For All The Logogate Critics

greenpie · December 2, 2005

As much as a lot of us hate it, I think it's working. Our new image is hitting home with a lot of high school kids. This kids quote is what we all have been trying to establish for a long time.

Also, I don't know how many of you keep up with the news but someone is doing a lot of work in Denton. I have seen a lot of positive news stories about UNT in the past few weeks (minus the whole football thing).

Go Mean Green!!!!

Marketing a brand-new U.

By PATRICK McGEE

STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER

Allan Saxe is a local philanthropist with conservative leanings. Camesha Ethley is a 17-year-old senior at the top of her class at Seguin High School. She likes basketball and hip-hop rapper Jay-Z.

Universities are scrambling to get the attention of both.

Donors such as Saxe have deep pockets to pump up a university's endowment. Students like Ethley have the credentials to boost a university's academic profile.

University officials have long hammered away at talking points that highlight their strengths and success stories. They've poured millions of dollars into sprucing up the appearance of their campuses and they've mastered the art of doting on donors and students with strong academic records.

To attract more folks like Saxe and Ethley, higher education officials are doing more to polish their brand name.

"Institutions are gradually realizing that as the market becomes more sophisticated, they need to become more sophisticated in how they relate to it," said Larry Lauer, Texas Christian University's vice chancellor of marketing and communication.

Ethley and her classmates have mixed opinions about brands' influence on their impressions. Ethley said she has positive images of the University of Texas at Arlington and the University of North Texas, family members' alma maters, but those images can't eclipse her hopes for admission to a more selective school farther from home. Her top choice is Rice University in Houston.

One of her classmates, Cindy Nguyen, 17, doesn't think branding matters much.

"We're high school students. We don't think about that," she said.

With a Top 25 football team, and offering one of the few private-school educations in the county, TCU has a lot to market to prospective students and donors. TCU advertises on local radio and in regional magazines.

Branding an image is just as important to the universities of Arlington and North Texas.

UNT has one of the top music programs in the country. It recently spent nearly $150,000 developing its new brand. UT-Arlington, known for its strong engineering and business programs, is conducting secret meetings with a high-profile advertising agency to put the finishing touches on a new brand.

A lot is at stake, and the amount of thought that goes into every detail -- the shape of letters, the shades of color -- is mind-numbing, officials said.

UNT assistant design professor Eric Ligon said the space between the letters in "North Texas" in the logo he helped design portrays the university's openness. He said the tips on the ends of the letters give the UNT brand a more academic feel. They went through about 3,000 variations until UNT's top administrators felt they had the right look. "It gives it a sense of energy," Ligon said.

Can fretting so much over the color and shape of letters make a difference?

Saxe said a university's image probably affects his giving.

"I'm not a psychologist, but I really believe there is a subliminal effect. It's advertising," Saxe said. He has donated to UNT, TCU and UT-Arlington, where he is an associate professor of political science.

Shawn Ballard, 17, a senior at Seguin High School, said he was impressed by literature he received about UNT in the mail.

"I like UNT's logo. It's real clean, and it stands out," he said.

Seguin senior Shawn Zark said he went to a football game at UNT and saw the logo and school colors everywhere. It was unmistakable to him that this was a school with strong traditions.

"The first thing that comes to mind about UNT is the tradition," he said. "Big Green and all that."

UNT essentially came up with two brands -- an academic brand for the formal letterhead that faculty use for grant applications, and a "spirit" brand that Zark saw at the football game and Ballard saw in the UNT mailing.

Some of the high school seniors said they see UT-Arlington as a commuter school, something that makes officials there cringe. But UT-Arlington and UNT have the same portion of their student body living on campus, 17 percent.

Saxe said UNT has escaped the commuter-school image at least partially because of the spirit-building football games, where the stadium seats are a sea of that green UNT brand.

"UNT is as much a commuter school as we are," Saxe said. "The funny thing is a school gets an image, and it's hard to break out of that image."

FirefightnRick · December 2, 2005

As posted on Nove 26th, '05.

http://www.gomeangreen.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=25390

Rick

meangreendork · December 2, 2005

Well, at least the marks are effective, but they're worthless without marketing and the draw of the football program. Football draws a lot of people in, and that's always a good thing. Here's hoping the football team gets much stronger for next fall.

Read rcade's comment about the comm design majors-

Eric's a sharp prof, but he's really a typographer at heart. He really sinks his teeth into all of the intricacies of letterforms and all that, so don't let him cast that image over all of us

j0nat8an · December 2, 2005

the average student will choose us over ut arlington because of ATHLETICS!!! how does the importance of athletics not register to some?

