Advertising & PR!

[Shreya C]

Let's think of some cool ways that we might be able to advertising this awesome event.

Stuff we brainstormed:

• Flyers inside all the schools, around town (if given permission), at the library
• Create a facebook event/page
• Livestream & broadcast; have a roving reporter that interviews students, spectators, etc.
• Air a commercial beforehand that tells people interested about FIRST, the game, the competition, etc.; could put this on the school website and air on the school TVs
• Write something for the Patch
• Create an Instagram/Snapchat account just for the competition

[Veronica G]

Maybe make an Instagram account specifically for the competition that regularly updates itself with sneak peek pictures and fast blurbs of information and all that. I know I follow a few companies on Instagram because it's fast, you know the information is going to be sweet and simple to fit, and uses visuals to get the point across. Along a similar logic,  people also use Snapchat to advertise, but that might be more useful closer to the actual competition day.

[Louis L]

FYI, I requested and received a Patch publishing account so I can post articles about our team. I tried it just once but didn't see the article get posted - need to test things out.

[Sarah A]

So I like Veronica's idea of the Instagram account. We can also do the same with Facebook, as in create a page for our competition and post updates there. I think I may have mentioned this, but 467 created a humans and robots of FIRST page and a lot of teams get information from that. Maybe we can also use that for PR? In the end, we probably will need someone who can get these social media elements down and be able to update them as needed.

[Dan K]

advertising shouldn't just be social media though. Since this is going to start out as a smaller (its the first time after all) competition, some advertisement around several towns would help out bring non-robotics people into the crowd. Since the location is so close, they could simply stop by to see what its all about. Who knows, maybe this will help us gain more members in the upcoming years.

[Shreya C]

Love the idea of a Snapchat/Instagram account just for the competition. As we get more details in order and such, I'll definitely make a Facebook page that we can use to advertise the competition.

I totally get where you're coming from, Dan, but I think that because this is our first year, we really have to put on a good show and give off the vibe that we're professional and here to stay. So if we can do something really cool like air a commercial, create an Instagram/Facebook, create a Snapchat filter, etc. I think that will just show people how much we can accomplish as a team and make them more interested in participating in the competition

But I totally get where you're coming from. My philosophy is that we have to give a shot, and if it doesn't work, we'll re-evaluate and de-feature.

[Saty E]

Let's leave small pranks around the school, like this: ,
but with an advertisement for the competition. Also, we can maybe be like some teams during competition, and pin random people with clothespins. Chances are we'll lose them, but those with a sense of humor will hopefully see the fun in it, and maaaaaybe come to the competition.

[Sarah A]

So the thing with advertising is that we need to finalize who our target audience is. With that list, we can then start brainstorming ideas that will help us advertise to our target audience.
Here's a rough list with examples of things we can do (feel free to suggest changes and additions):
1) Other FRC Teams (Obviously ): FIRST stuff, Social media
2) People in the community: Commercial, Fliers and posters in establishments around town, Social media
3) WHS Students: Social media, Little pranks around school (as Saty suggested), Decorations/Fliers and poster (like a big spider on a wall that advertises the competition?)
4) Gibbons and Elementary students: Social media, Decorations/Fliers and posters

[Louis L]

Things Done:

• Sent email with event details to NEFirst, received confirmation reply

Things Still To Do:

• Send email to FIRST to have event added to their global calendar

[Sarah A]

So I've finally decided to be slightly productive:

What I've done so far (as on 9/2):

• Made a Facebook page for our competition
• Made a Twitter account
• Made an Instagram account
• Registration Form (which apparently Lucas and Shreya made without telling me )

I've posted a little blurb about our competition on the Facebook page and Twitter... I have yet to do that on Instagram...

What I need to do (as of 9/2):

• Post on the Instagram
• Continue updating on the social media about details as time goes on

And today Shreya and I scheduled an appointment with Mr. Callaghan for Tuesday, September 6 after school to discuss our advertising plans within the school.

So that's about it for now