UConn Branding

[WhereistheDove?]

You obviously miss the point about brands. And I doubt you've looked at the complexity of the old husky vs. Donald. Donald is cheap and easily reproducible on a computer. The other is far more textured and requires more complexity, even when produced on a computer hence is more expensive to reproduce.

No, I don't miss the point about brands. You just happen to think that all goodwill this school has is tied up in a logo and that it is all lost once that logo is changed. All of that will be associated with the new logo once people start seeing it (basketball and football season). And I'm sorry, but the point about reproduction costs is just not true. Where exactly do you think these extra costs are coming from? Do you think someone is recreating the logo on a computer every time they produce a new piece of merchandise? Do you think some special equipment was necessary to handle the old logo? You're making stuff up to try and validate your point that the new logo was not in our best interest and you're grasping at nothing.

 

[Husky25]

As for Susan and Warde, don't be shocked if she is in the mix for the next ACC opening or the next Big opening. Warde is out of here as soon as he finds the right gig. He didn't take this job to run a mid-major department. If he gets out soon, both he and UConn will both be better off.

You and HFD should get together and play B.I.N.G.O. or something. What exactly is the right gig for Mr. Manuel or Ms. Herbst? Doesn't one have to have a list of accomplishments first? As far as I know UConn is not AAU and the endowment is sub-par (the two biggest things I read mentioned on these boards as deficiencies on the academic side). Manuel "screwed up" the Ollie situation (which he didn't), UConn was left out of the Realignment cash grab, and not dismissing Coach Pasqauloni are the major deficiencies listed under Manuel's charge.

Don't mistake activity (which many don't think exists, anyhow) for accomplishment. If Manuel or Herbst jump ship before UConn is in a better position, schools will think they are running from their responsibilities. That may work when a 24 year old goes from Blum Shapiro to The Hartford, but it doesn't work in quite the same way in such a high profile industry.

Nor are there blue ones. That was their "justification" for changing one of the most identifiable logos in college athletics into one of the most generic. You walk into a gathering with the old logo and everyone knew it was UConn. I've had it happen in Florida. I've had it happen in New Orleans, in LA, in Portland Maine and Portland Oregon and even in Madrid Spain. People recognized that logo as representing UConn. Whether it was an accurate depiction of a husky is irrelevant. It has been replaced by a piece of clipart, and clipart that ignored UConn's tradition on top of that.

1. Find me a Blue alligator (Florida) in the wild.
2. How about a Blue Devil (Devils are depicted as red)?
3. How about a purple husky dog (U-Dub)?
4. Aquila chrysaetos', or Golden Eagles (BC's original mascot), is niether maroon, nor gold, no does it typically have a white head, ala a bald eagle, which is also not Maroon or Gold.
5. Compare #4 above to the Kent State Golden Flashes, whose mascot actually is a golden eagle...with the correct colors, wearing a Kent State jersey.
6. And finally...
Stanford University is located in Palo Alto, California. "El Palo Alto" is the redwood tree. Why then is the Stanford Cardinal (bird or color), represented by, what looks to me as, an evergreen tree...that is green, but notcardinal red?

EDIT: Oh yeah the University of California at Berkeley Golden Bear is now half blue.

 

[Husky25]

exactly. the new logo is to far of a stretch from the old one. thats the whole point. i dont care as much here as others about the blue vs white. i think there is a nice in the middle that can be met on that. for me its simply not a uconn husky, its to far off so the brand power built up over time is just gone. the red outline makes me want to do bad things to ppl and its a slap in our face. there is a reason we are surrounded by that color schools wise and its hated. then wartde and susan outline our brand and logo in red. unreal. why dont we just change the blue to a lighter blue so we look more like duke and uk while we are at it.

UConn's school colors are National Flag Blue and White. The red is merely an accent. It was also added in the mid-90's to FB and BB uniforms, so it was indeed a aprt of the old uniforms and logo (red tongue). Our National Flag includes National Flag Blue (and White). Adding Red was not a far leap.

