Exclusive: Fallowfield Student Group rebrand to Manchester Students’ Group

‘2020 was unprecedented. In a time when we are forced apart, our virtual community must come together’


Manchester student Facebook group, Fallowfield Student Group (FSG) has just been renamed as Manchester Students’ Group (MSG). The change was made to the popular student hub at 6pm today.

Manchester-based Freelance Illustrator Poppy Spinks helped with the rebranding of the Facebook group in designing its new cover image.

(Image credit: Poppy Spinks) 

Alongside the updated cover image, a tongue-in-cheek video has also been created by Clare McCahery, as to explain the rebranding of the group.

The video documents the group’s changes in name, from 2013 up until today, from being known as ‘FBS’ to now being called ‘MSG’.

The video states: “2020 was unprecedented. In a time when we are forced apart. Our virtual community must come together”.

MSG hence aims to promote a more inclusive online community; the final message of the video stating, “Welcome home everyone. We are Manchester. We are students. We are the group. MSG”.

Administrators Matt and Farris have exclusively told The Tab Manchester the reasons behind the change:

“The main reason is to make it more inclusive for all universities as we’ve noticed that students from MMU, city campus UoM and Salford actively use the group despite not living in Fallow. We want them to feel more welcome and want the group to be as valuable as possible for every student in Manchester”, Matt stated.

Farris commented: “I wouldn’t really call it a rebrand to be honest! This is a decision that’s been a long time in the making. We never want to ‘change’ the group. We just feel like this is a more accurate representation of what it’s used for.

“The name is just a reflection of the community – which is exactly why we changed it from Fallowfield Buy/Sell tickets to FSG back in 2017. Some people were upset but ultimately everyone agreed that it was the right move.

“Obviously Fallowfield is close to all our hearts, myself especially… but it’s the content that shapes a group, not the name. It will still be all things Fallow… we’re just inviting more people to the party!”

Featured image via: Inez Hickman and Poppy Spinks

Video images via: Clare McCahery 

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