Triangle - 2000 October

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2000 October

THE EXPONENT: Volume 00, Number 7

"The future belongs to those leaders who see possibilities before they become obvious." - Unknown

On a recent business trip, I checked in at the airport gate wearing a shirt with a Studebaker logo on it (for those who don't know, I'm restoring a 50-year-old truck). As he worked on checking me in, the gentleman behind the podium started talking to me about the Studebakers his family had owned when he was a boy. We talked for a short while as he tapped away at the keyboard. After a minute he looked up again with a big smile on his face and said, "I'm sorry, sir, but the plane is really booked up heavily and I can't find a seat for you." My arrival had been a tad late--as in the last group of passengers was already boarding when I got there--so I suppose I wasn't surprised, though as you can imagine I was 'disappointed'. I began asking about alternative arrangements and I saw him turn his eyes to watch the another person checking in walk to the jetway entrance. Then he said, "Because I've always liked Studebakers and you gave me a chance to remember my dad today, I delayed finding you a seat so he (the other person just mentioned) got the last coach seat. Then I checked you into first class. Here's your boarding pass."

There are several layers of messages in this, but I'll stick to what is probably the least obvious just for fun. The other lessons are left as an exercise for the reader .

Studebaker left a lasting impression on its owners and those close to the owners. Enough so, that many years later, simply seeing the Studebaker logo is enough to elicit a positive response. Additionally, there were so many Studebakers, that even today, 34 years after the company built its last vehicle, there are still a lot of people who remember.

It could be the same for Triangle. Triangle can grow to such a critical mass size - large enough that it's relatively common to randomly 'bump into' other Triangles. Triangle can also do such a good job of producing excellent members that non-members recognize the name "Triangle" because of the members they've known or the word of mouth they've heard about Triangles.

What does this take? YOUR ENTHUSIASTIC PARTICIPATION.

Contents

Making Buggy Whips: Tim Eiler minn87

Ever hear the parable of the buggy whip manufacturer? If so, skip to the next paragraph. If not, at the turn of the 20th century, manufacturers of buggy whips who didn't read the situation unfolding around them - that the automobile was making some very strong inroads into the buggy market - went out of business. Look up 'buggy whip maker' in the Thomas Register and see how many companies you find.

What went wrong with these buggy whip makers? They assumed the status quo would continue to be the status quo; that nothing would come along from outside their niche to shake things up. So, given that this is an article written for a fraternity, don't you suppose you already know that the next question will be, "is Triangle a buggy whip manufacturer?"

I think the answer is a definite no. Unlike the buggy whip in the era of the automobile, there is still a widespread need for what Triangle has to offer. Whereas buggy whip makers found that fewer and fewer people were buying their products because there was a smaller need for the whip, fraternities are really seeing that the number of students attending universities is even increasing over the long haul. Buggy whip makers found that they couldn't succeed because they sold a product for which potential customers had a decreasing need.

Triangle sells a product for which there is an increasing need.

If Triangle is having trouble competing, it isn't based on a failing need or desire for the product, in my opinion. I think it is, in general, based on three fundamental things:

There's more competition for the member's attention now than ever before.

Even the university itself often recognizes that the kind of product a fraternity offers is of extreme value. As quoted in "Theme Dorms Catch On", a recent article in the Hartford Courant, Gary Schwarzmueller of the Association of College and University Housing Officers International Association states, "It boils down to the fact that (college) students learn 24 hours a day. If you can create an environment in which they grow in a positive direction, you give people a deeper and more complete experience." If that doesn't sound like universities are attempting to create a fraternity-like environment on campus, well, color me stupid.

Of course, university dorms aren't the only competition, either. There are more and more campus organizations to which a member can belong. There are other places to live. There are other fraternities.
It takes better effort now to be successful competitors in our marketplace now than it did years back.

In addition to fighting the problems with competition, we also face the typical stereotypes--some think of us a geeks, others as drunken, misbehaving greeks. One way to overcome this is advertising and PR. This stuff certainly helps, but it is not the end-all to things.

People today don't often accept your promise at face value. You've got to do more than tell them. If you tell them, "our product is x," then prove to them that you deliver 'x' by showing how you've done it in the past. Better yet, show them how you've delivered 'y' in addition to 'x'. Underpromise and then Overdeliver!
Triangles often don't know how (or, worse, don't want to know how) to be successful competitors.

We technical people often don't like 'that touchy-feely stuff' business majors and others learn. Thus, it's pretty rare that we actually learn it - unless we're forced to, of course. Often, some of us seem like we'd rather deal with our computers than with other people.

This is the most critical of the three. If we don't want to do this stuff, we won't do it.

Point 3 is the most critical because it is the most fundamental. In order to learn to do something, a person has to want to learn. A chapter isn't likely to be able to accomplish points 1 and 2 without having learned how first.

Can people "like us" learn to think and act in ways that help us do a better job of points 1 and 2? I encourage you to take a look at the members of the Triangle Wall of Fame. Not all of them are/were businessmen, but a lot are/were. All had skills that went beyond calculus, physics, computers, etc, they learned in college. It is possible that folks like us can do those things. You can be like them, if you want to be.

Today's fraternity environment is what we make of it. Our competition for members is trying to burn more brightly than we do and we can just sit back and let that happen. Alternatively, we can get out there and ignite the tinder before us so we can burn the brightest. The choice is up to you.

SURVIVE!: Campus Firewatch Newsletter
(summary of an article in the Sept 2000 issue)

Your personal safety is paramount. (In the buggy whips article 'burning brightest' was mentioned, so we thought it might be a good idea to talk fire safety - Ed.)

