Team 1189 & The Yellow Diamond
'We're all Gearheads!'
A clear brand image is among the goals FIRST recommends all teams pursue, and follows up this goal by evaluating each team on its effectiveness in putting forth a clear, cohesive image of itself. In our rookie year, well, we missed this point. We had a name which inadvertently undermined our sponsors' commitment to quality. Our mascot was a rabid squirrel. And when we looked at our team identity in our second year, we realized more than half the team didn't know what the logo represented. Did we mention our quirky color scheme was extremely expensive to print and afforded no chance of finding ready-made items to promote the team? Everything was a custom charge.
Fortunately the Yellow Diamond came to our rescue. A team member drew it one day and posted it in the shop. We didn't set out to become The Gearheads. But when that image kept showing up in more and more places, we knew it was right for our FIRST team, so we did the obvious. We went dumpster diving.
Detroit knows about shaping metal. We found a surprising number of gear-cutting houses delighted to find a group of students who wanted to use - even wear - what they made. When we took our no-cost, trash-to-treasure accessories to a FIRST Regional Competition, we discovered we had struck a nerve with our fellow competitors. That's when we decided that "swag" had untapped potential. Instead of making items solely to promote Team 1189 at competitions, we designed products ALL competitors could use to promote FIRST at their own schools. After all, "We're all Gearheads!"
Strongly promoting "the brand image" meant playing down the team number, and provoked much discussion and soul-searching. In the end, we decided that if the Gearhead image really was as effective as we hoped, it could both identify our team and be useful to other teams beyond competitions. Anyone can identify themselves as a Gearhead by attaching a keyring to their backpack or pinning on this year's "Safety Gearhead" button. We hope to promote FIRST Robotics, while promoting Team 1189.
To that end, we approached our primary sponsor about Gearhead Crossing, which the Waterloo Regional has graciously allowed us to beta test. GM boosted its contribution this year and earmarked funding for our database-driven FIRST competition tracking system. Much as we found our best swag in recycle bins, we are looking for hidden treasure in the performance of individual bots. Gearhead Crossing will add depth to the official FIRST scoring process, track bots with real data in real time, and be available after hours on gearheadcrossing.org.
Our team has learned you can do more with a big idea than with a big budget. You won't see "1189" on the Yellow Diamond. But we think the students in FIRST know who the Gearheads are. We hope we are helping them spread the FIRST message.