 

[Husky25]

Dan,
Its frieghtening to me and probably to you too, but you got it exactly on the nose. You can make modest adjustments (like the 90s logo to the 2000s one) but they elected to toss out the brand and all the equity it had earned over 2 decades for no apparent reason except "it didn't look like a true husky." It would have been a dumb move in any respect. to replace it with Donald the Toupee Dog, which could have been made by a 12 year old with access to clipart and MSPaint, was beyond dumb. I honestly think there were 2 motivations. 1st, donald is cheap to reproduce, unlike the other one which was quite detailed. 2nd Nike already designed the dopey eyeball helmet and that drove the logo, not the other way around.

Any logo can be made using clip art. That is no longer a reason...err...excuse.

 

[BHusky]

You obviously miss the point about brands. And I doubt you've looked at the complexity of the old husky vs. Donald. Donald is cheap and easily reproducible on a computer. The other is far more textured and requires more complexity, even when produced on a computer hence is more expensive to reproduce.

What is the difference in reproduction cost between the 2? I cannot imagine it is more than a few pennies if there is in fact a difference in cost. I don't get the argument that Nike made the new logo to save reproduction costs as a company with $25B in revenue. And ultimately won't the copmpany that reproduces the logo incur most of the cost which would be the likes of Nike, The Game or any other vendor who will produce UConn gear with a logo. Nike redisigned Cal's logo as well and I would argue that they made the new bear logo more complex than the traditional Cal trademark which would increase costs for reproduction.

 

[junglehusky]

For the record I am fine with the red outline. It sets us apart from nearby navy blue/white teams (Penn St., Yale, UNH, Yankees, probably a bunch of Div II teams). Only two other schools come to mind with dark blue / white / red - Arizona and Gonzaga and UConn will never be confused with them. My only problem was whether it was being applied consistently across different UConn teams - either all with red trim or all without - and now they've fixed that.

I've accepted for now the change away from all-white husky logo, I still think they could have provided some kind of explanation other than the Samoyed argument (which may have been valid but seems like an afterthought of an explanation. If not, at least the appearance of listening to alumni would have been nice but in reality even if they had a public comment period from the alumni and presented a valid reasoning to change it, the reaction would have been exactly the same (land of steady habits).

 

[hthusky74]

all of those schools dont officially call them selves by nick name. we do now. thats the big deal. tennessee doesn't sign checks with "ut or the vols". we sign checks as uconn not connecticut.

And...?

 

[Husky25]

For the record I am fine with the red outline. It sets us apart from nearby navy blue/white teams (Penn St., Yale, UNH, Yankees, probably a bunch of Div II teams). Only two other schools come to mind with dark blue / white / red - Arizona and Gonzaga and UConn will never be confused with them. My only problem was whether it was being applied consistently across different UConn teams - either all with red trim or all without - and now they've fixed that.

I've accepted for now the change away from all-white husky logo, I still think they could have provided some kind of explanation other than the Samoyed argument (which may have been valid but seems like an afterthought of an explanation. If not, at least the appearance of listening to alumni would have been nice but in reality even if they had a public comment period from the alumni and presented a valid reasoning to change it, the reaction would have been exactly the same (land of steady habits).

I realize it is quick and dirty, but to me, the all white logo (Subba's avatar) looks like a polar bear. They probably did it (put more blue than the older logo) to give equal billing to both official school colors. The red is an accent and I have never minded it, from 1996 to present day. It's like when Rutgers outlines their uniform numbers in black or something similar.

 

[HuskyHawk]

Do the negative nancy's on this board think that the new logo won't be quickly associated with UConn? It's not like in a year or two every college fan isn't going to have a clue whose logo that is. UConn isn't a brand because of some cartoon dog, it's a brand because of performance and that isn't going to stop because of a new logo. ESPN isn't going to stop showing our games, other ADs won't stop scheduling us, etc. Changing a logo does not remove our entire history, despite the whining of a bunch of people on this board.

