You might find this hard to believe, but college alumni associations are kind of the original lifestyle brands. I haven’t done any real research here, mind you, but before “lifestyle brand” was a thing, alumni associations were working hard to foster connections and maintain relationships (and grow their “consumer” bases) based on what they stood for and the values they represented, and this is exactly what lifestyle brands do.
Lifestyle marketing revolves around the idea that you’re not just selling a product, you’re selling an identity. And the reason this works is because today’s consumers (like yesterday’s alumni) are more likely to buy a product (and keep buying it) if they buy into what the brand stands for.
Old Navy’s new “BodEquality” campaign is a great example of this. Old Navy is speaking to a cultural moment, inviting women to empower themselves and take ownership of their bodies by buying clothing that is designed to fit their (and all) body types. By positioning itself as a leader in this movement, Old Navy is inviting likeminded women to join them (by buying their clothes).
Oftentimes, lifestyle marketing is a disruptive tactic that allows companies like Lululemon to steal massive market share from established giants (like Nike and Adidas) by turning the conversation from products to values and ideas. Lululemon doesn’t just sell $100 yoga pants, they sell the entire holistic health and wellness lifestyle (I love the positive affirmations on their shopping bags). As with all lifestyle clothing brands, the idea is that when you wear their clothes, you claim that lifestyle or identity for yourself.
And this is exactly what we want as alumni relations professionals—we want people to be proud enough of being associated with our brand that they want to: 1. claim our identity publicly, and 2., buy our product (which in the case of an alumni association starts with a T-shirt and ends with a record-breaking planned giving donation).
But that all starts with identity. Lifestyle brands start with what they stand for, and so should alumni associations.
The other thing a lot of lifestyle brands do is give away stickers…and you should too. I know this sounds silly but there’s a serious point to be made. Brands give away stickers for the same reason bands do—not just because it is free advertising, but because they are conditioning you to claim their identity publicly. I’m going to talk about this in a later post, but for now I want to put a bug in your ear—converting students into alumni starts with a free bumper sticker. (And yes, the action verb is convert, not transition.)
To make a short story long, there’s a reason there’s no shortage of people wearing Harvard and MIT sweatshirts who never went to either school and it is because those brands represent identities that people want to claim.
But herein lies the rub. As we all know, community colleges have a problem. We’re not seen as (or we don’t see ourselves as) being prestigious and this means that our alumni are typically less willing or eager to self-identify, which is why many community colleges don’t even have foundations or alumni relations offices. We assume our alumni want to be somewhere else and want to stand for something else. But as the recent growth in community college foundation and alumni efforts suggests, this is changing.
Now, I’m not saying you’re ever going to break into a national market with regional community college T-shirts, but getting your alumni to start claiming your identity starts with building an identity that people want to claim.
So how do we build that identity? Stickers. Lots and lots of stickers. And a few other things that I’ll talk about next time.
Building a Culture of Philanthropy on Campus
What Your Community College Can Gain from an Alumni Association
