UConn as a "brand" not quite there

[Waquoit]

Whenever I say "UConn" into my phone, it still spells "Yukon". How many titles do we have to win?

 

[UConnTrumbull]

Whenever I say "UConn" into my phone, it still spells "Yukon". How many titles do we have to win?

My phone autocorrects to “ducking” a lot. How many cusses do I have to make!?

 

[RuffRuff]

One interesting brand item to look at is how many followers our socials have. For instance, Duke has 1.7mm followers on IG - in another world from a brand perspective. I was at a train station in LI yesterday and saw a random guy (def not a Duke grad) wearing a Duke hoody and hat.

Uconn has 193K. To show you how far ahead Duke is, UNC has 583K (Jordan), UK has 566K and Kansas 309K.

Uconn women are at 586K.

Ohio States FB team has 1.4mm. Duke hoops is simply a brand powerhouse.

 

[Flipside]

One interesting brand item to look at is how many followers our socials have. For instance, Duke has 1.7mm followers on IG - in another world from a brand perspective. I was at a train station in LI yesterday and saw a random guy (def not a Duke grad) wearing a Duke hoody and hat.

Uconn has 193K. To show you how far ahead Duke is, UNC has 583K (Jordan), UK has 566K and Kansas 309K.

Uconn women are at 586K.

Ohio States FB team has 1.4mm. Duke hoops is simply a brand powerhouse.

I am a UConn Economics & Duke/Fuqua MBA grad, and 100% endorse this post!

... the above said, we are well on our way - imo, it's about alignment, appreciation and respect for everyone; one of our first case studies @ Duke was the 'loyalty of the Cameron Crazies', followed by a visit by Coach K ... that, and an analysis on whether Red Contact Lenses on Chickens make them more relaxed, and yield more eggs https://www.upc-online.org/RedLens.html

 

[RuffRuff]

I am a UConn Economics & Duke/Fuqua MBA grad, and 100% endorse this post!

... the above said, we are well on our way - imo, it's about alignment, appreciation and respect for everyone; one of our first case studies @ Duke was the 'loyalty of the Cameron Crazies', followed by a visit by Coach K ... that, and an analysis on whether Red Contact Lenses on Chickens make them more relaxed, and yielded more eggs Contact Lenses for Chickens

Duke, with their IQ, has done a pretty amazing job of creating a "culture" around their brand. Fans/players/athletes/humans love culture. They have a lot going their way - they have Cameron, a historic coach, NBA alumni galore and then all these little rituals they brand the heck out of, like the Cameron Crazies, that baby (as weird as it is), the Brotherhood, etc. They get these generational college talents like Flagg & Zion that just look different.

It doesn't hurt that they have the name of Duke, a cool mascot and are an elite academic institution.

Does make you wonder if there is some opportunity at Uconn, especially with Hurley at the helm, to add some colorful facets to the Uconn experience. Brotherhood = Wolfpack. Gampel Goons. Can't be an obvious copy and has to come from the students. As awesome as he is, not sure GenZ is connecting with a man on a oxygen tank in the rafters going through his U-C-O-N-N.

 

[cullaville]

One interesting brand item to look at is how many followers our socials have. For instance, Duke has 1.7mm followers on IG - in another world from a brand perspective. I was at a train station in LI yesterday and saw a random guy (def not a Duke grad) wearing a Duke hoody and hat.

Uconn has 193K. To show you how far ahead Duke is, UNC has 583K (Jordan), UK has 566K and Kansas 309K.

Uconn women are at 586K.

Ohio States FB team has 1.4mm. Duke hoops is simply a brand powerhouse.

I would rather have more men's basketball championships than Duke instead of more Instagram followers.

 

[RuffRuff]

I would rather have more men's basketball championships than Duke instead of more Instagram followers.

NK, but brand is the strongest foundation for long term success/runway. Brand will get you the best coach, players, boosters/donors. If TV sets turn on for you, there is a lot of value in that.

Duke's hoop brand may be so good that it gets them into a P2 when the time comes. Got to see big picture.

 

[aburks41]

NK, but brand is the strongest foundation for long term success/runway. Brand will get you the best coach, players, boosters/donors. If TV sets turn on for you, there is a lot of value in that.