Go_UTA · December 2, 2005

UTA is releasing its new logo and branding initiative in some big bally-hoo in the Bluebonnet Ballroom of the University Center in March. In fact, students were being asked this week to be extras this weekend in some short film that a Dallas ad agency is creating. I'm real curious as to how it turns out. From what I gather, there may be a de-emphases on "UTA" and a greater emphases on "UT Arlington." We shall see. We, of course, have a logo, but there has never been a coordinated or thought-through attempt to convey a "brand" or message. UTA has never tried to define or shape it's image to the marketplace in this way. It's about freakin' time.

Frankly, I think the new UNT logos are pretty effective. They look good to my eye. I also like that screaming eagle come down for the attack. It's uncomplicated and memorable, I think. Also, the little slogan of "discovery the power of ideas" conveys a strong commitment to teaching students as well as creating new ideas (research).

Eagle-96 · December 2, 2005

UTA is releasing its new logo and branding initiative in some big bally-hoo in the Bluebonnet Ballroom of the University Center in March. In fact, students were being asked this week to be extras this weekend in some short film that a Dallas ad agency is creating. I'm real curious as to how it turns out. From what I gather, there may be a de-emphases on "UTA" and a greater emphases on "UT Arlington." We shall see. We, of course, have a logo, but there has never been a coordinated or thought-through attempt to convey a "brand" or message. UTA has never tried to define or shape it's image to the marketplace in this way. It's about freakin' time.
Frankly, I think the new UNT logos are pretty effective. They look good to my eye. I also like that screaming eagle come down for the attack. It's uncomplicated and memorable, I think. Also, the little slogan of "discovery the power of ideas" conveys a strong commitment to teaching students as well as creating new ideas (research).
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What is the timeframe on your new arena? I know it has been a long time coming and you guys are ready to get out of the Cafetorium. I have a friend that graduated UTA and he is pretty excited about the new arena.

Rudy · December 2, 2005

Let's see, 3-4 years and $30K-$40K to come up with that? I still say it sucks.

Go_UTA · December 2, 2005

Thanks for asking Eagle-96. Like your friend, I am really ready to get out of Texas Hall for sports.

To get to your question, I don't think anyone outside of the administration knows what the time-frame is. Like your stadium, the state isn't going to build it, and it is an approx. $38 million challenge! All I know is that it's a priority, and our president is very, very excited about it. He is working on it behind the scenes. (Pres. Spaniolo, BTW, came to us from Michigan State and has a love of basketball.)

You can go to this link to find-out more about it (and a few other campus initiatives that the university is targeting to the outside for support).

http://www.uta.edu/giving/sub/currentinitiatives.php

What has been accomplished, however, is that the Student Congress and Student Body have voted to accept a fee for the support of the facility (operations, which are significant) once it is built. That is a big thing. Also, concept drawings have been completed, and the location has been decided.

Actually, I lot of us actually like Texas Hall in a quirky way, but I can't wait to get out of it. Recruits and OOC opponents don't like it. It will be a New Day for our b-ball programs and entire intercollegiate athletics once the doors open on the arena. I'm sure you understand that.

Some of us at utamavericks.com are expecting some type of preliminary, status-report kind of announcement pretty soon.

Eagle-96 · December 2, 2005

Thanks for asking Eagle-96. Like your friend, I am really ready to get out of Texas Hall for sports.
To get to your question, I don't think anyone outside of the administration knows what the time-frame is. Like your stadium, the state isn't going to build it, and it is an approx. $38 million challenge! All I know is that it's a priority, and our president is very, very excited about it. He is working on it behind the scenes. (Pres. Spaniolo, BTW, came to us from Michigan State and has a love of basketball.)
You can go to this link to find-out more about it (and a few other campus initiatives that the university is targeting to the outside for support).
http://www.uta.edu/giving/sub/currentinitiatives.php
What has been accomplished, however, is that the Student Congress and Student Body have voted to accept a fee for the support of the facility (operations, which are significant) once it is built. That is a big thing. Also, concept drawings have been completed, and the location has been decided.
Actually, I lot of us actually like Texas Hall in a quirky way, but I can't wait to get out of it. Recruits and OOC opponents don't like it. It will be a New Day for our b-ball programs and entire intercollegiate athletics once the doors open on the arena. I'm sure you understand that.
Some of us at utamavericks.com are expecting some type of preliminary, status-report kind of announcement pretty soon.
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Congrats on the arena and I hope you guys get it done soon.