Interesting helmet....

[Just1More]

I think your way of approaching this subject is exactly the reason we have an identity issue. The most powerful and lasting entities do not continuously change their identities. I am very much into discussion and debate, but there is a time for that and there is a time to come to a decision and stick with it. Our identity and marketing of that identity borders on the ridiculous. I don't think that subject is debatable... I seriously doubt too many schools, including the "smaller" schools have threads as often as we do regarding our identity.

One defining moment of "our identity" was when the baseball team made it to Omaha in 2000. We could not keep enough "Ragin Cajuns" merchandize heading to Omaha to support the overwhelming sales. What did everyone want? Anything with "Ragin Cajuns" on it. I think that told me all I need to know.

Every national announcer, and anyone else for that matter, has fun when he/she gets to say "and here come the Ragin Cajuns... ". What do we do? Keep whining to everyone about calling us UL and Louisiana. The "Ragin Cajuns" name is like the swoosh to Nike. It is an identifiably unique name and we need to stick with it and market it. The UL and Louisiana will come into the fold as a common identifier behind "Ragin Cajuns". That is the way you market. That is the way you succeed... and that is what I want to start doing in football.

I don't think too many people will argue with me on this... but if I travel to Arizona and have UL and the pepper on my shirt... do you think anyone in the city of Phoenix has a clue what that is and gives a crap? I wear "Ragin Cajuns" and some girl comes up to me and says she wishes she had my shirt. I think that's pretty cool. I think that is called "marketing".

I don't get into these extreme characterizations (Nazi) when describing the eventual massing up of ideas, coming to some form of decision, and sticking with it. If some anti establishment thread wants to keep their burning butts alive with counter movements, that's also fine. I just do not want them to be the mainstream decision makers. They never accomplish much more than being happy with each other, and disrespectful of movers and shakers.

This school is apparently operated by someone who changes their hair color every month. The problem is not the hair color, and there aren't enough colors and logos to make a loser into a winner. Find one that works (done) and stick with it.

Now, onto the private funding engine for football... we get that done... I'd be happy to assist them with managing extreme success... something that has thus far eluded them.

Geaux Ragin Cajuns!!!

[cajun4life]

_


Are these uniforms worthless because they don't put Ragin Cajuns front and center?

This topic has been discussed on Scout:

http://mbd.scout.com/mb.aspx?S=345#s...&t=2186216&p=3 _

No they are not worthless uniforms at all except for those ugly hats that baseball wore this season. Problem is our fooyball jerseys already have Louisiana on the that is why it is a big deal to keep Ragin Cajuns on the helmets.

[Just1More]

_ You don't know how wrong you are.

People do not link Ragin Cajuns with UL or Louisiana. This is especially true on a national scale.

It is a foolish thing to do by marketing a nickname so much more than the actual name of your university.

Show me an athletic schedule put out by any D1 university that lists their opponnents by their nickname. You won't.

People first learn your name, THEN your nickname. That is reality.

The next time you get frustrated because someone on TV or elsewhere in the media does not know what to call us or continually refers to us as Lafayette, LOOK IN THE MIRROR.

Because, we have no one to blame more than ourselves. _

I'll debate you later. I'm heading out the door to Destin for some beachtime. I think we can merge our thoughts without too much disagreement... but there are ways to get a single university name planted, along with the lead of our nickname. We are not like others, and never will be. I know of few others that have such a time with just the name of the university... the path we take to solid identity is not like anyone else. I'd like to take this up later... but on to sunshine and bikinis.

[rhineaux]

1) Is there a difference between marketing and advertising in a business, and a University?

Sure, I think that you market a brand or your identity, but you advertise what you do best.

5) Finally, what would be the "mark" (pun intended) of a great university? Ohio State, who manage their logos like corporate Nazis, and allow very little diversity?

Or a University that allows supporters as wide a range of choices as possible, with the idea that a) supplying the "masses" with the "messiness" of choices will generate more money in the long run, and b) since the best ideas are the ones that people like, the best way to find out what people like, is to let them choose?

It depends what you consider "messy". Also, just because you offer more choices, doesn't mean that you will either have more people choosing one over another, or that you will sell more of your overall product.

To the OSU point, I think that is ok. If you have something that people will respect and will get behind (similar to the UT Longhorn symbol), and it will sell. With respect to UL, if you offer several logos, many that suck, many that get away from our traditional colors, many that people dislike and will not buy, then offering more choices doesn't do you any good.

I will give you a small example. I contacted JSD about that hideous red and yellow sweater that was at Academy a while back, and posted here in another thread a couple weeks ago. I asked her why a sweater representing our school was yellow. She said that we have our logos, which we all know have flames and several colors, and the manufacturer's take those logo's and produce something with them. I asked her why we don't just lose that crap, and draw down what we offer for logo's, so that we could better control what represents UL. I got no response.

It's not an ethereal debate, not for me at least. My thoughts on sports logos were greatly molded by one t-shirt I saw. One of my classmates had gone to Berkeley, where he had played water polo (yes, he had the looks & physique, and yes, the girls drooled over him). Anyway, he had a t-shirt that one of those wild North Californians had designed, water dribbles & droplets spelling out "H20", with the word "Polo" underneath.