Duke's hoop brand may be so good that it gets them into a P2 when the time comes. Got to see big picture.

Plenty of Big 10, SEC, Big 12 schools have more social media followers than we do. It doesn’t really mean anything. Does anyone think that Tennessee basketball is a bigger brand than UConn because they have twice as many followers on twitter? Of course not. Most of these schools (except Duke) have 2x-4x the amount of alumni AND state population as UConn/Connecticut. Half of our state population is in Fairfield County and they’re NYC transplants who send their kids to elite private colleges in the northeast. Our fanbase is smaller than most, but our brand is clearly national. We also didn’t have the luxury of being a huge brand until Calhoun got things ripping in the 90s. People in the 80s thought UConn was in Canada.

 

[Flipside]

Duke, with their IQ, has done a pretty amazing job of creating a "culture" around their brand. Fans/players/athletes/humans love culture. They have a lot going their way - they have Cameron, a historic coach, NBA alumni galore and then all these little rituals they brand the heck out of, like the Cameron Crazies, that baby (as weird as it is), the Brotherhood, etc. They get these generational college talents like Flagg & Zion that just look different.

It doesn't hurt that they have the name of Duke, a cool mascot and are an elite academic institution.

Does make you wonder if there is some opportunity at Uconn, especially with Hurley at the helm, to add some colorful facets to the Uconn experience. Brotherhood = Wolfpack. Gampel Goons. Can't be an obvious copy and has to come from the students. As awesome as he is, not sure GenZ is connecting with a man on a oxygen tank in the rafters going through his U-C-O-N-N.

Duke Basketball admires and extends courtesy to us these days!

 

[rrskyjf]

Sorry, not buying this Duke thing. Let's get honest here, a big portion of that following on IG for Duke are Duke bandwagon fans. Been that way for years. Some peope are Duke fans and don't even know there history, wins, etc. They just want to everyone to know they are a Duke fan.

Some fans will never admit it, but they are closet Duke fans, even though they have a very strong, successful program with multiple titles.

 

[Flipside]

Duke, with their IQ, has done a pretty amazing job of creating a "culture" around their brand. Fans/players/athletes/humans love culture ....

This is my Duke

 

[uh-no]

Duke, with their IQ, has done a pretty amazing job of creating a "culture" around their brand. Fans/players/athletes/humans love culture. They have a lot going their way - they have Cameron, a historic coach, NBA alumni galore and then all these little rituals they brand the heck out of, like the Cameron Crazies, that baby (as weird as it is), the Brotherhood, etc. They get these generational college talents like Flagg & Zion that just look different.

It doesn't hurt that they have the name of Duke, a cool mascot and are an elite academic institution.

Does make you wonder if there is some opportunity at Uconn, especially with Hurley at the helm, to add some colorful facets to the Uconn experience. Brotherhood = Wolfpack. Gampel Goons. Can't be an obvious copy and has to come from the students. As awesome as he is, not sure GenZ is connecting with a man on a oxygen tank in the rafters going through his U-C-O-N-N.

fwiw: nobody really cares (or even generally knows) about the baby. It's TV time is far disproportional to its actual place in duke basketball culture.

 

[superjohn]

Duke, with their IQ, has done a pretty amazing job of creating a "culture" around their brand. Fans/players/athletes/humans love culture. They have a lot going their way - they have Cameron, a historic coach, NBA alumni galore and then all these little rituals they brand the heck out of, like the Cameron Crazies, that baby (as weird as it is), the Brotherhood, etc. They get these generational college talents like Flagg & Zion that just look different.

It doesn't hurt that they have the name of Duke, a cool mascot and are an elite academic institution.

Does make you wonder if there is some opportunity at Uconn, especially with Hurley at the helm, to add some colorful facets to the Uconn experience. Brotherhood = Wolfpack. Gampel Goons. Can't be an obvious copy and has to come from the students. As awesome as he is, not sure GenZ is connecting with a man on a oxygen tank in the rafters going through his U-C-O-N-N.

By far the biggest thing Duke had going for them over the years was ESPN and Dick Vitale constantly shilling for them. The made up storyline that they were different than everyone else and they did things the right way. A lot of people fell for it and love Duke because of it and many others saw right through it and despise Duke for it.

