A 'Two Hot' Spicy Combo: University of Louisiana and Tabasco®

[cajunhawk]

Am I the only one who thinks Julie Dronett was the one thing that kept this from happening. She is no longer with the university and poof!!!

[JBO70538]

Now that’s hot!

How about we start by naming the tailgating area? Sort of like ULM and Ole Miss have “The Grove". We do it better than almost anyone in the country. Tabasco could hold weekly contest for the home games. We could have competitive cook offs with Tabasco and the university giving prizes. This would be great. What do you guys think? What would we name it? Good job UL and Tabasco!!!

[BirdofParadise]

_ This is HUGE news for the University! But I like to put my shoes on before I run. My enthusiasm will be tempered until I the actually scope of how large or the direction of this partnership works. But this is a very good and logical step for both involved!


igeaux.mobi _

I'm with you. The University puts out a release and everyone here has the naming rights to the stadium sold.

I'm thinking that's not going to be CLOSE to what we hear.

[CajunDreDog]

I'm liking this a lot. Some were saying that Tabasco was too big for UL and they had no reason to advertise with us. The fit is just too good.

I really appreciate Spedale's Florist... but I sure would like to hear something like:

"That's another smokin hot eye watering fire breathing ass burning Cajun Tabasco first down!!!"

Of course... a shorter version could be utilized as well.

Only if we are in 2 minute offense, right?

[raginsaints]

_ I'm with you. The University puts out a release and everyone here has the naming rights to the stadium sold.

I'm thinking that's not going to be CLOSE to what we hear. _

I agree Jay. I'm sure it's something on a much smaller scale than what's being predicted here. Probably just some Tabasco products being sold, sponsoring some t shirt give aways, stuff of that nature.

[Just1More]

_ I'm with you. The University puts out a release and everyone here has the naming rights to the stadium sold.

I'm thinking that's not going to be CLOSE to what we hear. _

So what you're really trying to say... Jay... is that we are in a stadium naming battle with other corporate giants and you can't reveal the details? Are the other 10 prospective suitors Fortune 500... maybe Fortune 100? I think we should hold out for billions... no... trillions of dollars. Yeah, that's the ticket.

Seriously... I think you're correct... we're going overboard with speculation. Regardless, it is good to see the university work with a world-wide entity that either realistically or perception-wise has a natural fit with our "identity". Whatever it turns out to be, small or not, it's a good thing.

And I understand your frustration... if it becomes "Tabasco Stadium"... there is little hope of it ever being called "Bird of Paradise Stadium".

[rhineaux]

Rhineaux, I think everything you're saying is reasonable to a point. If the University and Tobasco were to share the "pepper" logo and it were to end up on our helmets and other unis, who knows what kind of major response we could get from that nation-wide, and that's just one example. With a little imagination in the shared marketing, the possibilities could be endless.

I have to disagree. There’s no reason why a University and a commercial product should team up to the point of shared branding. Those are two totally different entities. That’s not to say that both cannot work together to help each other in certain ways. McIlhenny can provide UL with money, then can do things to help publicize the University at their facility, come up with a special label for their bottles, etc. In turn, UL can give them exclusive naming rights to certain facilities/buildings, sell their products at the book store and games, and give them priority for sponsorship opportunities. And to be fair, in this case, we don't really know what the scale of this will be. Perhaps it will be something along the lines of what I just mentioned. Perhaps we'll give them the Pepper in exchange for access to the marketing firm they use, and will pay for a whole new set of logos. Perhaps we'll add their red and green to our current logos and have 7 official colors.

Look at other schools who are closely associated with major corporations, or at least very well known companies. Arkansas & Wal-Mart have very close ties and the Walton family has donated a lot of money to that school. But other than the Bud Walton Arena for Basketball, you don’t see anything that ties those two very different entities together, especially in the form of branding. Then there’s the Nike relationship with Oregon (and to a lesser extant, Oregon State). Both groups benefit a good bit in this relationship, but still, they don’t share their “brand”.

I'm all for the co-branding, logo development.

Tabasco's logos exude class, an ingredient that has been sorely missed in the logos of THE UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA.

I totally agree with you. This is a great logo, it’s simple and identifiable. But when you think of what each party brings to this relationship, my mind immediately jumps to the pepper and how it could be shared between the two. In this relationship, I don’t see how it cannot be ignored and that probably means more of what you mention in your second sentence

Am I the only one who thinks Julie Dronett was the one thing that kept this from happening. She is no longer with the university and poof!!!

I heard a couple times, that it was McIlhenny that was the hold up and not wanting to deal with the previous administration, but I don’t know how true that it.

I agree Jay. I'm sure it's something on a much smaller scale than what's being predicted here. Probably just some Tabasco products being sold, sponsoring some t shirt give aways, stuff of that nature.

I think that would be a great way to start off this relationship…but if that’s the case, then why the need for “co-branding”. I guess we’ll all know in about 3 hours.

[ManAboutTown]

Regardless of the depth of our partnership with Tabasco, this is a major opportunity for UL. If we get this business relationship right, other companies, brands, local giants, etc will not hesitate to follow in Tabasco's footsteps. Thats the most important parcel of this entire deal.

[rhineaux]

_ Regardless of the depth of our partnership with Tabasco, this is a major opportunity for UL. If we get this business relationship right, other companies, brands, local giants, etc will not hesitate to follow in Tabasco's footsteps. Thats the most important parcel of this entire deal. _

I definitely agree with that. On the outside, this is certainly a step in the right direction.

[cajun4life]

_ PRESTIGE WORLD WIDE! _

fixed it.

[wcd35]

_ fixed it. _

Stadiums! Logos! Science! Technology!

[Just1More]

We should work with Tabasco to sponsor t-shirts for students. All female students who attend the games will be given a t-shirt, complete with a cool Louisiana Ragin Cajun design. Hidden in one of the t-shirts (one per game) is a special Tabasco logo. Once the wet t-shirt party starts, the one wearing the special logo t-shirt will have a moisture triggered emblem revealed and will get $1000 from Tabasco, in the "Ragin Cajun Hot and Spicy Tabasco Wet T-Shirt Contest". This will get more students to the game (especially males). I also think the disappointment of a rainy football gameday will be seriously offset for all but a few. The ones who usually leave early aren't really the kind that like wet t-shirt contests anyway.

I also want to do a Tabasco Ragin Cajun Calendar and will volunteer to do the bikini designs, including painting those bikinis on the girls. I came up with it... so it is only appropriate I get to do it.

I have a lot more ideas to make this all work out. I don't really want to go into the details, but I have some fantastic "tramp stamp" logos for UL and Tabasco to work with. My plan is for Tabasco to pay for a monster HD video board where I will be a roving cameraman looking for the girl with the best version of my stamp and crown her "Cajun Hottie". Kind of like basketball does with the dome screen by spotting couples and having them kiss... I will spot the hottie, zoom in on her stamp... and then I will... well... I'm working on the family-friendly version and it is not coming to me just yet.

I've called and left a message with Dr. S and expect to hear from him shortly on acceptance of my ideas.