Nazi patrols would have never allowed that, and it was not only cool, it was (to my mind) exactly what we expect from a strong university: creativity, innovation, even whimsy. The University should express that in every facet of its being.

I truly believe that one of the biggest problems at UL is the lack of creativity. People have job security, and many have held those jobs for a long time. They aren't required to do anything innovative or creative, and when it comes time to try to progress the school, they don't have the ability to think very far beyond their noses. Example: Instead of using something that truly represented our culture, like the Fleur de lis, we went with something that represents spicy food (which could mean several cultures) in the pepper. Instead of staying with our classic, traditional vermilion and white, we added black, yellow, orange and whatever else. This whole things reaks of a lack of forethought that it would all catch on, and that it would be easy to market.

You can understand and control something-- a business, a University, a community, or even a child-- or you can gently guide it while letting it grow and excel on its own.

You can't do both. Just something to think about. _

I agree with this.

[rhineaux]

_
Geaux Ragin Cajuns!!! _

I read both of your posts, and I will agree and disagree.

In one hand, yes it is cool to have someone desire to have your shirt which says Ragin Cajuns on it. It is cool to have someone say "here come the Ragin Cajuns." But on the other hand, there has to be some sort of connection between who the Ragin Cajuns are and the actual university. People know who LSU is, but announcers still talk about the Tigers or the Bayou Bengals.

Secondly, I don't think that CajunNation is saying that we should quit pimping the "Ragin Cajuns" name, but there is a time and a place for it. If the school decided to focus more on the UL name, I don't think it would be a bad thing, and there would still be a lot of Ragin Cajuns gear out there. I think that right now, there has to be more emphasis put on the UL and Louisiana, and a little less on Ragin Cajuns, until we get to a point where that connection is made. I think that it would be better to use UL or Louisiana on our uni's because it wouldn't matter what the announcers would use, our name would be there. And, I think when it comes to them, they'll use the school name and the nickname almost the same amount.

I also agree that there's been too much change in certain areas with respect to our identity, and i too doubt that many other schools have these sorts of problems. But, until we have something that we CAN market, and that WILL sell, not so much to outsiders but to our own, then they will have to keep changing.

And, instead of just complaining about it, I have recently contacted a certain soon-to-be high ranking official at UL, about this issue, as well as others. I made it clear to him how important it is for UL to improve it's perception, and to build it's brand, and to do more things that are marketable and that will help the university progress.

[NOCajun]

I find it funny that everyone here is complaining about the helmet and forgets about the rest of the football uniform that has "LOUISIANA" on the front of the jersey (although I think the lettering could be a bit BIGGER!) and the interlocking "UL" on the pants. Where else could you put RAGIN' CAJUNS except on the helmet??

[cajun4life]

I read both of your posts, and I will agree and disagree.

In one hand, yes it is cool to have someone desire to have your shirt which says Ragin Cajuns on it. It is cool to have someone say "here come the Ragin Cajuns." But on the other hand, there has to be some sort of connection between who the Ragin Cajuns are and the actual university. People know who LSU is, but announcers still talk about the Tigers or the Bayou Bengals.

Secondly, I don't think that CajunNation is saying that we should quit pimping the "Ragin Cajuns" name, but there is a time and a place for it. If the school decided to focus more on the UL name, I don't think it would be a bad thing, and there would still be a lot of Ragin Cajuns gear out there. I think that right now, there has to be more emphasis put on the UL and Louisiana, and a little less on Ragin Cajuns, until we get to a point where that connection is made. I think that it would be better to use UL or Louisiana on our uni's because it wouldn't matter what the announcers would use, our name would be there. And, I think when it comes to them, they'll use the school name and the nickname almost the same amount.

I also agree that there's been too much change in certain areas with respect to our identity, and i too doubt that many other schools have these sorts of problems. But, until we have something that we CAN market, and that WILL sell, not so much to outsiders but to our own, then they will have to keep changing.

And, instead of just complaining about it, I have recently contacted a certain soon-to-be high ranking official at UL, about this issue, as well as others. I made it clear to him how important it is for UL to improve it's perception, and to build it's brand, and to do more things that are marketable and that will help the university progress.

The problem with that approach is that the current administration did not have enough balls to take a firm stance on the name issue. Since 1999 the administration has not truly made a hard line push for the University of Louisiana moniker, and if they did it was not publicly pursued.

[NOCajun]

_ The problem with that approach is that the current administration did not have enough balls to take a firm stance on the name issue. Since 1999 the administration has not truly made a hard line push for the University of Louisiana moniker, and if they did it was not publicly pursued. _

Yeah. That and the fact they didn't want to spend the money to fight it in court because they assumed (maybe correctly) that they had no shot in hell of winning!!

[RCAJUN90]

Yeah. That and the fact they didn't want to spend the money to fight it in court because they assumed (maybe correctly) that they had no shot in hell of winning!!

Who cares what we wear or what they call us? Just win the Belt and get to a bowl game before I die.

[Cajunsmike]

_ Who cares what we wear or what they call us? Just win the Belt and get to a bowl game before I die. _

RCAJUN90, this is one case where I generally agree with you. The most important thing is to be consistently called -WINNER. Do that and it will be easier to achieve the Louisiana name.