 

[RuffRuff]

By far the biggest thing Duke had going for them over the years was ESPN and Dick Vitale constantly shilling for them. The made up storyline that they were different than everyone else and they did things the right way. A lot of people fell for it and love Duke because of it and many others saw right through it and despise Duke for it.

Really good point - hadn't thought of that, but absolutely.

 

[Flipside]

Duke / St John's insider cheer sheet from 2000 @ Cameron when SJ upset Duke

... notice the respect for St John's and Erick Barkley?

 

[Flipside]

By far the biggest thing Duke had going for them over the years was ESPN and Dick Vitale constantly shilling for them. The made up storyline that they were different than everyone else and they did things the right way. A lot of people fell for it and love Duke because of it and many others saw right through it and despise Duke for it.

These are timeouts at Cameron, just saying ...

 

[RuffRuff]

These are timeouts at Cameron, just saying ...

Yeah, doesn't help the brand that we play half of our games at a mall so retired insurance guys can have a 10 minute ride in. That may be the absolute lamest part of our brand. Does it get lamer?

 

[willie99]

One interesting brand item to look at is how many followers our socials have. For instance, Duke has 1.7mm followers on IG - in another world from a brand perspective. I was at a train station in LI yesterday and saw a random guy (def not a Duke grad) wearing a Duke hoody and hat.

Uconn has 193K. To show you how far ahead Duke is, UNC has 583K (Jordan), UK has 566K and Kansas 309K.

Uconn women are at 586K.

Ohio States FB team has 1.4mm. Duke hoops is simply a brand powerhouse.

They still have fewer titles, Duck Fook

 

[Hoophound]

We've actually been putting up huge numbers on a lot of fronts lately. Merchandise sales, Google searches and NIL merch sales and so on are way up. I think the Instagram shortfall is an instituational failure. You build those followings intentionally. You also build them by having a high flying generational talent like Cooper Flagg. Kids want to see those highlights and start following.

 

[RuffRuff]

We've actually been putting up huge numbers on a lot of fronts lately. Merchandise sales, Google searches and NIL merch sales and so on are way up. I think the Instagram shortfall is an instituational failure. You build those followings intentionally. You also build them by having a high flying generational talent like Cooper Flagg. Kids want to see those highlights and start following.

Need to start using Steph that way hopefully. Should also look to build brand as much as possible with Hurley up there because he's gets attention, good or bad. The thing with K is that he was polarizing, you either loved or hated him, but he pulled people in to watch.

 

[Flipside]

We've actually been putting up huge numbers on a lot of fronts lately. Merchandise sales, Google searches and NIL merch sales and so on are way up. I think the Instagram shortfall is an instituational failure. You build those followings intentionally. You also build them by having a high flying generational talent like Cooper Flagg. Kids want to see those highlights and start following.

#UConnFoundation

 

[Flipside]

Yeah, doesn't help the brand that we play half of our games at a mall so retired insurance guys can have a 10 minute ride in. That may be the absolute lamest part of our brand. Does it get lamer?

Insurance folks unite, ha ... I worked at Aetna for 12 years, best times of my life

 

[uh-no]

These are timeouts at Cameron, just saying ...

Three things:

1) I'm actually in that video
2) The UNC game is by far the hypest game of the year there. it's not even close. Other games are fun, but don't come close to that level of insanity....except maybe if the Big10-ACC challenge, or whatever the ACC is paired with this year results in a home game for duke....The ACC is terrible, so there isn't much in the name of big games in cameron outside UNC these days.
3) every time we touch kind of rose in prominence since 2010, and is kind of the team theme song. the other timeouts usually don't get as much excitement as that one.

I will say, the pregame rundown with the national anthem, "all we do is win" and "every time we touch" is a pretty good ramp up to the game.

Uconn's got their own stuff, though. Standing through the first bucket, "U-C-O-N-N' at timeouts, uconn huskies call and response....and Duke has no good chants that actually get the crowd engaged like that...especially at big neutral areans in the way huskies fans do.

 

[prankster]

My phone autocorrects to “ducking” a lot. How many cusses do I have to make!?

Humanity will end at the intersection of AI and autocorrect

 

[cwh20]

Man, do I absolutely hate Duke. Sane and irrationally. Both apply.