Thank God there is still a rational man left. In less than a year, everyone except a few crumudeons who obviously have some sick obsession with Samoyeds will have forgotten the old logo. The new one will very quickly become associated with UConn.

And the primary branding being UConn over Connecticut is a great move. Everyone knows UConn and nobody knows us as Connecticut. The word UConn is a fantastic benefit compared to the many schools who don't have a catchy name. Cal means Berkeley, even though there are several others it could mean. UCLA used initials to stand out from Davis and Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara etc. Pennsylvania is an awkward sounding word, just like Connecticut, so both the public school, Penn State and the private School, Penn, use the short version almost exclusively.

 

[freescooter]

Thank God there is still a rational man left. In less than a year, everyone except a few crumudeons who obviously have some sick obsession with Samoyeds will have forgotten the old logo. The new one will very quickly become associated with UConn.

And the primary branding being UConn over Connecticut is a great move. Everyone knows UConn and nobody knows us as Connecticut. The word UConn is a fantastic benefit compared to the many schools who don't have a catchy name. Cal means Berkeley, even though there are several others it could mean. UCLA used initials to stand out from Davis and Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara etc. Pennsylvania is an awkward sounding word, just like Connecticut, so both the public school, Penn State and the private School, Penn, use the short version almost exclusively.

I don't have a huge issue with UConn. I'd prefer to keep it as an "informal" nickname like BC, UNH, UDub and so forth. But I really tink you and Warde and Susan badly underestimate the impact of the change to Donald. Fact is that the old husky was among the few logos that were easily identifiable with their universities. I've been in Madrid Spain with a UConn hat on with just the logo, no name, and had people comment about being a UConn fan, both Americans abroad and native Spaniards who had studied in the US. I guarantee that Donald won't be nearly as identifiable in the near future, and probably not in the distant future either, since he's like a short time fix until Nike decides to change it, or UConn decides to change suppliers. But in either case, this is a generic piece of crap, designed by some guy who is a computer jock, not a designer most likely. UConn got it for free. And it isn't worth a penny more.

 

[Husky25]

I don't have a huge issue with UConn. I'd prefer to keep it as an "informal" nickname like BC, UNH, UDub and so forth. But I really tink you and Warde and Susan badly underestimate the impact of the change to Donald. Fact is that the old husky was among the few logos that were easily identifiable with their universities. I've been in Madrid Spain with a UConn hat on with just the logo, no name, and had people comment about being a UConn fan, both Americans abroad and native Spaniards who had studied in the US. I guarantee that Donald won't be nearly as identifiable in the near future, and probably not in the distant future either, since he's like a short time fix until Nike decides to change it, or UConn decides to change suppliers. But in either case, this is a generic piece of crap, designed by some guy who is a computer jock, not a designer most likely. UConn got it for free. And it isn't worth a penny more.

UConn and Nike have been strategic partners for years. The supplier is likely not changing. Recognition will come soon enough. MBB should make a deep March run, likewise the Women. Football hopefully wins some games and we're in business. The new logo attaches to a quality program.

I feel your Madrid example is anectdotal. Most people don't give a fly duckk (as evidenced by the scores of people that just walked by you saying nothing so much as, "Hola.").

 

[junglehusky]

I don't have a huge issue with UConn. I'd prefer to keep it as an "informal" nickname like BC, UNH, UDub and so forth. But I really tink you and Warde and Susan badly underestimate the impact of the change to Donald. Fact is that the old husky was among the few logos that were easily identifiable with their universities. I've been in Madrid Spain with a UConn hat on with just the logo, no name, and had people comment about being a UConn fan, both Americans abroad and native Spaniards who had studied in the US. I guarantee that Donald won't be nearly as identifiable in the near future, and probably not in the distant future either, since he's like a short time fix until Nike decides to change it, or UConn decides to change suppliers. But in either case, this is a generic piece of crap, designed by some guy who is a computer jock, not a designer most likely. UConn got it for free. And it isn't worth a penny more.

