CU Rebranding image

[Buffnik]

Well, it looks like BB has mastered the art of the bull****. IMO, branding is what you do when your product is for ****. You are selling an ideal rather than a superior product. CU is a superior product in many ways and spending dough on branding is a waste...unless you are planning to fully engage in hucksterism.

Everyone brands. Especially the highest quality, super luxury brands.

This must just be an impression you have or a misconception of what branding is. You're way off base here, though.

Branding is basically the identity of your product. It's what that product means to people when they hear of it. Part of this can be creation of an icon. The concept is that having a single iconic image that represents your brand increases exposure of the brand and focuses it / imprints it in the consumer's mind. One of the great weaknesses of the CU branding campaign is that it had dozens of icons and, therefore, failed to imprint consumers with its overall branding message. Too many disconnects. A single icon is one step in the process, but it is not "branding".

It seems that the disconnect in this discussion (and the poor job CU did in communicating what was done) is that everyone is focusing on the icon and equating that with being the entirety of a branding program. That would be like saying that branding at Nike started and stopped when they drew a swoosh and decided to use it on all the company products.

 

[Mick Ronson]

Everyone brands. Especially the highest quality, super luxury brands.

This must just be an impression you have or a misconception of what branding is. You're way off base here, though.

Branding is basically the identity of your product. It's what that product means to people when they hear of it. Part of this can be creation of an icon. The concept is that having a single iconic image that represents your brand increases exposure of the brand and focuses it / imprints it in the consumer's mind.

It seems that the disconnect in this discussion (and the poor job CU did in communicating what was done) is that everyone is focusing on the icon and equating that with being the entirety of a branding program. That would be like saying that branding at Nike started and stopped when they drew a swoosh and decided to use it on all the company products.

but most institutions brand with what works. that includes the past images and what "worked". we continue to start from square one and look bad/dumb doing it...imo.

if i'm mike bohn i'd have "branded" the color our fans wear....dozens of other schools have done it....but we wear French's Mustard BS....as Black and Gold..it's dumb and doesn't articulate our market location. we could be Iowa or Missouri....same hot dog mustard color.

 

[Buffnik]

but most institutions brand with what works. that includes the past images and what "worked". we continue to start from square one and look bad/dumb doing it...imo.

if i'm mike bohn i'd have "branded" the color our fans wear....dozens of other schools have done it....but we wear French's Mustard BS....as Black and Gold...but it's dumb.

I'm not saying that the process didn't take too long, spend too much money, or that it came up with a great result.

Could this have been done with Benson hiring a firm to do the work and then dictating to every school and department what the decision would be without them having any input? That would have been cheaper, faster and with at least as good of an end product. What I see here is a failure of politics and committees trying to wade through campus bull**** and ending up pleasing no one in the process... with the loudest complainers the very academics who they tried to involve in the process.

Mick, educate me here. Would it have been possible for Benson to have announced: "I have hired this firm. It will be developing a new brand image for all university campuses, schools and departments. We will standardize all branding images so that we have a consistent icon, image and message. I will let you know when we have finalized the new branding for the University of Colorado so that immediate implementation can commence."

 

[Mick Ronson]

show me where the loudest complainers are "academics". academics don't care....this is the point i try and make over and over. i think it sucks because it sucks and i think we ought to wear gold and not hot dog mustard color as students. doesn't have anything to do with me, being a prof, or anything else.

it's a crap logo that is either the same or worse than the same as the previous one. and it cost 800,000$ dollars.

 

[Buffnik]

show me where the loudest complainers are "academics". i think it sucks because it sucks and i think we ought to wear gold and not hot dog mustard color as students. doesn't have anything to do with me, being a prof, or anything else.

it's a crap logo that is either the same or worse than the same as the previous one. and it cost 800,000$ dollars.

Again, they didn't spend $800k on a logo.

And the articles I read in the BDC specifically said that the campus employees were up in arms over this.

 

[Mick Ronson]

Again, they didn't spend $800k on a logo.

And the articles I read in the BDC specifically said that the campus employees were up in arms over this.

campus employees who don't get pay increases are right to be in "arms". CU is laughable in not matching what it calls "peer institutions" in pay....as a CU payee, you are expected to simply love it being at CU for less money. if i didn't grow up here, i'd be gonzo. it's a joke.

CU is a university in decline....i promise you.

 

[Buffnik]

campus employees who don't get pay increases are right to be in "arms". CU is laughable in not matching what it calls "peer institutions" in pay....as a CU payee, you are expected to simply love it being at CU for less money. if i didn't grow up here, i'd be gonzo. it's a joke.

CU is a university in decline....i promise you.

So the issue is that people didn't get raises in this economy amidst budget cuts and then saw a really expensive project that it's hard to see the value in if you're not a marketing guy?

I get that.

 

[Buffarino]

I traded the cost of designing my company logo for preparing a quarterly sales tax report for the guy who did it. Unfortunately, that is somewhat less than a $750k value...

I hope you both reported the value of the barter transaction to the IRS. :lol:

 

[The Guest]

but most institutions brand with what works. that includes the past images and what "worked". we continue to start from square one and look bad/dumb doing it...imo.

if i'm mike bohn i'd have "branded" the color our fans wear....dozens of other schools have done it....but we wear French's Mustard BS....as Black and Gold..it's dumb and doesn't articulate our market location. we could be Iowa or Missouri....same hot dog mustard color.

Unfortunately the fans are painting themselves in a color branded as "amos 'n' andy". I could see why they went back to the drawing board.