Project: Merchandise
Basic Details
The PR team has designed merchandise for the AguaClara Team such as T-shirts, quarter zips, and even stickers. The merchandise is a way to help AguaClara spread its name on campus and help with recruitment of potential new members. The PR team had help from the AguaClara team who gave feedback and opinions on the merchandise, to make sure everyone is satisfied with the product. Once the order has been finalized, the distributor will give a secure link for payment. The payment will be through venmo to either one of the leads or to one of the PR members.
Spring 2017 Current Work
What Has Been Completed So Far
Final Phase
Shirts were distributed to team members that purchased them. The blue dye of the shirts was different than expected but people still liked them. We have one member who has yet to pick up their shirts and pay for them. If the shirts are not payed for, they can be sold next semester.
Stickers were being worked on but never finalized. It would be better if this is one of the first priorities next semester.
This year, the team tried to purchase water bottles for the team. Although many people verbally expressed interest in buying a water bottle, when they were surveyed about it, very few people responded. Next year, there should be a bigger push to purchase water bottles.
This semester, the PR team decided that the logo should be standardized for future years. The logo that was decided on is the following. This will help improve the reputation of the organization.
Phase 3
The design for the shirts was finalized and a group order form was sent out to the entire team. 30 shirts were ordered and expedited shipping was paid so they will be here by Monday May 1st, 2017. There are $35 left over from the group purchase. This extra money can be used to have an AguaClara pizza party. Shirts arrived at Hollister on April 26th and will be handed out to team members on the week of May 1-5, 2017. Stickers will also be ordered and are expected to be ordered with expedited shipping.
Phase 2
The designs for shirts were finalized and a survey was sent out to the rest of the team. They have up until March 24, 2017, to decide. Once the design is picked, an order form will be sent out to all team members. Now that t-shirts are done, PR is working on stickers to promote the presence of AguaClara. These are currently the designs that are being worked on. Once the sticker designs are finalized, they will be sent to the team leads for their feedback.
The PR has been working on designing several designs for what the shirts will look like. The price range for each shirt can range from $10 to $15. The price will mostly depend on how many people order them. PR is trying to have these out by World Water Week which starts March 19 and goes through March 25. The PR team is also working on designing water bottles and stickers. Through the sales of these items, PR can fundraise trips to Honduras or equipment that is needed in the lab. Below are two possible designs for shirts:
Phase 1
Next Steps on the Project
Next step is to distribute shirts and order stickers.
Next step is to have shirts and stickers ordered.
The next phase of this project is to send a survey to team members to decide which shirt design will be used. Afterwards, an order link will be sent out and members will have to pay first before the shirts are ordered. Minimum orders depend on the style of shirts, so team members will be asked which they prefer. The style with the most votes will be the one chosen for shirts.
Problems Currently Being Faced
Currently there is no phrase on the shirts. Possibly looking into inputting a quote or something catchy.
Fall 2016 Past Semester Work
What Has Been Completed So Far
So far, the PR team has designed a couple preliminary designs that give the general idea of what the merchandise will look like. Members of the PR team have called custom clothing distributors and have asked for design help and arrangements for a large team purchase. Most distributors will only accept a purchase as long as there are more than 35+ of merchandise being bought. The PR team has more designs being completed and will expect to be done and ready to order late October. The survey to the team was sent out and the results are in. The survey allowed the PR team to organize everyone's response with their Name, NetID, and Size. As you can see in the figure below, the quarterzip and long sleeve shirt design has gotten the majority of the votes, and the Baseball Tee was last.
Below are the finalized design for the new Aguaclara merchandise. We got the results from the survey and sent out an order form to finalize the order to send to the distributor. We used www.houndstoothpress.com/, they helped with the design and helped expedite the order process. There must be a minimum order of 36 orders (for both the Long Sleeve and Quarterzips)which will make the Long sleeve $23 and a Quarterzip $38. Once the order is finalized, the amount due is sent out to all the members, who will then venmo one of the team leads or a member in PR. We aimed for the merchandise to arrive around December 3rd, but due to unexpected setbacks, we have the orders come in around December 12th. We created a spreadsheet of all the members who ordered, their size, quantity of clothing, and if they paid or not. This is not the new Logo for Aguaclara, this is just a design for the new merchandise. The order was payed by credit through a secure link.
Next Steps of the Project
After the surveys are sent out and the results come in, the PR team will finalize the design for the most voted on clothing. Then a member in the PR team will call the custom clothing distributor to check logistics (pricing, shipping fee, design layout, and quantity). After the logistics and design are finalized, the PR team will place an order for everyone in the AguaClara team that has ordered merchandise. The survey got 37 responses, which breaks most distributor's minimum of 35 orders. The PR team called several different distributors to compare logistics and designs (HoundstoothPress and CustomInk). To contact these distributors, the links are https://www.houndstoothpress.com/ and http://www.customink.com/. The finalized designs are still on the way and will be shown to the Aguaclara Team through another survey to choose the best design. The objective of the PR team is to be as transparent and as involved with the team as possible, by getting their opinions and ideas for the merchandise. In the survey, many team members expressed their interest in getting hats as well as stickers for merchandise, see figure below. The PR team needs to solidify the logistics for merchandise so that collecting money from the team members is a smooth transaction. Also, the PR team needs to order the merchandise before classes end for the Fall Semester.
Since the order is finalized, there is not much more to do. Our next step for merchandise is to start designing a new formal merchandise, like a polo. A proper project team apparel, where everyone has the same shirt. Some more merchandise that we will try to design are stickers and hats.
Any Problems Currently Being Faced
The PR team is having difficulty with putting the Cornell University Logo on the merchandise. AguaClara members want to represent Cornell as well as AguaClara. The PR will talk to the Cornell administration that is in charge of the branding of Cornell University. Another problem is that there needs to be more than 35+ orders to be able to place an order for the custom shirts. Members of AguaClara must know that the more we order in bulk, the cheaper it will be. Therefore, the PR team is giving the choice of one of three designs to choose from, in order to get the most amount of orders placed. The distributors are currently under a lot of pressure due to the demand for merchandise for universities all around the country. Therefore, the merchandise will have a slight setback on the arrival of the design as well as the order. The PR team approximate the arrival of shirts around mid-November.
The order was finalized after Thanksgiving break, so people were hard to reach. Many people did not send in their payment until after the break, so it delayed the order by a couple weeks. There needs to be a better way of having members pay on time and respond to emails.