DeHaan 1

  Research 
Secondary Research 

The Geek Group is a non profit establishment located in Grand Rapids, Mi with a bit of a

twist. Science Institutes in Michigan such as Michigan Science Center in Detroit, MI are similar

to the Geek Group. They offer the same viewing pleasure as the Geek Group with a free

admission. But, the Geek Group is still in fact the better institute. Why? Not many people in

Michigan even know why they should invest their time and money in this unknown place. The

concept of the Geek Group is amazing but hardly anyone knows of this institute. The problem?

Not enough advertisements are being done. The Geek Group needs to go young. Their

advertisements need to change to appeal to a younger demographic, as this is the generation that

will be more likely to invent something at their institution rather than someone older.

The most popular brands have the most effective advertisements. Here we have 2 famous

ads. All iconic, both used different types of techniques to advertise their brands. In #1, we have

Wendys. Wendys was a popular household name but was irrelevant until they used the power of

social media and started receiving more followers, more mentions, and more awareness of their

name once they started associating themselves with the public.

1.
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2.) Extra gum never came to someone’s mind when thinking of gum brands, until they released

this commercial. They decided to create a video of a couple creating their life moments with

extra gum. This created an emotional tie to this gum and created a better awareness as to what

the company Extra is all about.

Greenwald, Michelle from Forbes writes, “Winning brands combine powerful,

meaningful, inspirational messages delivered in ways that touch their audiences, with great

products and services that perform to expectations, are credible and trustworthy.” The Geek

Group needs to go more social and cater to the younger generation. They need an inspirational

message to reach their audience.The older age group is smart in knowing how to create things

and they have the motivation to want to invent. As younger age groups and millennials grow up

and start creating their own path most are clueless on what they want to do. The Geek Group

offers endless opportunities for that but today's generation needs something to pull them into

trying something like this. The Geek Group needs a fresh approach in reaching out to others and

I believe more modern advertising with social media and campaigning would help them

tremendously.
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With my campaign I think we can incorporate a lot of new ideas that will advertise The

Geek Group better. The Geek Group visited Campus Life Night at GVSU, below is a photo of

their booth.

I think coming and advertising to college students was a great idea, but this booth lacks

everything they're about. The Geek Group has a grip compared to other institutions. They are a

building filled with toys just to invent and inspire others. With the advertisement The Greek

Group did above they didn’t show that. In this campaign the clients would have a more effective

approach to advertising by bringing mini structures to build and create at booths and inspire

people to become interested in visiting the real thing. These booths would take place in
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downtown Grand Rapids where the flow of people is the heaviest. Since the Geek Group is a

nonprofit organization there are local businesses that would like to donate food to these booths or

reduce the cost of their items which gives them free advertisement and gives The Geek Group

booths incentives for people to stop by and talk. With food and inventions made at The Geek

Group Institute this would create more traffic to the booth creating more potential members and

a cheap easy way to advertise in the heart of Grand Rapids.

Social media is another way to take The Geek Group to the next level.“95% of online

adults aged 18-34 are most likely follow a brand via social networking.”(Hainla, Liis)

Social media is a huge way for small businesses to advertise and it’s free and effective if

you approach it the right way. The Geek Group stated that they have brought in interns before,

but with their campaign of appealing to a younger demographic they should hire interns from

Grand Valley. These interns would be photographers, advertising/ pr, and graphic design majors.

These interns would work together to create a more modern look of the company. The Geek

Group would hire interns to capture photos of the institute and any event that would take place

inside. The pictures taken would create a cleaner look to The Geek Group’s social media which

creates more people to linger over their sites more than they normally would. These photos

would then be posted by the advertising interns who knew of a better approach to reach a bigger

audience. Logos and flyers could be created by the graphic design majors and this would benefit

The Geek Group and give real business experience to the interns.

The Geek Group has a great idea and just needs to be presented to others in a better, more

modern way. There is great potential and with going more modern they could improve their

business.
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The focus group will be used to find out what would make the Geek Group more

attractive for college students to even consider The Geek Group.

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References

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