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Photos by Morgan Bui, Katherin Ferman, Ria Sharma and Bradley Wilson at Yearbook NV summer workshop in Centreville, Va. and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

YEARBOOKERS: What are the pros and theme a secret until The theme gets the community excited about the book. It’s time to stop assuming they will buy a product they have never seen. | CARRIE FAUST, MJE, MEDIA ADVISER, SMOKY HILL HIGH SCHOOL (AURORA, COLO.)

We don’t release the theme in advance. The theme for our staff is a bonding thing. We have fun with it all year. | BRENDA GORSUCH, MJE, PUBLICATIONS ADVISER, WEST HENDERSON HIGH SCHOOL (HENDERSONVILLE, N.C.) ERINN HARRIS, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (Alexandria, Va.) | When we finalize our cover, we post it on our Facebook page. It almost becomes our “brand.” I’ve done it both ways. The excitement of distribution day is not diminished in the slightest by revealing the cover, and it allows for better thematic coverage if you can explain the theme when you’re doing interviews for those stories. MICHAEL SIMONS, CJE, West High School (Painted Post, N.Y.) | Releasing bits and pieces generates buzz. And you can do it in ways that are subtle. We started releasing our graphic element and color scheme on posters and Facebook ads back in the fall. The book is a HUGE investment for people. You don’t ask people to lay down $30,000+

on a car, sight unseen. Giving customers a taste of the publication (a test drive, if you will?) is reasonable — and there are plenty of crafty ways to do it that don’t give away the whole kit and caboodle. We post between three and seven spreads to Facebook throughout the year as well. We select the spreads carefully and try for a HUGE cross section of students. Then we tag the spread and say to the students, “SEE? You’re in the book! NOW GO BUY ONE.” It helps. RODRIGO MARTINEZ, student, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | I always enjoyed getting small hints and clues as to what the book theme would be. Of course, all of them were pretty wrong guesses on my part, but it made me really want to buy the

yearbook so I could figure what the theme was. It creates a topic that a lot of people are curious about. But if you can incorporate the theme in small ways in ads as photos — each time releasing more of it, it would work well. GERRY APPEL, CJE, Abraham Lincoln High School (Council Bluffs, Iowa) | My yearbook staff has always been very traditional — they love keeping the book a complete secret until distribution. However, I’ve tried explaining to them that it’s time to move forward. We can generate a buzz for the book by revealing the theme and by previewing pages. MARY BETH LEE, S.H. Rider High School (Wichita Falls, Texas) | My campus loves the big reveal. The seniors love that they get to see the book first. Our sales are

FALL 2012

s and cons of keeping the cover the book comes out? We always used the theme to get our students excited about buying the book. We hyped it at every opportunity to make the book a “must have.” | LYNN STRAUSE, RETIRED, YEARBOOK ADVISER, EAST LANSING (MICH.) HIGH SCHOOL

If you have a theme that lends itself to mystery marketing, that’s the only time to keep it a secret. | JED PALMER, MEDIA ADVISER, SIERRA MIDDLE SCHOOL (PARKER, COL0.)

solid. We generate buzz and sales by developing a campaign built on the fact that the yearbook lasts forever. A couple years ago I sat in on a marketing class that changed the way I view yearbook sales. The presenter, an adviser from El Paso, said you must make the yearbook something kids can’t live without. If you use the cover to make that happen, that works. He used a broccoli analogy. If you don’t like broccoli or THINK you don’t like broccoli, it doesn’t matter what the broccoli looks like or how much it costs, you don’t want the broccoli. Broccoli farmers have to figure out how to get the general public to WANT the broccoli. Replace broccoli with yearbook. We have to develop a strategy that makes the yearbook something our student population cannot live without.

HAVEN HOTTEL, Campbell University (Buies Creek, N.C.) I advocate a blended approach. All our undergrads get a book — but promotion through social media for a few choice spreads can build interest and excitement so they will be standing in line to pick them up on distribution day. We tend to give out about 2,000 copies in two days. We can keep the cover a secret though. JANE BLYSTONE, MJE, retired (North East, Pa.) | Our theme was not secret. We used it as a marketing tool. We put bits and pieces of the cover in all marketing materials but not the whole cover. CASEY NICHOLS, CJE, Rocklin (Calif.) High School | Pros: It’s not your mama’s yearbook world. Cons: Only if you have a crummy cover. Actually, how much to

reveal is the question. If you are NOT using your theme and associated design elements as part of your branding, well, you are dated. REBECCA POLLARD, CJE, Heritage High School (Frisco, Texas) | We are in a “must-have-it-now” society. Keeping the cover a secret doesn’t work in urban or suburban areas any more. Kids will justify spending money on something they can SEE, and they do judge a book by its cover. If the cover is good, it generates buzz in the school. If the cover is bad, it gives the students a chance to give the staff feedback. And if the staff changes it based off feedback, then it shows the students they listen. That goes a long way in a purchaser’s mind for retention in future years.

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