I gotta disagree here. It's much better than the current or past Husky logos of UW, NIU, Northeastern, or whatever high schools or Quebec Major Junior Hockey teams with Huskies as mascots you see on google. You are letting your feelings on the logo change cloud your judgement. Now if you merely want the administration to go with an all white Husky logo I'm right there with you.

 

[CAHUSKY]

Fact is that the old husky was among the few logos that were easily identifiable with their universities. I've been in Madrid Spain with a UConn hat on with just the logo, no name, and had people comment about being a UConn fan, both Americans abroad and native Spaniards who had studied in the US. I guarantee that Donald won't be nearly as identifiable in the near future, and probably not in the distant future either, since he's like a short time fix until Nike decides to change it, or UConn decides to change suppliers. .

Just a guess, but your brand awareness study with a sample set consisting of 4 Americans traveling abroad, 2 Spaniards who studied in America and no hats of other Universities to use for comparison probably wasn't statistically valid.

Also, would you mind giving an explanation why the new mascot won't be nearly as identifiable over time given similar exposure as the old logo? That's a strong summation and id be interested in hearing how you reached that conclusion.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

Just a guess, but your brand awareness study with a sample set consisting of 4 Americans traveling abroad, 2 Spaniards who studied in America and no hats of other Universities to use for comparison probably wasn't statistically valid.

Also, would you mind giving an explanation why the new mascot won't be nearly as identifiable over time given similar exposure as the old logo? That's a strong summation and id be interested in hearing how you reached that conclusion.

See you just don't understand branding obviously. All of our recognition was tied up in that logo and is obviously not transferable to a new logo. Without it the UCONN name has no goodwill. We might as well be SCSU or Norwalk CC to anyone who isn't a UCONN fan.

 

[J187Money]

I don't own one piece of UCONN gear with the old logo on it (or where it is prominent). I never liked it. I like the new one better.

 

[Husky25]

I must partially retract my first example above about U of F. The gator is green in their logo. However that is in no way consistent with their school colors of Blue and Orange.

 

[HobokenHusky]

All of our recognition was tied up in that logo and is obviously not transferable to a new logo. Without it the UCONN name has no goodwill.

Where are you coming up with this stuff? Do you have any sort of evidence to back that up? I don't have any personally either, but the school, who spent a great deal of time on this, and any non-alum that I have talked to, completely disagree with both of these statements. We are UConn to a majority of the public. We are not Connecticut, and we are not a white fluffy husky dog.

 

[WestHartHusk]

Webster Bank just updated their billboard in I-84 to show debit cards with the new logo. I think it is a huge improvement over the old logo. Maybe not on its own, but when you see it in context of a shirt, a pair of shorts, or the new debit card. I think long term we are going to be very happy and in about 15 years we are going to look back at the fluffer and wonder what the hell happened.

 

[Husky25]

I think he was being facetious.

Where are you coming up with this stuff? Do you have any sort of evidence to back that up? I don't have any personally either, but the school, who spent a great deal of time on this, and any non-alum that I have talked to, completely disagree with both of these statements. We are UConn to a majority of the public. We are not Connecticut, and we are not a white fluffy husky dog.

 

[WhereistheDove?]

Where are you coming up with this stuff? Do you have any sort of evidence to back that up? I don't have any personally either, but the school, who spent a great deal of time on this, and any non-alum that I have talked to, completely disagree with both of these statements. We are UConn to a majority of the public. We are not Connecticut, and we are not a white fluffy husky dog.

I get the feeling that my sarcasm was lost on you.

 

[HobokenHusky]

I get the feeling that my sarcasm was lost on you.

HAHA, yes, it was.

 

[CL82]

UConn branding:

Wait are we still using the block C?

 

[Dann]

UConn branding:

Wait are we still using the block C?

I would love to walk around the parking lots with that thing. Do you trust me to behave with it?

 

[CL82]

I would love to walk around the parking lots with that thing. Do you trust me to behave with it?

