2014 Branding Fiasco: UL-Lafayette or UL-L (SBC Reference Guide)

[wcd35]

nm

[Cajunrunner]

If that's the case then NAME NAMES!! Let EVERYONE know who's using their political clout to hold back the SECOND largest university in Louisiana from calling itself a NAME. At least go down fighting!! What a joke.

While Joe Savoie may be our university president, he is first and foremost a politician and socialite. As a result, no way he his giving names. That would throw him our of the inner political social club that so many in Martin Hall cherish dearly.

[Turbine]

Obviously I am just brain storming here...

Nothing wrong with brain storming.

My objection is there are almost 30 towns and counties in the U.S. named Lafayette. Very hard to market.

[HoustonCajun]

I've said it for a while now!! The biggest problem we have is we continue to tell people what NOT TO call us, but we don't say what TO call us. I'm speaking strictly about the abbreviation regarding our athletic programs.
UL? No. We aren't allowed.
ULL? No. Just gross.
So we say don't call us ULL, but we don't give them an alternative. How about ULA or LA? I don't pretend to have the answer, but sit on your hands and hope ESPN thinks of something cool is definitely not it.

Different subject, same problem (while I'm ranting):
Before we go all nuts complaining that we finally got one, but now our new ESPNU icon thingy is a giant pepper in the shape of a "U", we need to be proactive and have our guys put together something to send to them so we have a say in the matter ahead of time. PROACTIVE.

Amen, Brother! You NEVER tell them what not to call us. This has been our problem all along. It is NEVER simply call us LOUISIANA athletically. It is always what not to call us. And to ask them to put an * by UL-L is even more unbelievable. We already asked NOT to be referred to as ULL, then give them the UL-L option. And we ask them to "include" Louisiana as a reference. How many reference options are we giving them. Pick and choose the one you like best? This explanation only makes this worse, because we can see exactly why we are in this mess and will not be able to get out of it. We can come out today and say we want to be known exclusively as Louisiana. Too f'ing late! The damage is done. Thank you Aaron-Martin Hall for completely ruining any chance we ever had of being known as LOUISIANA. I am embarrassed and disgusted to be an alumnus of this university.

[CajunJack55]

Nothing wrong with brain storming.

My objection is there are almost 30 towns and counties in the U.S. named Lafayette. Very hard to market.

Good point and I know that Marketing is not our strong point to say the least which is why I don't know if this would work. Strong marketing efforts would have to be at the base of this.

But this where I think being called Louisiana-Lafayette or UL-Lafayette for years could actually be an advantage when it comes to that. If we drop the Louisiana we will still be recognized on a national level as a Louisiana school at first. Also if we want to become a "National School" and not a "regional school" then this is kind of a moot point in my opinion. It will help us in our perception/seperation of ULM and even LSU. We don't want to be little brother school we want to be seperated completely.

I look at the state of Alabame and see that they have no confusion and no "twin" schools. ULM could be UAB while we go the Auburn/Troy city route.

Alabama
Auburn/Troy
UAB
South Alabama

[SlappyCajun]

If they needed a three letter abbreviation, why not LOU.

[wcd35]

I sent an email responding to the school's response. I dont think they have it right. He mentions using "Louisiana Ragin Cajuns" as the nickname, but clearly that section is reserved for the mascot only. No other school has anything besides this. Clearly, you need to use "Louisiana" on the first reference section.

Also, I asked about using LA or LOU, etc for the abbreviation. I'm not sure they understand the importance of this part since all sports channels use this on the top corner or scroll. You cant allow them use "UL-L" then at the same time tell them not to call you "ULL". That's absolutely ridiculous.

It's pretty simple that it needs to be the following. None of this violates the restrictions on using UL or University of Louisiana:

University name: University of Louisiana at Laf...
Nickname: Ragin Cajuns
First Reference: Louisiana
Abbreviation: LA, LOU, etc

[wcd35]

Also, here's the communications department page. His email is listed as the generic department address: communications@louisiana.edu

http://communicationsandmarketing.lo...-us/who-we-are

[CajunEXPRESS]

Let's just go with UL-L, or ULA University of Louisiana Acadiana, I am so down with Acadiana. With a spineless administration it is the only thing that makes any sense. Hell let ULM have Louisiana, we will simply be UA. Time to create a new state, or at least a state within a state because I am pretty sure secession is illegal.

Really the - is the most unacceptable thing of all. It makes us look like total retards.

[jcstewart]

May take a while...It has been 13 years since our name change. We had the administration on board with LOUISIANA. We were fighting the fight and were near winning it. Then the ULM game, which was a precurser to this, and now we officially just LOST it with the SBC announcement and it will never be recovered. We as fans CANNOT change what ESPN or any other network calls us. UL marketing just lost this name for us and it is a crying shame. No one fought harder for Louisiana than I did, and in one fail swoop it is gone. To say our President wants us to use UL-L and UL Lafayette, then say it is not mandated is absurd. Changing conference won't make a difference. We are now entrenched as UL-L and UL Lafayette. UL marketing is trying to crawfish on this, but there is no getting around how greatly they screwed the pooch on this while our President remains silent. I have never been so disgusted to be an alumnus of this university.

In summary, we had everything going for us: Fox, NBC and CBS were honoring our wishes to be branded UL. The only holdout was ESPN, which basically said they would call us what the Sun Belt called us. Then the Sun Belt asked us what to be branded with 2-4 letters. Then we come up with UL-L? It was set up on the tee for us and the administration swung and missed. Everyone together now say UL-L and then ULL. Sounds the same doesn't it? Now the networks that were with us saw the UL-L memo and ran with it. Decades of work down the drain with a few words.