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Maximizing Damien - Logo Change


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Actually, they went division 1 in 1996. Since 1999 they are 86-4 at home.

 

The Blue Turf was installed in 1986.

They were Division I at the time (in the Big Sky since 1978 as DI conference). No one cared then. Shoot they even won the 1980 I-AA national championship.

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Excuse me, I meant to say D-1, vs, D1-AA. Does anyone care about any football schools on a national level until they go D1/FBS? Isn't that what we are all clamoring for here? Another 20k seats and FBS? So they pretty much won the entire time at D-1 level and you can be pretty sure that that blue field got them a TON of national attention when they went D1.

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Look we can argue minute details all we want. The fact is that EVERY school if they want to grow and jump to national attention needs to market themselves, academically, athletically, whatever. We have something, our mascot, that is unique. Why don't we use that as PART of our marketing to get some national attention. It worked this past year in the NCAA where we actually had people writing articles about it. Why wouldn't we jump on that? Our UA logo looks exactly like the Auburn or Arizona logo but with a different color scheme. That's NOT going to make us stand out, and we know spending FBS money to make us stand out isn't going to happen either.

 

I bet with a couple of sheckels and a viral campaign we could actually get some notice.

 

I'd also like to point out that our most successful recruiting sport ever and the one that gets the most national attention in its sport's press, lacrosse (Lyle Thompson was the No. 1 ranked recruit in the country his SR. year of HS) uses the "goofy" Great Dane on their helmet.

 

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Lacrosse is a niche sport still that gets very little national attention relatively speaking.

Basketball is really the only team that gets true national attention when they make the tourney.

 

And again, our teams get national attention for winning. Not a goofy mascot.

 

Changing logos is a HUGE expense. Especially now that you have major changes to a stadium that would need to be made (turf, etc..) If you guys are just looking for something to talk about as a "wish list" then fine. But it sounds like some of you really want this to be a priority.

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Winning games and titles is obviously the goal. But, again, you get very few chances to reinvent yourself, and entering the top FCS conference with a brand new stadium is one of those chances--it's the biggest thing to happen since the school went D1.

 

The logo we have was vastly popular in the 1990s-- the diagonal two-tone school letter. Tons of schools put it on t-shirts. But for most programs, it went away around the same time Y2K paranoia did.

 

I don't think marketing and promotion make you a winner, but they play a major role in creating hype as you start to win. And hype begets attention--from recruits, coaches, sponsors, etc. We have a lot of inherent obstacles as a university, starting with our confusing name (SUNY Albany, University at, etc). So why not make a fresh branding strategy an ingredient to helping out? Winning is never about one thing.

 

And if you're think we just need to win to make waves, take one academic example. Our MPA program is one of the school's few crown jewels--perennially in the top 10 nationally. In this brand new ranking of the Top 25 most digitally visible MPA programs, we are nowhere to be found:

 

http://mpadegree.org/top-25-most-social-media-friendly-public-administration-schools-2013/

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I don't think anyone is using that list to make a decision on where to go to college for an MPA program. Pinterest posts, really?? Why does this list even exist and who cares?

 

I agree that UA could do a MUCH better job of marketing itself in many ways (Academic and Athletic), but as a Marketing Professional..and as someone who does this for a living and has launched several new and emerging brands...GOOFY is typically not a very good brand strategy. Maybe it will earn you some endearment points in the short-term, but it will get old fast and eventually work against you.

 

The best college teams have very simple logos. Oregon, Arizona, Georgia, LSU, Syracuse, Michigan, Wisconsin..I could go on and on. If I had my way, I would eliminate the U from UALBANY and keep everything else the same. That U just pisses me off. It looks weird to me.

 

Oh, and I do want a real Great Dane at games. That would be rad.

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I think the list speaks to a bigger issue.

 

Using Damien or not, I don't think "goofy" is the goal, but something distinct is good for a program of our size. Arizona, Syracuse, Michigan can afford to use one letter for the reason you mention, they are the "best college teams."

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I like the current logo with the "UAlbany" through the letter A. For my part, I like the "U" in UAlbany, because it indicates that we are a public school and not another private New England school.

 

I see no harm in having multiple logos. Heck, RPI had two different mascots recently (Engineers in hockey; Red Hawks in other sports).

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I'm thrilled at the level of passionate discussion on this:

 

Yes, in the brave new world of interconnected media, everything is marketing, so if someone is doing research and see us on a list with Harvard, Penn, etc etc, people's ears are going to prick up (unless its worst food, or most prisonlike dorm rooms, 90s grads will know what I'm talking about here).

 

So those lists DO matter.

 

I agree bout the multiple mascots, like the Wahoos/Cavaliers for UVA, the War Eagle and the Tigers for Auburn, etc etc. I was never suggesting getting rid of the UA (though I hate the Ualbany thing too, I wish were were Albany University or something like that, but i DO love the UA, You Know chant).

 

And I wasn't suggesting goofy..just something with personality, something that we have that stands out.

 

NOW, who do we speak to about getting a live Great Dane at the games. That would be FANTASTIC.

 

How about this...I bet a Great Dane pup is 1k, care for it and food for a year is probably about the same, find a handler to board or, or if we are lucky enough, a family to take care of it and bring it to basketball and football..

 

Maybe THAT's our contribution to the school.

 

Big Purple Fans presents Damien the First. I'm in for $100..who is with me?

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I'm thrilled at the level of passionate discussion on this:

 

Yes, in the brave new world of interconnected media, everything is marketing, so if someone is doing research and see us on a list with Harvard, Penn, etc etc, people's ears are going to prick up (unless its worst food, or most prisonlike dorm rooms, 90s grads will know what I'm talking about here).

 

So those lists DO matter.

 

I agree bout the multiple mascots, like the Wahoos/Cavaliers for UVA, the War Eagle and the Tigers for Auburn, etc etc. I was never suggesting getting rid of the UA (though I hate the Ualbany thing too, I wish were were Albany University or something like that, but i DO love the UA, You Know chant).

 

And I wasn't suggesting goofy..just something with personality, something that we have that stands out.

 

NOW, who do we speak to about getting a live Great Dane at the games. That would be FANTASTIC.

 

How about this...I bet a Great Dane pup is 1k, care for it and food for a year is probably about the same, find a handler to board or, or if we are lucky enough, a family to take care of it and bring it to basketball and football..

 

Maybe THAT's our contribution to the school.

 

Big Purple Fans presents Damien the First. I'm in for $100..who is with me?

 

 

You can adopt a Great Dane for about $200. Tons of rescue groups. They are also prone to deafness, which is actually perfect for a loud stadium. The deaf ones ar also generally the runts and not sellable (=free).

 

We had one when I played. He was a players dog.

Edited by danefan
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Here's a Great Dane rescue group (which I would prefer, as the owner of a rescue myself) with a 518 #. I'm in Los Angeles, so probably hard for me coordinate, but i can help with the fundraising.

 

http://nydanerescue.com/

 

We should contact them, and see about getting a Dane OR maybe if they'll bring a different Great Dane to each game, and advertise that it's for adoption at the game.

 

How's that for some marketing!

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