Dude, that's exactly what it for (kind of.) It's a steak branding iron. You could have one made with the Husky logo for tailgating meals.

 

[jdb50]

Just saw the scoreboard graphic after the Husky baseball win and the new dog with the UCONN name looks sharp. It is an improvement despite all the whining about the old fluffer.

 

[geordi]

Guys: just let them blabber about the old logo and the name and anything else they can think of that's negative. In two years, they won't be able to pick the fluffy, white samoyed out of a lineup and will be bitching about somebody on TV calling us 'Connecticut.' Something else will inhabit their contrary minds, and we'll be snapping at each other on the BY about another incompetence by the UConn administration.

 

[UConnDan97]

Guys: just let them blabber about the old logo and the name and anything else they can think of that's negative. In two years, they won't be able to pick the fluffy, white samoyed out of a lineup and will be bitching about somebody on TV calling us 'Connecticut.' Something else will inhabit their contrary minds, and we'll be snapping at each other on the BY about another incompetence by the UConn administration.

Yes. Because the ONLY reason that someone would have to not like the new logo is solely to be contrarian. Perhaps your desire to categorize people is the hobgoblin of little minds...

 

[hthusky74]

Guys: just let them blabber about the old logo and the name and anything else they can think of that's negative. In two years, they won't be able to pick the fluffy, white samoyed out of a lineup and will be bitching about somebody on TV calling us 'Connecticut.' Something else will inhabit their contrary minds, and we'll be snapping at each other on the BY about another incompetence by the UConn administration.

“Change, for change's sake, is a recipe for failure.”

 

[J187Money]

I think people are really overstating the brand equity we had with the old logo. Nobody who knows us in hoops will respect us less because if it as long as we keep performing. Most of the country doesn't even know or care we play FCS football. No actual UCONN fan is going to stop supporting the team due to a logo change. And Dan's comments about the 40 year olds (which I am one of)...I truly don't know what he is talking about. This is the only place I've ever had a discussion about the logo with anyone. In 25 years. Nobody really gives a shit.

I do like the logo. But mostly I like the unification of what I thought to be a very disjointed approach to branding and merch. I'm tired of going into the Co-op and seeing a bunch of seemingly random designs that don't compliment each other. I should be able to pick out any type of UCONN gear and have it match other UCONN gear. I hope that will be the case. We have probably 200 pieces of gear in the house and so much of it seems like it was created at random. So that's our brand equity? A white fluffy dog and then spin the wheel and see what you come up with?

The fact that you go to a football game or basketball game and you select 10 people at random and they all look like they are supporting 10 different schools doesn't bother anyone? Hopefully they will fix this. Then we will actually have a brand.

 

[Carl Spackler]

The entire concept of a unified brand is something that eventually would have been addressed, and should probably have been addressed a few years ago already. It seems that many have forgotten, that the entire divergent branding in football, basketball, etc. was a conscious effort made a little over a decade ago. I agreed with the concept then, and still think it was a good idea, for football to make an effort to establish their own identity and use the 'C' instead of the fluffy dog. In fact, we went through a couple of helmets, and designs, and had "Connecticut" on the front of the jerseys, etc......constant change in the uniforms,branding. I have an interlocking U/C hat from about 12 years ago, that was probably a one time production. Never seen it anywhere else.

It wasn't something that would have lasted forever. It probably (unified rebranding of the athletic department and therefore - greater - entire university) should have happened sooner than 2013. But as with many things, it takes a nudge from some external source to initiate big time projects that involve change, and the Big East conference, folding up shop - pretty much is what induced the change now.

Moving forward, the athletic department has a unified branding structure, and merchandising approach now. It's for the better, and I can't imagine that the school is going to suffer financially from the wave of merchandise that has been moved, and restocked in the past yearly quarter.

whether or not you like the new logo, or helmet designs, is a matter of opinion, and the people that get paid for their opinions, chose those designs. I think it's cool.