by Ann Marie Gardner

I know it’s a terrible pun, but after the wonderful Oddpodz presentations given by the Branding Solutions class at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), it seems quite appropriate.

Karen, Jocelyn, and I were invited back on March 11 for the presentations of the projects by Professor Steven Hall’s students, who were tasked with helping Oddpodz enhance its existing brand. We were not disappointed, and in fact were delighted by their work for the Web site.

The students clearly put a great deal of effort into the project, and the production gave me a sense that I had stepped into an episode of Donald Trump’s The ApprenticeTM. The class was divided into two teams and each gave a presentation accompanied by audio, video, and even costumes. Karen and Jocelyn were fairly captivated and following the presentations, posed new challenges to the students to keep them moving forward with their creativity. The class reviewed everything in the standards of branding; font, color, and language; but also came up with strategies about geography, viral marketing, our mascot “Zo,” and phased roll out of our new site. In the end, of course, no one was fired, and happily, the combination of the two teams yielded a number of fresh possibilities. We have a new wealth of ideas to grow membership, engage existing Oddpodz, and improve the overall experience.

As before, we are fortunate to have the class support as a resource and we are looking forward to even more of their brilliance and creativity. We will be implementing some of their ideas soon so stay tuned to the Oddpodz website to see where we go with the results!