The $3,000 the Student Senate approved last Wednesday for a Student Government rebranding campaign has not been earmarked for any tangible uses yet, Student Body President Jim Ceresnak said.
Ceresnak said he didn’t inform the Senate of his plans well enough, which led to confusion among senators as they discussed it during last week’s meeting.
Sen. Arialle Crabtree said the campaign was largely about the organization creating a new logo to increase SG’s visibility.
“A big thing was the logo,” Crabtree said. “We didnt really have a sign for Student Government that when you put it on billboards, you know it’s Student Government, so we created the logo. Jim [Ceresnak] worked a lot on it. “
Crabtree said having promotional items to get to students was another focus of the rebranding initiative.
“You go to event fairs and other [organizations]s have cups. UAB has sunglasses,” Crabtree said. Yyears go we had something like a rebranding campaign and we got Student Government cups and stuff to pass out and our supply of those has run out.”
Ceresnak said the campaign won’t be just about giveaways as the decisions about what to do with the money will be determined by a student committee he will appoint. Ceresnak said he’ll draw “average students” from across the University to the committee to help with a strategy to increase SG’s visibility and reach. Ceresnak said he wasn’t sure about specifics, adding the committee will be largely in charge of deciding what to do with the money.
“I don’t really want to speculate on details because we’re going to put a committee together to discuss what we’re going to do,” Ceresnak said. “I dont want to get into details about ‘Oh Student Government is just buying cups and pens.’ I dont want to speculate because I want this committee to discuss that.”
The money comes from a $28,000 surplus of student fees SG has accumulated over the course of several years, Chairman of the Finance Committee, and Sen. John Tucker said. Tucker also sponsored the bill.
According to Tucker, much of the funds will go towards the organization’s Web site and advertisement for it.
“Basically what we’re trying to do is get new banners and promotional items to promote students.ncsu.edu,” Tucker said.
Crabtree said the initiative will help students identify more with the SG brand, something that has been lacking in recent years.
“Personally I’ve had students come up to me and they’ve asked me what Student Government is doing and when I reply and list some of the things we do – especially events such as Campout and Fridays on the Lawn – students don’t know that’s Student Government,” Crabtree said. “This rebranding campaign is to change that so that question won’t come up any more.”
Ceresnak said rebranding isn’t an accurate word for what SG is seeking to do.
“It’s my view that the fundamental goal of Student Government is to engage and reach every student on this campus so we can best advocate for students’ needs,” Ceresnak said. “Rebranding is almost a misnomer in itself. We’re not trying to look cooler, we’re trying to engage students.”
Ceresnak said the campaign will focus on three goals: raising awaareness about important issues, collecting feedback and increasing the accessibility and visibility of the organization.
“It’s not about the moeny, it’s about the strategy,” Ceresnak said. “This is no time to be spending money frivolously. Every single dollar spent will be thought about for a signigifcant amount of time.”
