Yearbooks - Has the Ship Sailed?

Yearbooks – Has the Ship Sailed?
Ashlie Clay

We have all spent hours perusing through our parents’ and grandparents’ yearbooks – laughing at their style of dress, big hair and even bigger glasses. We have anxiously awaited the day when our BFFs could tag all of our inside jokes on the inside cover or the high school heart throb declare "have a great summer" next to his picture with the football team. But in a society where technology and immediate gratification reign supreme, is the yearbook in the traditional sense, still a coveted keepsake to occupy our shelves?

This is the dilemma my group is facing with our client Sooner, the OU yearbook. With the creation of Crimson Traditions, a freshman only yearbook included in Camp Crimson fees, Sooner became a “senior only” book; problem being that seniors are not buying the book that has been largely created and customized for this specific audience. Many students are not even aware that OU has a yearbook, let alone know where to purchase one or are even familiar with the content.

Seniors spend three years at OU as freshman, sophomores and juniors without even so much as a peep from Sooner. So when senior year roles around, they are bombarded with mass emails about graduation photos, Sooner Shots and this elusive “must-have” tradition. But how can you expect a senior class to care about a book that has blatantly ignored them for the majority of their college career?

Facebook and MySpace present even more challenges to an already apathetic fan base. With real-time results and customization capabilities that expand beyond just the University, these new high-tech social networks could quite possibly be the demise of college yearbooks. So the dilemma becomes the choice between acquiescing to technology and convenience or re-affirming the value in tradition and nostalgia. This inevitably forces those few collegiate yearbooks still in print to find creative means of marketing and design to re-capture their target audience and revive this time-old tradition.

Additional Sources:

Friendless Facebook like Yearbook without Signatures

Bringing Back the Yearbook

Trends Conspire Against Yearbook