Georgia Tech football coach Geoff Collins has "partnered with a creative agency and a branding consultant in a mission that figures to stand out in the FBS sea -- Collins wants his team to up its social-media game," according to Ken Sugiura of the ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION. Collins said, "It's going to be a big separation factor between us and a lot of other college football programs, the investment that we're placing in how our guys are represented on social media." Georgia Tech partnered with Texas-based firm J1S and branding consultant Jeremy Darlow to "help its players develop their own personal brands." As Collins has used his and his team's Twitter accounts to "portray the Jackets as hard-working, passionate and fun, players can use it to paint themselves as intelligent, likable or industrious." Georgia Tech players will be the "first college athletes to have access to [Darlow's] brand-development course, which is a series of video lessons accompanied by assignments to help them build their own brand marketing plan." J1S also will assist Georgia Tech's "recruiting efforts and its 'For the 404' campaign, led by Tech brand manager Santino Stancato." The campaign "will launch in the fall, mainly through social media, and will build on branding the team's relationship with Atlanta" (ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION, 4/24).
