new "positioning statement" -- "Among Men Harmony" -- was intended to replace traditional mottos. Assurance was given that there were no such intentions on either front.

Aspire, Seek, Attain has been our motto and open meaning since at least 1914, if not earlier. You can see the Greek words spelled out on our crest (I don't have a book with me and I'm not going to attempt it phonetically). We were using "Developing Women of Poise and Purpose" as a branding catch-phrase, but it seems to be not as prominent lately (thank God). It just seems like everyone is using 3 word catch phrases and copying (yeah, I said it) off us and AST - and sometimes even using the words we have been using in our mottos for forever! It just irritates me, probably because I'd guess a lot of these PR firms that are creating the "brands" aren't staffed by Greeks and they have no idea of the gravity of the things they're doing.

The ex works in graphic design and always jokes about the "universal corporate logo" - an elongated circle/oval in the right hand corner of the page. Once he pointed it out, I couldn't BELIEVE how many things I saw that contained it.

I was going to put a thread on here to match the 26 NPCs with their new "mission statements" (another new thing that I'm not a fan of) to show how ridiculously alike they all sound.

So, to sum up - NOT a fan of the branding that's going on, partly because of the above reasons and partly because it's so generic. I doubt it does anything to help people who aren't Greek know which group is which.

That's what I was talking about - how it's actually written out in "English" sounds.:)

Phi Mu recently changed their logo and I loooove it! I'm not so sure about the whole "Imagine. Believe. Achieve" thing. I think it should have just been Love, Honor, Truth. I don't even remember what our previous logo was.

Now our new website.... don't love it.

Boy howdy
 

..did this thread get hijacked! LOL - so now it's the Complain about Branding thread!

I've got a positive PR item! I love how ZTA has their letters on all of the Race for the Cure Shirts (at least around here). I know it is their philanthropy and everything, but it is great PR as well.
At the last Race, I remember several people wondering what ZTA was, and when I told them it was a sorority they were impressed that they were so involved with the Race. It not only made ZTA look great, but it put all sororities in a more positive light (the race was in April and that was around the time the whole DZ/DePauw thing was blowing up).

I have a marketing background, so I am pro-branding.

However, I think that most of the people involved in this process for sororities have absolutely no business doing so. They don't know what they are doing, and they are not being advised as to the basics of print and interactive design standards-- which are pretty universal.

If you're going to brand a national non-profit organization, spend the money on a reputable design and branding agency, and not on "volunteers" to play around on Corell Draw. Those involved in the approvals process for the sorority should be limited. When you allow too many cooks in the kitchen, you end up with a confused message.

you have an example of this universal logo? im interested to see. off the top of my head i'm thinking of Nabisco packaging.


bwhahaha, people are still using Corell Draw? man...
(whatever i tend to make edits in MS Paint, so who am I to judge?)

Top left of this page.;)

bwhaha oh... right.

(maybe we need a logo overhaul? not that im volunteering... unless you want something fashioned in MS Paint, in which im kind of a big deal)

LOL I would love to see that.

ADPi has been using First and Finest as our tag line for years and years. For our 150th a few years back they added the word "Forever."

I love that!!!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...orority_mottos

Kinda what we were going for?

What's Nu Sigma Pi? It's listed under the NPC on that list, but I've never heard of it.

It's a local sorority in Canada: http://www.nusigmapi.com/. Why it's listed under NPC, I have no idea.

Not quite, for example, SK's motto is "One Heart, One Way." But our "branding" is "Bringing Sisterhood to Life."

ah i see... then nevermind.

so is GC's "branding" supposed to be "The fraternity & sorority Greek chat network?"

if so, we need a motto ASAP! After many horrible attempts at a semi-decent logo on MS Paint (oh yes, Friday is slow and no Photoshop here), i elect our motto as follows:

GreekChat: Inquire. Conspire. Inspire.


All in favor, say aye.

I like it.

I like Greekchat: Inquire. Snark. Flounce.

what's flounce?

OMG YOU'RE SO MEAN I'M GOING TO MAKE A POST AND THEN NEVER EVER EVER COME BACK.

But they always come back.

We have more flouncing out of individual threads than people who post that they're actually leaving GC. The last ones I can think of are BamaDadDZ and RollerGirl2001...neither of which have actually come back, unless they're using other names.

it's SO apropos! add a :rolleyes: at the end and you've got it!

Those are tag lines. Branding is the overall image: trademarks, logos, tag lines, colors, design standards, etc. (including signature events)

that can actually work... dont know if John would go for it.

Branding also includes reputation...what do you want people to think of when they hear your organization's name or see its logo, colors, etc.

It is necessary for our GLOs to create branding standards and an image. It helps bring in more money and members, because people like to associate themselves with people that look organized and know what they're doing. People also don't like to join organizations without an identity...specifically an identity they want to be a part of. So it's in the best interest of a GLO to control what that identity is.

As for whether the PR people creating the branding know sororities, I can tell you that MANY of the women I work with at my PR firm are NPC sorority members. Furthermore, often when it comes to logos, taglines, design guidelines, etc., it's advertising people that are responsible, not PR flacks.

i hear ya - we brand our chapter (we have about 4-5 alumnae chapters in the area) and it works out quite well for us, amongst interests, fellow greeks, etc. of course we still maintain our international Sigma image, but that extra chapter touch makes it even more special!

I was told, many years ago, by a national officer that we were the first to have graphic standards. If true, maybe we instigated all the branding. I know part of our graphic standards includes lavender and white vertical stripes. We even were encouraged to use it during rush. So we had the walls of our rush rooms covered in lavender and white covering. I was not a fan but I think it could have been due to traumatic wallpaper I had as a child. :rolleyes:

Also, our "Bringing Sisterhood To Life" has always made be think of GE since their old slogan was similar.