The Student Programming Council (SPC) recently announced that this year, Homecoming Week will become "Swoop's Week," a tribute to Emory's official mascot. The week is also meant to serve as the fall equivalent of "Dooley's Week," which occurs in the spring. In addition, SPC has revealed its lineup of performers, including Dispatch, a folk-jam band that formed in 1996, as well as comedian David Koechner (famous from "The Office" and "Anchorman") and Spanish DJ Danny Avila.
The way that SPC went about advertising and announcing this year's performers was innovative and creative. The organization decided to introduce every artist and comedian that comes to Emory in a staggered fashion, revealing them based on a number of Facebook shares of the group's status in order to increase the hype for each performance and the visibility of every announcement.
We hope this new campaign is able to catch the attention of an indifferent crowd, those who might not normally be checking in to sources like the Wheel for announcements regarding artist lineups. It also shows that SPC is thinking outside of the box in terms of advertising. Of course, it goes without saying that you can only please so many people with announcements like these, but expanding the reach of the lineup can only be a positive for SPC.
We at the Wheel find Dispatch an exceptional choice for homecoming week headliner. Though this performance may be better suited for alumni – who may have experienced Dispatch at their height during their own college years – the band's best songs still sound relevant, and they still hold a lot of appeal for many current Emory students. The addition of Dispatch to the lineup adds a timeless touch to Swoop's Week.
Though we appreciate the innovative advertising, we find the theme of Swoop's Week ("Let the Good Times Roll") both ambiguous and generic. On the other hand, we recognize that the dual task of rebranding Homecoming as Swoop's Week and creating a viable theme to go along with it posed a challenge. Perhaps SPC spent a lot of time focused on rebranding and left the creation of a full-fledged theme by the wayside – certainly understandable, given the circumstances.
But then again, we do have to wonder about the conversation that led to the choice of the phrase-theme, "Let the good times roll." Was there some debate around this? Or did the whole board simply throw up their hands and say, "let's go with it?" Regardless, the end result is puzzling.
Some may shrug their shoulders at Swoop, but we at the Wheel must ask: what's so wrong with giving him some more love? We are supportive of SPC's decision to give both of our mascots equal attention.
Overall, we applaud SPC for making changes in their advertising strategy and in making the bold move to rebrand Homecoming. Though the theme is somewhat arbitrary, and perhaps in the future there will be more creativity involved (perhaps someday an event dedicated to a charity), we are glad to see innovation and an attempt to increase awareness coming out of SPC's campaign for Swoop's Week.
The above staff editorial represents the majority opinion of the Wheel's editorial board.
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