Branding this Blog

For my first blog post I thought I would start by explaining why I chose the name for this blog and some of the history behind it. If you read my introduction post on the discussion board or my brief “About Me” section on the right hand side of this blog, you’ll know I have my library technician diploma from Algonquin College. In my final year of the program we had to take a marketing class and were given the opportunity to work with the college library to create an entire campaign to market their new open access website and content.

Throughout the course we learned about various marketing strategies and the one I found most interesting was branding. It is about this point where I was first introduced to a radio host at the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), who did a weekly show dedicated to marketing. His name is Terry O’Reilly and he produced a show called The Age of Persuasion, which has since been continued by Under the Influence and is still being aired today. I recommend Under the Influence to anyone interested in marketing. Terry O’Reilly is one of the best podcast/radio hosts I have ever listened to. (They are also available through Itunes.)

Creating a brand was something I was really interested in. We focused the campaign around the creation of a simple and clean brand (think Google). Everything we did included the words “Open” and used the college’s colours as the focal point. We created posters, ads, instructional material, and even created swag (buttons, etc.) that we wore to the final presentation. We were able to convince the library director to buy into the idea of creating a brand that wasn’t flashy, complex or over the top. It was clean, crisp and functional.

In the end our group’s research, presentation and marketing campaign was chosen over a handful of others. I feel that not only did our presentation and research provide the director with the background as to why our marketing campaign could be successful but that our branding of the product made it memorable.

Since working on that presentation marketing has always been something I enjoyed. When coming up with an interesting blog I turned to some of my interests outside of libraries, (wait…there is a world outside of libraries?!?!). Anyways, one of my interests outside of the library world is gaming (both video and board games). I wouldn’t say I’m a great gamer but I find them an interesting medium and I like the competitiveness involved in them.

I combined my two interests into 8 Bit Librarian – a catchy brand that is simple and marketable. I don’t have a lot of branding yet but even the blog title was simple to create in retro 8 bit lettering and I think it’s something that I can continue to grow after my time here at San Jose State University. When I graduate I look forward to removing the “In Training” tag on the logo above as I continue to use this blog to showcase library related topics.


TL;DR (Too Long; Didn’t Read)

I wanted to create a blog that I could market and brand, that was simple and reflected my interests. I hope to continue using this blog long after my time at San Jose State University, so being able to create a marketable brand is extremely important to me.

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