If a fire alarm is activated in the chapter house:

Ensure you're wearing shoes if you can (don't endanger yourself to get them, however)
Take yourroom/house keys if you can (again, don't endanger yourself to get them, though)
Close and lock your room door
Don't use the elevator
Once outside, stay at least 50 feet away from the building
Once outside the building, do not re-enter until the all-clear is given by an appropriate person

If you are in your room with your door closed when an alarm sounds:

Check for smoke seepage around your door
Touch the inside surface of the door for heat - if it's hot, DON"T OPEN IT
If you find evidence in either 1 or 2 that you shouldn't open the door, seal up the cracks around the door with towels, sheets, clothes, etc. A door can keep out killing smoke and heat for a while.
Open your window to let out bad air and let in good air
Hang a sheet out the window to let rescuers know where you are - DON'T jump from ridiculous heights, into areas of questionable safety, etc.
Put a towel or other thick cloth, wet if possible, around your head (nose and mouth) to filter out heavy smoke until help arrives

Tampering with or destruction of smoke detectors is punishable by decapitation.

(Just kidding about the decapitation thing - seriously, though, please don't mess with smoke detectors -- they're in place to keep you safe. If the detector system isn't working in your house, work with your alumni board and/or the national headquarters staff to rectify the situation rather than taking matters 'into your own hands.')

Did you know that many fire departments are able to help you out by educating you? For instance, some departments may be able to let you walk through a 'smoke room' to get you an idea how disorienting it can be in a room or corridor that's pitch black and filled with smoke (they use 'safe smoke', which is generated by a fog generator - the same kind used in haunted houses and the like). Some may even be able to do this in your chapter house. Contact your local or university fire department to find out how they can help.

Hey, You Talkin' To Me? I said, Are You Talkin' To Me?: Debbie MacInnis

It seems like marketers are going to extremes these days to attract attention. Consider, for example, the yellow snow campaign that had company logos drawn in yellow colored snow. Charitycounts.com scattered 10,000 wallets over New York City and San Francisco with messages inside that read, "If you were looking to get some free cash, shame on you. Redeem yourself by visiting Charitycounts.com".

We are exposed to several thousand ads and, increasingly, many web sites each day. But with this increasing exposure comes greater likelihood that we won't pay much attention to any of them. Consider a recent statistic that says that only 1% of people can recall 12 ads associated with a company. That abysmal statistic is particularly shocking in light of the billions of dollars spent each year on advertising.

So what can be done about it? One (though perhaps not the only) fundamental issue has to do with doing a better job attracting consumers' attention. With so much to for consumers to focus on these days there is a great need for marketing people to be diligent in making sure that their ads and web sites attract attention. We can't make any progress in getting people to develop an image of our brand or company or consider buying our product or service (even once) unless we can first attract their attention.

Before we go further, let's go over some basic principles about attention.

First, attention is selective. This means that consumers what (out of possibly hundreds of things) they wish to focus on at any one time. Selectivity is extremely important because the number of stimuli to which we are exposed at any given time is potentially overwhelming. Of course, the fact that attention is selective means that consumers can also become distracted-focusing on something new that grabs their attention.

Second attention is capable of being divided. Consumers can, to a certain extent, pay attention to two things at once-like drive a car and talk; watch TV and talk on the phone; search the web and listen to the radio. Interestingly, we can only divide our attention to things that are really familiar and easy to process. Use the following as an example. If you are in a familiar store, you can easily chat with a companion about an unrelated topic. But in an unfamiliar store, we need to stop talking and take in the environment. If you are on a web-site that has lots of stuff going on, you can either focus on a lot stuff but not think about them much, or decide to focus on one thing and think about it a lot.

Third, attention is limited. We only have so much of it. The fact that attention is capable of being divided and yet is limited means that we can either (1) attend to one thing and think about it a lot or (2) attend to lots of things and think about them a little.

OK. Now that we've talked about the consumer, let's talk about what you, as a marketer, need to do.

First, let's make a distinction between attracting attention and sustaining attention. In many cases, you want to do both. An ad or web site can have enough in it to initially make consumers focus on it. But remember, attention is selective. If we don't continue to make it interesting, consumers will be off somewhere else.

Doing only the attraction part without the sustaining part simply won't lead to as effective a message. If consumers don't devote enough attention to your ad or web site, they won't have thought much about your message or web content. As such, it doesn't have much of an opportunity to affect them (change how they think, make the brand memorable, etc.). The reason why companies are so concerned about zipping and zapping, and the reason web sites are so concerned about making an interesting site is that they want to sustain attention.

Second, let's think about WHAT we want consumers to attend to. Many companies make a mistake because the attention getting things on their ads or web sites are irrelevant things that distract from the main point they are trying get consumers to focus on and remember. Remember, consumers' attention is selective and limited. If they focus a lot of some irrelevant element in your ad or web site, they won't have much left over to process what you really want them to remember.

What do we want consumers to attend to? We want them to focus on our brand name and our message. We want them to think of us when they have a need for a particular product or service category. We want them to remember whether, how or how much better than or different we are from our competitors. If these are the things we want consumers to focus on, think about and remember, these are the things that need to attract attention.

So, what Attracts and Sustains Attention? One a very broad level, things attract attention if they are:

(1) personally relevant,

(2) pleasant,

(3) surprising, and

(4) easy to process.

Your chapter undoubtedly uses ads. Can you say your ads are designed with 1-4 in mind? - Ed.

Hope you enjoyed this issue!!! If you have questions, feel free to email the editor ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ).

Tim Eiler
Exponent Editor

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