Transparency and Branding

Yay for Bl0g.

Speaking of irony, I find blogs quite silly and you must forgive me if i give in to the temptation to 'camp' or 'snark' blogginess on our own blog. For an example of excellent snarky camping of bloggers please see www.hipsterrunoff.com. It's so perfect because it adopts the snarky voice of hipsters in order to 'camp' them but the thing about hipsters is that no authentic hipster would actually admit to being a hipster but are all merely playing the role of 'hipster,' just like HRO is playing the role of 'hipster blog' and is thus the ideal representative of hipsters on the 'blogosphere.'

Now for some more relevant input, having more to do with block. This new initiative to reach out to the denizens of north campus is at the same time exciting and troubling to me. Having lived for two years on north campus, one of them spent in a once-esteemed fraternity 'house,' I feel I have a pretty good handle on this demographic. It is exciting to see Block reach out to the northerners because they are plentiful and tend to move in herds. However, we must be vigilant to stay true to the block cinema brand.

Series like the Planet Earth [almost] HD series and the Rock Series have an innate appeal to both the artist and the 'bro.' While we can capitalize on this duality, we can not compromise the meaning of block's brand. We can cater to the needs of north campus in order to make cinema and the arts a more convenient appeal but we cannot, at the same time alienate our identity. For an example I point to the case of the Volvo C70 convertible. The first generations of this car did not sell well and were difficult to market because Volvo's brand identity is built on safety whereas topless convertibles are seen by some to be less safe in the event of collision or an automobile capsize. In the newest edition, Volvo has developed the ROPS system which apparently fires steel roll bars out to protect your head when you flip it driving home from the yacht club fired up on tanqueray and valium. You may notice, however, that these cars are still a relatively rare sight on the road.

It has taken me too long to say it and I apologize for my lack of brevity but I am simply trying to add into the discussion a consideration of our basic brand identity and a realistic consideration of who from north campus will be attracted to block cinema. Is a concert before a movie a transparent gesture?

That being said, I think Mind At Large can pack any house with a variety of people and they are totally sweet dudes and I think a concert/film double whammy is totally awesome.

Yours In Brotherhood,
CSW