Marketing campaign aims to redefine sexy
When first-year international business student Maleah Gleaton was first approached by marketing representatives outside the Russell House, she was just looking for a way to get involved in the Columbia community. However, after being voted one of USC’s top 12 sexiest female undergraduates in a local public relations campaign, she may spend the next few months getting acquainted with the public spotlight.
“It’s a lot of weight on your shoulders, but I’m just excited about being part of something different,” Gleaton said. “It’s an honor to be in the top 12.”
Gleaton and 11 other USC female undergraduates from various years and majors were announced yesterday as the first class of the “Carolina 12,” a marketing brand created by USC business alumnus Phil
Yarborough and business graduate student Matt Fry for their newly founded company, the PM marketing group.
Yarborough and Fry came up with the idea for a local public relations group in 2009 after economic fallout forced them out of the real estate business. When deciding how to promote themselves as social marketers to potential corporate clients, they decided to turn to the top experts on social media relations: female college students.
“We wanted to create a buzz and to market through people who know how to attract a following,” Yarborough said. “These girls are automatically good at that. Obviously, sex appeal helps, but they also bring local ties to the Columbia and the USC community. That’s going to be attractive to companies in Columbia.”
This August, PM announced their search for the Carolina 12, USC’s top 12 best-looking, most personable and most aspiring women who would serve as the faces of their company. Fry and Yarborough say they aim to build these women into local celebrities through advertising, social events and a 2012 calendar featuring a different winner for each month. Each Carolina 12 girl will also keep her own blog, with updates on events she will be attending and advertisements for PM’s partnering companies.
As suggestive posters went up around Columbia and contestants began marketing themselves through social networks and word of mouth, the competition gained intrigue in the community. According to Fry, the
Carolina 12 website crashed within the first two days of opening for public voting due to the flood of hits to see the 24 finalists’ photos and biographies. In the past few weeks, Fry says it has been one of the busiest websites in Columbia, featuring photos of models clad in scanty Carolina 12 apparel.
Fry said that from the start of the competition they made clear that standards for being ranked a “12” extend beyond physical beauty.
“A good-looking girl is described as a ‘10,’ but there’s more than good looks behind an individual,” Fry said. “She has to have something extra to be a 12 — 12’s are girls who have bright futures and are personable and driven.”
According to PM, the Carolina 12 will be compensated with a fall scholarship (amount yet to be determined), as well as internship and networking opportunities through all of PM’s future partnerships, events and campaigns. Payments to the Carolina 12 will come on a project-to-project basis; however, while Fry says companies have expressed interest in using the Carolina 12 brand to promote their businesses, no companies have officially been contracted yet. Fry said he and Yarborough wanted the 12 to be involved in deciding which companies to represent.
“We wanted to give back to undergraduates by giving them the opportunity to jump-start their careers, especially considering current economic circumstances and the job market right now,” Fry said. “We really want to expand rapidly and give students the chance to grow with us and take on roles in our company.”
Depending on the Carolina 12’s marketing success in its first year in Columbia, Fry says he and Yarborough hope to expand PM marketing and the 12 campaign to other universities in South Carolina.
Third-year international business student Diana Chen, one of the Carolina 12 winners, entered the competition after deciding that the campaign wasn’t just a modeling gig. An intern for the Colonial Life Arena, Chen sees the PM campaign as an opportunity to gain practice in public relations and marketing rather than a beauty contest.
“Once we start interacting with local companies and communities and putting ads out there, I think it’ll thrive,” Chen said. “I’m hoping the Carolina 12 image will be very attractive to people in the community and make them want to come to public events.”
As for the new label as one of the sexiest women in Columbia?
“That kind of visual appeal is a big part of getting people’s attention, which is the goal of marketing,” Chen said. “Sex sells.”