Bobcat apparel to hit stores next month
GCSU apparel will soon be seen in stores throughout the community in order to promote the new branding campaign for the school.
Stores such as Wal-Mart, Kroger and others throughout Milledgeville will start to carry GCSU merchandise in their stores, maybe even as soon as the holiday season, according to SGA President Zach Mullins.
“This is something we’ve been looking into for a little while now, and Wal-Mart was so eager to help with the idea that if we didn’t call them, they were going to call us the next day. We just got to them first,” Mullins said.
All of this new marketing within the community is to help establish Milledgeville and Baldwin County as a whole as Bobcat Nation said SGA senator and Thunder Crew President Patrick Gamble.
“We want to get GC merchandise into stores that have UGA apparel in there because we feel it will help the community become the Bobcat Nation that we want it to be,” Gamble said. “Also, this will help us promote our branding and our name change.”
The school has recently changed its informal name from Georgia College & State University or GCSU, to Georgia College or GC in order to eliminate confusion with Georgia State University and others.
“We don’t want people getting us confused with GSU. We want to have our own identity,” Gamble said.
University Communications has played a large role in spearheading this project as well. They feel that if the community supports the school it would be an excellent way to build our brand throughout the community, according to Kyle Brogdon, the director of publications and marketing.
“The backbone of why we are doing this is to get the community as a whole involved in GC and building our brand throughout Milledgeville. We want to strengthen our brand awareness here,” Brogdon said.
The school will also reap some of the benefits that go along with all of this new marketing.
“The school gets seven percent of anything they sell, but like I said before this is more about promoting the new identity and brand of GC in Milledgeville,” Brogdon said.
Some students are excited to be able to buy the school’s apparel throughout the community.
“I feel like it is a good thing,” said senior history major Adam Greene. “Baldwin High School has their apparel sold in those places, so I feel that it would give the community more of an attachment to GC. The bookstore is the only place that offers GC novelties, so it will be good for the people who aren’t aware that the bookstore is the only place that offers these items.”
University Communications hopes all of these changes will spark GCSU pride in Milledgeville to spread the Bobcat Nation.
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